ERIC Number: EJ1128772
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Jun
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2203-4714
EISSN: N/A
On the Effects of Social Class on Language Use: A Fresh Look at Bernstein's Theory
Aliakbari, Mohammad; Allahmoradi, Nazal
Advances in Language and Literary Studies, v5 n3 p82-88 Jun 2014
Basil Bernstein (1971) introduced the notion of the Restricted and the Elaborated code, claiming that working-class speakers have access only to the former but middle-class members to both. In an attempt to test this theory in the Iranian context and to investigate the effect of social class on the quality of students language use, we examined the use of six grammatical categories including noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb, preposition and conjunction by 20 working class and 20 middle-class elementary students. The results of Chi-square operations at p<0.05 corroborated Bernstein's theory and showed that working- class students were different from middle-class ones in their language use. Being consistent with Bernstein's theory, the results obtained for the use of personal pronouns indicated that middle-class students were more person-oriented and working-class ones more position-oriented. Findings, thus, call for teachers' deliberate attention to learners' sociocultural variation to enhance mutual understanding and pragmatic success.
Descriptors: Social Class, Language Usage, Pragmatics, Middle Class, Working Class, Linguistic Theory, Elementary School Students, Form Classes (Languages), Statistical Analysis, Grammar, Teacher Student Relationship, Foreign Countries, Females, Questionnaires, Pictorial Stimuli, Writing (Composition), Language Variation, Indo European Languages
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Iran
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A