ABSTRACT
The learning of academic subjects often poses problems for children because the language through which subjects are mediated can be very different from the everyday language encountered outside school. This article explicitly analyses such language problems in terms of vocabulary and syntax, in particular, and offers teachers tools for assessing for themselves the linguistic difficulties involved and for avoiding similar problems when writing their own work-cards or notes for children to work from. The article provides a useful complement to the previous paper by Katherine Perera. She demonstrates the usefulness of as explicit an analysis as possible but makes her approach accessible to teachers prepared to observe language in a principled and systematic manner.
