A history of the LAGB: The first fifty years

Abstract

Since its foundation in 1959, the Linguistics Association of Great Britain has established itself as one of the three associations for UK linguistics, alongside the much older Philological Society and its own child, the British Association for Applied Linguistics, though the relations among the associations are not always clear and can be somewhat problematic. The LAGB's main characteristic has always been its annual or twice-yearly conferences with a focus on language structure, but it also has its own journal and has taken a lead in promoting linguistics to funding and educational authorities. The paper outlines these events and how the LAGB's internal organisation has evolved to deal with them, and ends with three choices that face the association in its second half-century.

The politics of GCSE English Language

“…With regard to the teaching of secondary L1 English in England, this is most notable in the promotion of literary studies over language analysis. A possible explanation why so much English teaching is concerned with teaching literature is the longstanding issue with English teachers lacking specific linguistic subject knowledge (Carter, 2007;Giovanelli, 2015;Hudson, 2019;Watson, 2012). Nevertheless, it is also possible to detect government policy influences in this privileging of literature; a practice which dates back to the Newbolt Report (1921) and before (Mathieson, 1975).…”

“…This recent concern about the current GCSE English Language can be regarded as an iteration of long-standing concerns about the teaching of secondary English: the lack of a clear definition of English as a school subject 4 and the issue of many secondary English teachers lacking the relevant expertise in English language or linguistics (Hudson, 2019). However, this paper will argue that popular language ideologies current in England are also an important contributing factor in the shaping of both the NC for English and its associated final examination, the GCSE English Language qualification.…”