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Document : 981
Title    : Language Matters
Author(s): Graeme Trousdale

Copyright holder(s): Graeme Trousdale: with thanks to Association for
Scottish Literary Studies

Text

On March 1st 2004, the Scottish Executive announced that it was investing
an additional £4 million to improve foreign language teaching in primary
schools. Education Minister Peter Peacock stressed the importance of
proficiency in foreign languages for all Scottish schoolchildren, noting
that ‘better language skills also help pupils develop an understanding of
other cultures, creating the type of outward-looking nation which will make
Scotland an attractive place for people from other countries to live and
work.’ [1] The issue of good language skills also features in the
Scottish Executive’s National Statement for Improving Attainment in
Literacy in Schools. Pre-school children should ‘be encouraged to develop
a curiosity about words, how they sound, the patterns within words and how
they are composed.’ [2] Students following the 5–14 curriculum should
‘be able to enjoy and respond to a variety of texts and, in so doing,
achieve an awareness of genre and knowledge about language. For writing —
pupils will be able to write in three modes (personal, functional i.e.
informative and imaginative) and to convey meaning in language appropriate
to audience and purpose. In so doing, they will pay careful attention to
punctuation and structure, spelling, handwriting and presentation and
acquire knowledge about language.’ [3] 

The message is from the Executive is clear: language matters. Scottish
schoolchildren need to know about language if they are to become literate,
if they are to be proficient in modern languages, and if they are to gain a
better understanding of their own society and heritage. The question then
is how to achieve these aims. How should Scottish children gain knowledge
about the structure of language — for this is really what the National
Statement is concerned with in its reference to, for instance, ‘the
patterns within words and how they are composed’? Where should such a
subject appear in the curriculum? One option is to shove it into the
English curriculum. This is a bad idea, for a number of reasons: first, you
don’t need to have done any Linguistics or English Language courses in
order to become an English teacher in Scotland, and most university courses
in English Literature teach you nothing about language, so not every
English teacher would be willing to incorporate knowledge of language into
the English curriculum; second, for those that are willing — those who
have taken courses in English Language and/or Linguistics already, or are
interested enough to find out more about such subjects — there are
insufficient resources and training opportunities; third, there’s too
much to do in a literature-oriented curriculum to do justice to the
development of an in-depth knowledge about language and how it works (even
just in literary texts); and fourth, language is too important to be seen
as just an ‘add-on’ to literature: it deserves its own place. 

An option at once more radical and realistic would be to create a series of
separate Scottish National Qualifications in Language, along the lines of
the increasingly popular AS and A2 qualification in English Language, which
is available in England and Wales. The specifications for AS/A2 English
Language suggest that courses ‘should encourage students to develop their
interest and enjoyment in the use of English, through learning more about
the structures and functions of English, drawing on their experience and
knowledge of language change and variation.’ [4] Such a course would
follow on well from the 5–14 curriculum as envisaged in the National
Statement for Improving Attainment in Literacy in Schools, referred to
above. And it is certainly the case that courses in English Language at AS
and A2 are successful: the most popular board and specification (AQA
specification B) had 13,040 candidates for its AS English Language exam,
and 9,130 for the A2 qualification in the 2003 academic session. [5] An
additional bonus, therefore, is that a Language Higher in Scotland could
benefit from the published material for AS and A2 English Language. But the
Scottish qualifications both could and should be different from those
offered in English schools, and this is not merely to do with differences
in the educational systems of the two countries. The situation in Scotland
offers many opportunities for students to explore language issues, both
local and global. 

What issues might a Language curriculum in Scotland address? First,
students would require a basic training in linguistic concepts and
terminology (within the fields of grammar, phonology, meaning and usage) to
provide them with an appropriate framework for linguistic observation and
analysis. This training would also serve to help students in their work in
foreign languages. It is ludicrous to expect anyone to understand the
different uses of French tenses if they have no understanding of what tense
as a linguistic concept is. Would students not have a better chance of
understanding the syntax of subordinate clauses in German if they had had
the chance to understand what a subordinate clause in English is? The 2003
Principal Assessors’ Reports for the Modern Languages made the following
assessment with respect to student performance at Advanced Higher level:
‘Across the languages, as ever, the basic grasp of grammatical accuracy
was disappointing.’ [6] Giving students the opportunity to explore the
wonders of grammar — and it is genuinely wonderful — will enable them
to become more proficient in mastering the grammars of their own and other
languages. This knowledge, then, is not merely relevant for foreign
language learning (otherwise such work could be dealt with exclusively in
the Modern Languages curricula.) Greater awareness of language entails
greater literacy and awareness of style: students who know more about the
nitty-gritty of their own language are able to manipulate it for greater
stylistic effect. 

