Now, in many ways the restricted code, and I'm going to use the
words "restricted code", which refers to language that has a very specific meaning,
but is understood by a particular group of people.
I'm going to use a sports example here. I'm from South Africa, and in
South Africa rugby is a sport known by most people, in fact, South
Africans are passionate about rugby.
Now, with my friends in South Africa
we would talk about the rugby team, we
would talk about the different positions. Some of the
positions on a rugby team are called "props", "hookers", "flanks", "wing".
Now, if I was having a conversation with my friends
about rugby and about the hooker that threw the ball
to the flank, somebody from Japan,
or from America or from England, for instance,
where I'm assuming that rugby is not so followed,
might have difficulty following that conversation -
unless we explained those concepts and what those positions meant.
So, in other words, a hooker on a rugby team would be somebody who throws the
ball into a line out, which is two lines of players. And so, that is one of the positions.
Or the hooker, his position is in a scrum,
in a rugby game.
But even as I'm explaining, I'm using the words "line up" and "scrum", it would
be difficult to understand. And you can see the restricted codes in
language, and how that can be used to deny access, to exclude in many ways.
Of course, elaborated codes would be very much where you open up that conversation,
like I've been trying to do it rightly, trying to explain the meaning
of how a hooker plays a position in a rugby team.
Or if somebody was taking a penalty, to kick it
through the goal posts, the process how a person would
place the ball down, and then try to kick the
ball through the two posts that are on the rugby field.
Now, that would be explaining it and
opening up the restricted code, to have a more shared meaning of what the concepts
of the words mean. Also, to enable learning to happen.
Now, language can also be powerful.
And the power of language is because language in many contexts has cultural and
symbolic capital. In many contexts, language is
seen as something that enables access,
that will give people power in certain positions,
or give people privilege in certain contexts.
And think about, for instance, the language English, in
your context, how is English as a language interpreted?
Is it seen to give people access to certain things, is it seen as giving
people privilege to certain parts, is it seen
as giving people power in some ways to people?
Now, in South Africa, and I want to draw your attention to the quotation of
Jonathan Jansen, where he talks about how language
is used to deny access to many people
who are African, or didn't speak Afrikaans in higher education. But also in schools,
South Africa during apartheid, denied access to many learners, or kept
schools separate or segregated on the basis of race.
Post-apartheid, many schools wanted to maintain that position,
wanted to mind
the privileges, and the powers that some schools came invested with.
And so they denied access on the basis of language.
So, if somebody didn't speak the language
Afrikaans, you couldn't come to that school.
So, whilst race was no longer to be used to deny access, language could also be.
So, in some ways language can give you power,
it can give you privilege, it can give you access.
But language can also be used to deny access, to deny privilege, and also to discriminate.
Language as disenfranchising, and that's a really useful, quotation.
"Teachers who favor the use of English fail to
also recognise that privileging a foreign language reinforces cultural imperialism."
But not only that. Think about how young children learn.
Is it easier to learn in mother tongue?
To gain an understanding of difficult concepts in a
language that is far more natural to you,
rather than a second language?
Think about you, would it have been easier for you
to have learnt some difficult concepts, particularly early in your life?
Would it have been easier to have learnt in your mother tongue?
In the language of the home and the context?
Or would it have been more easier to have learnt it
with a second language?
I'm sure the answer would be with the first language, the mother tongue.
So many schools, particularly when they
are teaching particularly early concepts
and introducing early concepts to learners,
are teaching in the language of the country, or what we call
the mother tongue language. Now, reframing communication, and I
think this quotation really brings the session really well together.
"In the old frame you set the children down and lecture, lecture, lecture."
Now, we've spoken about lecture and what it does, right?
"And then you ask the children, 'do you understand?'
And they will answer, 'yes sir'.