Literacy and Linguistics

1. Literacy and Linguistics Dick Hudson UCLan November 2012

2. Plan • Literacy – a crisis for both L1 and L2 • Linguistics • The elements of literacy • Transcription • spelling • Composition • grammar, vocabulary, punctuation • The way forward

3. 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.

4. 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'

5. Even HE has its literacy crisis

6. Meanwhile, languages languish

7. 2012 FL A-levels

8. The bigger picture: 1935-1991 Higher School Certificate GCSE replaces O-level and CSE 1988 A-level (after O-level) 1951 F G Sp

9. Since 1992, downhill all the way 15K 30K

10. 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?

11. So what is literacy? • Skills: • 'transcription' – handwriting, spelling • 'composition' – grammar, etc. etc. etc. • Knowledge About Language (KAL) • for understanding tools • for growth

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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?

15. 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

16. 3. The elements of literacy • Transcription skills in writing/reading • spelling • Composition skills • grammar • vocabulary • punctuation • In L1 English and FLs

17. How linguistics may help • Transcription skills • Composition skills • Both writing and reading • Both L1 and FL

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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?

21. 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

22. 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

23. b. Composition skills: vocabulary

24. But what about school age?

25. Size matters

26. but it must slow down … In pictures = 14 words per day = 7,300 days

27. 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?

28. And in FL?

29. Growth in FL vocabulary?

30. How does the UK compare?

31. 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

32. 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!!

33. 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?

34. Thank you • This slideshow can be downloaded at www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/talks.htm