History of the word Harlot

Essay by LetsRaveTillDawnHigh School, 12th gradeA, February 2009

download word file, 6 pages 5.0 1 reviews

There are many ways in which language and literacy practices vary among homes and communities. Just about every professional community has its own language or own jargon. Teaching is no different; there are many different variations in the educational environment. There are also implications with in the educational environment that are derived from these variants. Some of the variations that will be discussed are sociocultural factors. This means that they are found as part of society, but are particular to a certain culture. Some of the variants include social class, how different social class use language, the discriminatory language used in cultures, and how ethnicity and growing up learning another language affects a person learning English.

Sociocultural FactorsThere are many sociocultural factors that influence language variation. Social class has a major bearing on the way we use language. Emmitt, Pollock & Komescaroff (2003) describes how different classes use different codes of language.

Another sociocultural factor which shapes our language is the way we use discriminatory terms. The way that the English language is occasionally inadvertently sexist discriminates against groups and has therefore been altered to become less discriminatory. Ethnicity can be seen too as a major factor in language variation. People who do not speak English as their first language have to understand the new language conventions. These are just a few sociocultural factors that influence language variation.

Social class is one of the major factors when it comes to looking at language variation. Studies have shown that there are communities of middle class, influenced by formal schooling and technologically advanced society shaping working class communities (Heath 1999). Emmitt Pollock & Komescaroff (2003) describe how different classes us different codes, an elaborated or restricted code. An elaborated code is one that is highly based on meaning and less likely to...