Second, students should apply this conceptual knowledge to an investigation
of linguistic issues in Scotland, past and present. There are so many
topics which could be covered: accents and dialects in Scotland, and the
language of Scottish literature, are obvious candidates, but one could also
imagine a module on multilingualism in Scotland, which would allow for
discussion of a number of critical linguistic issues, such as: language
planning (for both Scots and Gaelic); minority languages in Scotland (Scots
and Gaelic again, of course, but also other languages such as Urdu and
British Sign Language); and English in Scotland (both now and in the past).
If Scottish students are encouraged to engage with the linguistic situation
that (a) surrounds them now and (b) influenced their culture in the past,
they will come to a greater understanding of the diversity of language and
of certain factors influencing linguistic change. Such topics are central
to a liberal arts curriculum and yet are currently marginalized in the
Scottish educational system. This is a disgrace. 

Third, students should be encouraged to explore differences between spoken
and written language, and again this could be achieved in a number of ways.
One option might be to have a module on original writing, to show how
different linguistic techniques can be employed in writing to serve
different purposes and audiences. Another might be to have this topic
assessed by project work, where a group of students take a topic (for
example, the war on terror) and collect data from a range of spoken and
written sources (speeches by Blair and Bush, editorials in The Herald and
The Daily Record, web discussion groups, a class debate, a radio interview
and so on) and then each individual topic analyses the data in a different
way — one looks at the language of persuasion, one looks at grammatical
characteristics of spoken vs. written language, one looks at broadsheet vs.
tabloid style and so on. This is merely one way in which project work could
be incorporated into a Language Higher, but it would be a great way of
getting students to engage with linguistics and its applications. 

There are many other topics which might be considered (language
acquisition, for instance); and it must be said that some of these topics
are already addressed in the ‘Language Study’ module of the English
Advanced Higher. Notice, however, that the language module in that
qualification is an option, whereas the ‘Literary Study’ module is
compulsory, and the range of topics addressed is necessarily much narrower
than that which could be available to a student were a separate Language
(Advanced) Higher in place. But the purpose of this article is not to lay
out a curriculum. Its purpose is to highlight the following: 

• An understanding of language is a necessary part of Scottish school
education. Knowing how language works leads to improvements in literacy and
greater competence in foreign languages. 
• At present, there is no possibility of a rich and systematic treatment
of language issues in Scottish classrooms. This is not the fault of
teachers, but a fault of curriculum design. 
• In order to allow for a systematic treatment of language, therefore, a
separate curriculum must be designed, and adequate training and resources
must be provided for teachers. 
• Such a curriculum should be negotiated by school teachers, university
academics, and representatives from local and national government, as well
as representatives from autonomous agencies of the state, including
especially perhaps professionals concerned with testing, qualifications,
awards, and career development. Greater dialogue between those employed in
Scottish universities and those employed in Scottish schools, and who have
an interest in linguistic issues, would be a useful first step. The absence
of such dialogue is as much a fault of the universities as it is of the
schools.

Notes 
[1] Source: National Grid for Learning 
[2] Source: National Statement for Improving Attainment in Literacy in
Schools (Scottish Executive publication), Part 1, page 1 
[3] ibid., Part 2, page 3 
[4] Source: QCA Subject Criteria for English AS/A Level 
[5] Source: ‘A-Level English Language: a collection of facts and
figures’, by Professor Richard Hudson 
[6] Source: Principal Assessors’ Reports 2003 (Assessment Panel: Modern
Languages) 



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Adults (18+): Teenagers (13-17): General public: Informed lay people: Specialists: Audience size: 1000+

Text details
Method of composition: Wordprocessed
Year of composition: 2004
Word count: 1644

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Text publication details
Published: Publisher: ASLS
Publication year: 2004
Place of publication: Glasgow
Part of larger text: Contained in: ScotLit 31
Editor: ASLS

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Author
Author details
Author id: 876
Forenames: Graeme
Surname: Trousdale
Gender: Male
Decade of birth: 1970
Educational attainment: University
Age left school: 18
Occupation: Lecturer
Place of birth: Newcastle
Region of birth: Tyne and Wear
Country of birth: England
Place of residence: Edinburgh
Region of residence: Midlothian
Residence CSD dialect area: midLoth
Country of residence: Scotland
Father's occupation: Housing officer
Father's place of birth: Newcastle
Father's region of birth: Tyne and Wear
Father's country of birth: England
Mother's occupation: Administrative assistant
Mother's place of birth: Newcastle
Mother's region of birth: Tyne and Wear
Mother's country of birth: England

Languages:
Language: English
Speak: Yes
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Everywhere