To discuss here any further the issues involved in the dissemination of
information about language and linguistics would take me too far from my
main theme, so I will make just a few concluding comments central to any
application of sociolinguistics. Information is never neutral: it is always
transmitted in the face of prevailing expectations, preconceptions and
entrenched professional interests. Any serious discussion of such problems
would have to examine the way in which such prevailing views are supported
and legitimated by institutions. In Britain, this would involve, for example, a
study of the role of NATE (National Association for the Teaching of
English) and its journal English in Education in forming the ideas of
teachers, teacher-advisers and other educationalists. Or see Gordon (1980)
or Stubbs (1980, Chapter 7) for discussions of the way in which Bernstein's
ideas have often been distorted and simplified in their transmission to
teachers and their subsequent application. To take a more general example:
sociolinguistics is the study of language variation. It argues, contrary to
much recent theoretical linguistics, that language is inherently heterogeneous.
When they have written on educational issues, sociolinguists have
therefore tended to stress the value of diversity, and have seen bidialecalism,
bilingualism and biliteracy as positive resources which teachers can use
and encourage. By and large, however, the educational system, and government
itself, has seen such diversity as a problem. For such reasons and
others, applied sociolinguistics cannot avoid consideration of the practical
sociology of knowledge.