ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that language is a social practice through which the world is represented. It also discusses the foundational theories and models of linguistics and its subfield, sociolinguistics, in order to critically examine the discourse of the UK education system. The chapter focuses on the concept of maladministration, which is a theoretically under-developed area of concern, and neglected both by linguists and communication scholars. It presents a schematic overview of the discourse of maladministration. The chapter provides specific recommendations and assess the current status of maladministration through the lens of linguistics. It attempts to illuminate the role of language in educational discourse. The chapter argues that linguistic features and structures are not arbitrary, yet through CDA it is evident that the hidden ideologies and power relations come into play in administrative and political language. In order to bridge the views of different conceptual frameworks the contribution adopts the view that sociolinguistics and discourse analysis are closely interwoven and interdependent.
