‘Classical’ Verbal Deficit Theory

In classical verbal deficit theory the dichotomy is seen primarily in psychological and folk-linguistic terms: the high variety contains some x-formula ensuring success at school, and the low variety contains a y-formula which steers pupils inexorably towards failure. In view of the fact that Bernstein's attempt to dissociate his own work from the verbal deficit theory has further complicated. The concept of verbal deficit itself, the only way to proceed towards a definition is to begin by examining a corpus of writings whose status as verbal deficit theories has not seriously been called into question, and which for that reason may aptly be referred to as examples of classical verbal deficit theory. By treating the relationship between speech and cognitive development as an article of faith, verbal deficit theories mystify the whole area of language, social class and education.