The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 52

4 Hiesday September 2 1997 Guardian Education Word war New claims that non-standard English is destroying literacy have been called Donald MacLeod reports, and below, surfs (or should that be stravaigs?) a Scots language website for schools PHOTOMONTAGE BY JIM POWELL criticised elaborate Latinate terminology but had not denied the need for children to learn grammar and standard English. "Some people communicate very well in nonstandard English but you still want them to be able to write in standard English when they need to." Her association's Grammar Book for teachers had sold extremely well. The conflict with the Conservative government over including standard English in the national curiculum had been about the question of balance. "It is important for children to have confidence in expressing themselves at a very young age. Standard English is something you teach when they are a bit older, perhaps 11 or 12." Prof Honey is soon to leave for Botswana, where he will certainly be telling his students about the advantages of standard English.

Language Is Power: the Story of Standard English and its Enemies, John Honey, Faber, E8.99. English all dialects, whether regional or ethnic, were just as good. He also attacks the repeated claims that teaching grammar has either no effect or is positively harmful to children's language development. The research that proved this was flawed, he claims, but has been repeated uncritically to teachers by academics and advisers. As a schools inspector and teacher trainer, Prof Honey, formerly Dean of Education at De Montfort University, said he encountered teachers who said "It's not my job to teach the children standard English.

I'm not going to correct them because all dialects are equally good." According to Prof Honey, "On the far Left there were people who said standard English was a class dialect and it was not for working-class children." He said his personal motivation was concern for the underdog. "Standard English is an empowering force in Britain, America, Australia and New Zealand, and I see something approximating standard English as being the target for the peoples of the Third World. If they are going to use the Internet in an African village they will need the language." Prof Honey believes the campaign against standard English helped the vocal opposition to including it in the national curriculum. "But the anti-grammar ideology has been totally pervasive. The belief that grammar teaching has been ineffective, if not absolutely harmful, was accepted by the Bullock, Kingman and Cox reports into English teaching.

"The result of this received opinion is that wc have a generation of school-leavers who cannot begin to edit their own writing and almost universal uncertainty cimong teachers about the teaching of grammar. This filters down to ordinary classroom teachers in primary schools." Anne Barnes said Prof Honey was "off the English teachers had week's annual meeting of the British Association of Applied Linguistics. At least he hopes so. Professor Honey has already provoked fury with his book on accents and a pamphlet on standard English, The Language Trap, and recounts the "academic received as a result. In Language is Power: the Story of Standard English and its Enemies, he identifies two One is linguistic equality, a widely held theory among academics that languages and dialects cannot be judged against each other, and that all are adapted to the changing needs of their speakers.

Some talk of the "linguistic imperialism" of English. Prof Honey acknowledges the complexity and subtlety of prc-litet-ate languages like Navaho in North America or the "Bushman" language of the Kalahari but questions how serviceable they can be in the modern world. The theory has had a disastrous effect in the classroom, he iirgues, because teachers felt there was no case for insisting on standard Grammar inspires all the ferocity of a religious war among teachers, academics and writers of letters to newspapers. While it is easy to parody old buffers who warn that the split infinitive will lead to the end of civilised society, there are all too many young people who discover the importance of grammar the hard way when their misspelt, ungrammatical job applications hit the employer's bin. Into the battlefield of grammar and standard English, John Honey will next week toss his latest grenade with publication of a book attacking the "fantasies, fabrications and unproven hypotheses" of his fellow academics, and the dire effect they have had on the education of hundreds of thousands of children.

It is a serious charge, one which Anne Barnes, secretary of the National Association for the Teaching of English, has already dismissed as and which looks sure to cause outrage at next Off tae cyberspace IIWMlia MIMW I Will 1HW If "surfing the net" sounds a bit absurd, try as schoolchildren throughout Scotland are being urged to do. Meaning to wander or go for a stroll, the Scots word gets closer to the actual activity the often aimless but enjoyable exploration of cyberspace that both kids and adults indulge in. It is an example of the language adapting to the next century, say its advocates, who are using new technology in a determined attempt Take note: a page from the forthcoming Scottish language dictionary for schools on the Internet she said. Most of the complaints about pupils' English were related to lack of rigorous teaching and reluctance to apply the rules of grammar. "There is a completely different attitude to minority languages now.

There is no reason why you can't learn Scots grammar alongside English, like French or German." A more serious objection, concedes Ms Macleod, is the pressure on curriculum time in schools, but she feels Scots can be introduced in English lessons. "What we are trying to do is to instill attitudes and open up possibilities as much as pushing things into little heads. We don't want to destroy what's there, the language children bring to school." Apart from its literary tradition, Scots is well worth preserving, she argues in the dictionary. "There are many things which you can say in Scots which are much more difficult to express in English. Just try to find one English word for swither, dreich, fushionless or dwam and you will see how hard it is." The Scots School Dictionary, 5.99, Chambers.

Border, a series of initiatives by the Scottish National Dictionary Association are meeting with some success in encouraging speaking and writing in Scots in schools. The Scuil Wab snda.org.uk) aimed at children and providing support materials for teachers, includes a "net stravaiger" guiding them to other Scottish websites, a "word snowker" asking children to report Scots words they hear or read, and a word of the month. August's word is "scuil" and after hearing about the Greek origins of the word, visitors to the website are asked: "Ye micht be at the Big Scuil noo, but dae ye mind the Wee Scuil ye gaed tae as a bairn? Or if ye come fae the nor-east Scotland, ye micht hae wee brithers an sisters that ging tae the Little Skweelie Among linked websites is the Aiberdeen Univairsitte Scots Leid Quorum which greets callers with "fit lyke" in true Aberdeenshire to revive Scots. As the standard English debate rages south of the fashion and makes its attitude quite clear. "Scots is a minority language which has been under attack by certain sections of Scottish society and the British establishment for near on 300 years." The association's next project, funded by Lottery money, is a CD Rom of the Scots School Dictionary, which has been selling well despite restricted schoolbook budgets.

The object is not to oust standard English from the classroom, insists Iseabail Macleod, co-editor of the dictionary. "Everybody has to learn English nowadays. The attitude in the past was that you had to learn English and leave your Scots behind to get on in the world. But you don't have to have one language most of the world works on two." Objections that children might become confused could be refuted by modern thinking on languages, WOVEN NAMETAPES Quality since 1S48 AvaMbto from mew dnmmitunt -i nLwi i III. AlriaH JQTWt KWW.

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