Language Codes

Basil Bernstein ("Social Class and Linguistic Development: A Theory of Social Learning", 1961) has argued that one way the hidden curriculum comes into play is through the language codes that a child uses.

In simple terms, Bernstein argues that one form of language code (elaborated) is the norm for middle class adults (such as teachers) and their children, whilst another form (restricted) is the norm for working class adults and their children, mainly because middle class children are more likely to have been socialised in a home environment that creates an elaborated language code.

In educational terms, the argument here is that middle class children and their teachers "speak the same language" within the school. 

Working class children - because they effectively have to learn this "new" (elaborated) language code - are at an immediate disadvantage to their middle class peers when it comes to the formal learning process.

This follows because, within the school, the skills a child is required to show are more likely to be bound-up with the use of elaborated codes of speech (since a pupil will have to show an ability to communicate through their verbal and written work with an audience that is not part of their immediate social group).

Bernstein has sometimes been criticised for the implication that one form of language usage (restricted) is inferior to another form (elaborated) - the two terms themselves seem to support such an inference. However, Bernstein is not arguing that working class children are "culturally deprived"; rather, his argument is that the two codes are sufficiently different to give middle class children an advantage within the education system.

This is not, of course, to say that more-telling criticisms have not been made of Bernstein's basic argument...