2011-09-19, 00:33
#1
Hjälp mig att hitta felen som jag gjort så slipper min lärare. = Jag får bättre betyg samt att ni kan känna er duktiga som glänser med er eminenta engelska.
Children’s ability to speak and write
It is widely believed that children today cannot speak or write properly any longer. Is that really the case? In this short essay I will show you that kid’s ability to handle the language is probably better than ever. This myth may soon be broken, I hope.
This myth has existed since forever, almost. Complains about this can be found in both American and British newspapers several hundred years back in time. Ever since the eighteenth century to be precise, people have complained about the new generation’s knowledge concerned respective language. But if languages in general have become worse and worse ever since, would we then even be able to write books today? Probably not. But apparently we can, so the level of languages can not have been declining radically since the eighteenth century.
Marriage registers can actually help us break this myth. In 1850 in Wales and England a stunning amount of the brides and bridegrooms were not able to write their own names in the marriage register. 31 per cent of the bridegrooms and 49 per cent of the brides could not even write their own names. Only 50 years later, the overall percentage had declined to 3 per cent, 97 per cent could now write their names, a remarkable difference. So in these 50 years the level of the English language had become significantly much better. That is just another proof that challenges the statement that the level of the English language is constantly falling.
Beside the fact that there is no evidence what so ever that can prove that children´s language today are worse than before, when was this time, called “before”? When people are saying that languages in general were better before, they must be referring to a specific time. When was this time, the time so called “The Golden Age”? When children were so much more literate then they are today. But if there was a time such as this, when was it? It was certainly not in the 1850s when almost 50 per cent of the brides could not write their own names. Maybe somewhere between 1850 and 1940? Well at that time the population in England and Wales was not guaranteed a secondary education, and tertiary education was blocked to all but the rich and some lucky few. With that in mind, it seems highly unlikely that “The Golden Age” existed in that time span. Not either between 1940 and 1970 this time is likely to have taken place, complains about children´s language appeared during this time as well.
I believe that The golden Age never has taken place. I believe that the reason why we are complaining about the new generation’s language is because we are used to our own generations language and therefore we reject everything else that is different. As proven above, children of our time can both speak and write properly.
Source
James. Milroy, Language Myths (Penguin books, 1998).
Btw, hur hittar jag tillbaka till ett ämne som jag själv skapat?
Children’s ability to speak and write
It is widely believed that children today cannot speak or write properly any longer. Is that really the case? In this short essay I will show you that kid’s ability to handle the language is probably better than ever. This myth may soon be broken, I hope.
This myth has existed since forever, almost. Complains about this can be found in both American and British newspapers several hundred years back in time. Ever since the eighteenth century to be precise, people have complained about the new generation’s knowledge concerned respective language. But if languages in general have become worse and worse ever since, would we then even be able to write books today? Probably not. But apparently we can, so the level of languages can not have been declining radically since the eighteenth century.
Marriage registers can actually help us break this myth. In 1850 in Wales and England a stunning amount of the brides and bridegrooms were not able to write their own names in the marriage register. 31 per cent of the bridegrooms and 49 per cent of the brides could not even write their own names. Only 50 years later, the overall percentage had declined to 3 per cent, 97 per cent could now write their names, a remarkable difference. So in these 50 years the level of the English language had become significantly much better. That is just another proof that challenges the statement that the level of the English language is constantly falling.
Beside the fact that there is no evidence what so ever that can prove that children´s language today are worse than before, when was this time, called “before”? When people are saying that languages in general were better before, they must be referring to a specific time. When was this time, the time so called “The Golden Age”? When children were so much more literate then they are today. But if there was a time such as this, when was it? It was certainly not in the 1850s when almost 50 per cent of the brides could not write their own names. Maybe somewhere between 1850 and 1940? Well at that time the population in England and Wales was not guaranteed a secondary education, and tertiary education was blocked to all but the rich and some lucky few. With that in mind, it seems highly unlikely that “The Golden Age” existed in that time span. Not either between 1940 and 1970 this time is likely to have taken place, complains about children´s language appeared during this time as well.
I believe that The golden Age never has taken place. I believe that the reason why we are complaining about the new generation’s language is because we are used to our own generations language and therefore we reject everything else that is different. As proven above, children of our time can both speak and write properly.
Source
James. Milroy, Language Myths (Penguin books, 1998).
Btw, hur hittar jag tillbaka till ett ämne som jag själv skapat?
