The Standard English Dialect

from "English Today"

The HMI report entitled "English from 5 to 16: The Responses" (Department of Education and Science, England and Wales,1986) seeks among other things to indicate just what it understands by "English". In making its position clear as regards the nature of "Standard English" the report has quoted from an early issue of English Today. We reproduce the quotation below (1), followed by the Inspectorate's elaboration(2) a view which we fully endorse:

1. Standard English dialect (remember we are referring to patterns of grammar and vocabulary but not to pronunciation) has no local base. On the contrary it is accepted throughout the English-using world. And it is spoken with any accent. Consequently it is the only dialect which is neither localised in its currency nor paired solely with its local accent . . .
There are remarkably few variations in grammar in Standard English, whether the writer comes from Britain or Ghana or Canada or Hong Kong or India or the United States. There are a number of variations in vocabulary ... but they are quickly learned and rarely cause more than momentary hesitations in comprehension.' (Peter Strevens: 'Standards and the Standard Language' in English To-day Vol. 2 April 1985).

2. ln its extraordinary currency, its homogeneous form and in the wide range of uses for which it is employed, lies the importance of the Standard English dialect, and there can be no doubt that ease and familiarity in using and responding to it must be central to the work of all English teachers. In an English speaking country to deprive pupils of such ease and familiarity with standard spoken and written forms is to deny some of their rights as citizens. This is not to say that non-standard forms are inherently inferior, or limited in their capacity to convey meaning; in some respects indeed they may be 'superior' - it has long been recognised that non-standard dialects can embrace some kinds of activity and feeling with a force which may be lacking in standard forms and usages. A well-devised language education will recognise these aspects of standard and non-standard. It will also recognise the importance of repertoire. Confidence and encouragement lie at the core of a child's language development in school and for many pupils the most effective route toward a grasp of standard forms may well be through the non-standard. This is to reinforce long-standing educational principles concerning the development of competence and understanding by working from the familiar to the less familiar.