Spoken and Written Language

This chapter explores the syntactic differences between spoken and written language, describing the links between syntactic theory and written language and drawing out the implications for theories of language acquisition. It points up the consequences for the learning of written language in school and their relevance for current debate in Britain and elsewhere about standards of literacy and standards of teaching and assessment. In particular, it discusses the difficulties posed by the proposed testing of 7-year-olds and the need to develop new guidelines for the wording of questions in written examinations intended for all 16-year-olds.