1 Literacy and Linguistics Dick Hudson UCLan November 2012.

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Literacy and Linguistics

Dick Hudson

UCLan November 2012

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Plan

1. Literacy – a crisis for both L1 and L22. Linguistics3. The elements of literacy

1. Transcription• spelling

2. Composition • grammar, vocabulary, punctuation

4. The way forward

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1. Literacy: the Daily Mail

• One adult in five is illiterate• by SARAH HARRIS, Daily Mail (19 Nov 2012)• One in five British adults struggles to read and write,

official research has revealed.• They are 'functionally illiterate', which means that they

have the reading age of the average 11-year-old or worse.• The appalling figures, revealed by Education Secretary

Estelle Morris yesterday, are a legacy of the 1970s and 1980s when there was a lack of emphasis on the three Rs in schools.

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More in The Daily Mail• By Leon Watson, Mail Online (29 March 2012)• Britain has up to eight million adults who are

functionally illiterate, … they struggle to read a medicine label or use a chequebook.

• … costing the UK economy £81billion a year …• the highest cost in Europe - twice Germany's,

three times France's• the UK was ranked third worst for reading and

writing • '… illiteracy is a disease that we are aiming to

eradicate'

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Even HE has its literacy crisis

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Meanwhile, languages languish

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2012 FL A-levels

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The bigger picture: 1935-1991Higher School

Certificate

A-level(after O-

level)1951

GCSE replaces O-level and

CSE1988

F

G

Sp

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Since 1992, downhill all the way

30K 15K

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So what?

• Language education is in crisis.

• Language skills are inadequate– and may be declining?

• The crisis affects traditional L1 literacy

• but also FL

• and maybe the two are connected?

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So what is literacy?

• Skills:– 'transcription' – handwriting, spelling– 'composition' – grammar, etc. etc. etc.

• Knowledge About Language (KAL)– for understanding tools– for growth

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What is mature literacy?

• Enough KAL for adult needs

• Enough language for adult needs

• Enough languages for adult needs.– How many is that?– Which languages?– Need to learn L2, L3, … as adult.

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2. Linguistics

• The study of language– especially, language structure

• It has a long history– Babylon 2,000 BC– India 500 BC– Greece 300 BC

• Always concerned with literacy.

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Linguistics to the rescue?

• Uniting L1 English and Foreign Languages– 'Language Awareness'

• Intellectual framework for discussion– e.g. growth, not error-avoidance

• Detailed models and descriptions– e.g. speech versus writing

• Links to cognitive science– e.g. how do we learn?

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Linguistics as we know it?

• Yes, but with more work on …

• writing– the system– how it differs from speech

• school-age development

• explicit and implicit learning– including pedagogy

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3. The elements of literacy

a. Transcription skills in writing/reading– spelling

b. Composition skills – grammar– vocabulary– punctuation

• In L1 English and FLs

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How linguistics may help

• Transcription skills

• Composition skills

• Both writing and reading

• Both L1 and FL

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a. Transcription skills: spelling

• Phonological awareness

• Phoneme-grapheme correspondences• research-based list• effects of accent• effects of subsystem

• Germanic vs Latin vs Greek

• for L1 English and Foreign Languages

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Spelling and morphology

• Morphological awareness– e.g. box vs socks

• Effects of morphology on spelling– NB morphology conflicts with 'phonics'– e.g. morph + ology– contrast: more + over

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Linguists as engineers

• Spelling reform?– probably not feasible

• Letter names– What do we call <a>? – Why /bi:/ but /ɛf/?– And <w> = ?– What a mess!– Surely we can do better than that?

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b. Composition skills: grammar

• Schools should help grammars to grow– e.g. the house in which he lives– The more books I read, the less I can remember

• But how?– explicit teaching– with metalanguage– with expert teachers

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How linguistics can help

• School grammar is in crisis– It died between 1900 and 1970– So today's teachers didn't learn it at school

• Linguists can help by:– training teachers– writing classroom material– agreeing analyses and terminology for schools

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b. Composition skills: vocabulary

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But what about school age?

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Size matters

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In pictures

= 7,300 days

= 14 words per day

but it must slow down …

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Literacy

• What part does literacy play in this growth?– How can schools encourage growth?

• What effect does vocabulary growth have on literacy?– How many words does literacy need?

• Every word entry also becomes richer.– How does richness grow?

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And in FL?

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Growth in FL vocabulary?

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How does the UK compare?

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b. Composition skills: punctuation

• Linguists should research punctuation– What is a sentence?– When do we use a comma?– How do we punctuate bullet points?

• Linguists should produce – training material– reference material

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Linguists as engineers

• Punctuation practice is a mess.

• Punctuate these:– Are you ready# because it's time to leave#– He said# "I love you#"#– I have two questions# Where are we going?

When will we be back?

• Linguists could do better than this!!

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4. The way forward

• More research by linguists on literacy.

• More engagement by linguists with schools– More acceptance of linguistics by schools.

• More cooperation between English and FL teachers.– Maybe the two crises are related?

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Thank you

• This slideshow can be downloaded at

www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/talks.htm