Why education needs linguistics,
and linguistics needs education
Richard Hudson
Budapest March 2012
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Summary
• Language is central to education
– So education needs to understand language
– So education needs linguistics
• Education influences language
– So linguistics needs to understand this influence
– So linguistics needs educational research
– But linguistics also needs language education
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Language is central to education
• As instrument of education
– for telling
– for discussing
– for controlling
• As content of education
– education teaches the language of education
– including its meanings and their relations
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Questions for linguists:
language as instrument
• How do we use language for
communicating?
– e.g. This is a rectangle, isn't it?
• How do we use language for learning?
– e.g. I wonder if this is a rectangle.
• How do we use language for controlling?
– e.g. Would you mind sitting down, please?
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Questions for linguists:
language as content
• How is the language of education special?
–
–
–
–
special sub-languages (e.g. rectangle, evaluate)
special languages (e.g. Viereck)
special medium: writing
special meanings: rectangles, equations, nouns
• Almost all of education is language
education
– So linguistics is central to education.
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What linguistics can offer
• ideas
– How does language work?
– How can we study it?
• models
– How is language organised?
• descriptions
– What details do we find in language X?
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Some ideas
• Descriptivism
– We can and should describe language as it is.
• Variation
– Any language varies with time, place, etc.
• Form and function are different
– word-class against syntactic function
– sentence-type against pragmatic function
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Some models
• Sounds and letters are different
– e.g. not: 'the th sound'
– but: the sound [θ] and the letters <th>
• Words and meanings are different
– e.g. not: 'the fox is a monosyllable'
– but: FOX is a monosyllable
– the fox is a mammal
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Some more models
• Syntax and punctuation are different
– e.g. not: A sentence is bounded by punctuation.
– but: A sentence is defined by syntax, and
marked by punctuation.
• Lexemes and word-forms are different
– e.g. not: Cat and cats are same/different word
– but: Cat and cats are different word-forms but
the same lexeme.
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A simple model of language
meaning
sentence-structure
word-structure
pronunciation
alphabetical writing
GRAMMAR
LEXICON
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Descriptions
• Descriptive frameworks
– e.g. the International Phonetic Alphabet
• Books
– Grammars
– Dictionaries
– Textbooks
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So what?
• Linguistics is important for education
– Every teacher should know some linguistics
– Some teachers should know a lot of linguistics
– Teachers should deepen their linguistics while
teaching
• But linguistics is also a research subject
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The ideal education cycle
school
teacher
knowledge
adult
researcher
university
knowledge
research
knowledge
Year 1-13
infant
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But in reality …
• In the UK, most teachers know very little
linguistics
–
–
–
–
Maybe because research stopped in 1900-50?
Nothing in school
Nothing in university
Very little in teacher-training
• Probably far less than in Hungary?
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Moreover, linguists don't care
• In the UK/USA, many linguists don't see
education as a potential 'consumer' of research.
• "You're a human being, and your time as a human
being should be socially useful. It doesn't mean
that your choices about helping other people have
to be within the context of your professional
training as a linguist. Maybe that training just
doesn't help you to be useful to other people. In
fact, it doesn't." (Chomsky 1991)
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So why does education matter?
• Why is education important to us linguists?
• Because we need to understand the impact
of education on language.
– Does education have any impact?
• And we need students and researchers who
have been well educated.
– Should linguistics be 'adults-only'?
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The impact of education on
language?
• None
– 'Explicit instruction has no effect'
• Popular in L1 teaching
– Education is generally ignored in language
acquisition research
• Negative
– 'Prestige English is not a natural language'
• Sobin 1999
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Education does have an impact
• …, an advantaged student … learns about
twice as many words as a disadvantaged
student. … This translates into a wide range
of vocabulary size by age five or six, at
which time an English-speaking child will
have learned about 2,500–5,000 words. An
average student learns some 3,000 words
per year (Wikipedia: Vocabulary)
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Vocabulary growth
• Before school: 1,000 words per year
• During school: 3,000 words per year
• Why the difference?
–
–
–
–
because education teaches vocabulary
and writing
and thinking skills
and grammar, etc.
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Subordinate clauses per 100 words
5
4
KS1
KS2
KS3
KS4
3
2
1
A
8
7/C
6
5
4/F
3
2b
1
0
grade
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The paradox
• Linguists like to describe 'natural language'
– but they use themselves as subjects
– and they are highly educated
– so their own language isn't typical or 'natural'.
• But maybe no language is 'natural'
– because everyone thinks about their language
– and manipulates it.
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Educating the next generation…
• … of linguists
– and of citizens
– who need linguistics.
• How?
– educate the teachers
– challenge the children.
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The Linguistics Olympiad
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The UK Linguistics Olympiad
• Started 2010
• 2,000 competitors this year
– Aged 12-18
– three levels:
• Foundation, Intermediate, Advanced
• Round 1 in schools
– Residential round 2, selecting for IOL
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Foundation level:Abma
Mwamni sileng.
He drinks water.
Nutsu mwatbo mwamni sileng.
The child keeps
drinking water.
Nutsu mwegau.
The child grows.
mwamni, sileng = drinks/drinking or water
nutsu = the child mwatbo = keeps mwegau = grows
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Advanced: Tangkhul
• Structure of problem:
– 9 sentences in Tangkhul
– 9 sentences in English that translate them.
– but in a different order!
• Challenge:
– Work out which E sentences translate which T
sentences
– and which E words translate which T words!
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For instance
• Tangkhul:
– (a) a masikserra.
– (b) āni masikngarokei
– (c) āthum masikngarokngāilā
• English:
– (1) Do they want to pinch each other?
– (2) Do you(sg) see it?
– (3) Have you(pl) all come?
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International Linguistics Olympiad
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So what again?
• So linguistics could play the same role in
education as mathematics
– in understanding language
• the main tool of education
– in developing analytical thinking skills
• But linguistics doesn't even exist in most
schools
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Thank you
• This talk can be downloaded from
www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/talks.htm
• For the UK Linguistics Olympiad:
www.uklo.org
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