The nationalisation of English*

Abstract

This paper challenges the new, legally‐binding provision that spoken Standard English should be taught to all school pupils who do not already speak it. The rationale for this proposal is contained in a document known as the Cox Report, which sets out the compulsory curriculum for the teaching of English. The general argument of the paper is that this move must be opposed because its implications are socially sinister. More specifically, it is based on a flawed description of spoken Standard and nonStandard; the additive principle is socially naive and ignores well‐documented consequences; the proposed pedagogy has no credibility nor is it grounded in proven practice; the important notion of covert prestige is not accommodated. The critique is then extended to the pervasive use in the Cox Report of the concept of appropriateness, since it does not resolve how and by whom it is determined and appears to propose replacing the pursuit of one correct language with multi‐correctnesses. Against this is the proposition that appropriateness can be and often is a matter of flexibility, negotiation and contestation.

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