Generally, the points of view noted above may be seen as the deficit and
difference positions on language (see Edwards, 1979a; Hudson, 1980). The
former, fuelled substantially by the writings of Bernstein on elaborated and
restricted codes, is more and more giving way to the latter which, as we have
seen, has the force of linguistic and anthropological evidence behind it. This
does not mean that the deficit viewpoint is entirely without current proponents.
As examples, we might cite the work of Tough (1977) in the United
Kingdom and Ramey and Campbell (1977, 1979) in the United States, who
discuss the developmental (including linguistic) retardation among poor
children supposedly deprived of early stimulation and learning experiences.
We will return to these matters in the following sections, for the difference deficit issue underlies much of the sociolinguistic investigation in education.
We have simply been concerned here to delineate the positions as they bear
upon the pre-school child. It is clear that we agree with Gumperz and
Hernandez-Chavez (1972) when they state that for all children, regardless of
dialect, there exists "control of a fully formed grammatical system" (p. 84)
at the time of school entry (although perhaps "well-formed" might be
slightly more accurate here).