IjaplicatioDS / 185
... when we consider that it has often been cIalaed that one of
the chief functions of the first school is to Coapensate for the
linguistic deficiencies believed to be characteristic of many
lower class homes, it is ironic to see just how restricted are the
opportunities provided in many classrooms for children to exploit
the linguistic resources they show evidence of possessing in their
Interactions with adults at home. (Velis,1986:89)
Children's talk with teachers, as opposed with parents, was found of
lower syntactic complexity, more restricted to the 'here and now', and
reduced to short utterances; teachers'∙ style of interaction was found
less conducive to elaboration of meanings (and reducing children's
participation 'into an exerci∙e of guessing what is in the teacher's
mind', page 86).
But when it comes to suggesting what teachers can do about it, it amounts
to giving more individualized attention and instruction to the children,
which teachers will find hard to implement, especially with large classes.
It seems that a situation is envisaged where the 'good' teacher will try
to replicate the patterns of Interaction of the home and adopt them as
his model of classroom discourse (Veils,1986:89-92). The importance of
teachers' recognition that children have developed learning strategies
outside the classroom is pointed out (Veils,1986:92), but the implica-
tions for teachers are not developed; not enough consideration is given
to the nature of teaching and schooling, so that the teachers' tendency to
regard parents as antagonists is not thoroughly challenged.
More convincing examples of integration of home experience and school
learning are to be found in studies within the ethnographic tradition;
they tend to be less generic as they address specific issues, for example:
- cohesion in oral discourse strategies of children's narratives at home
and possible ways of using them for written narratives at school
(Michaels,1981; Collins and Michaels,1986)
- literacy events at home and the utilization of their characteristics to
introduce children to literacy (Heath,1983)