The main question to be discussed in this chapter is: what kind of under
standing of language is relevant in teaching the mother tongue or foreign
languages, or in teaching in general? Which linguistic concepts should be
presented to teachers and how? What therefore is the relation between
linguistics and teacher-training? Language is complex, so some simplification In the presentation is inevitable; but how can the simplification be
managed without distorting the material or patronising the audience? These
questions are not often discussed explicitly by linguistics, although it is only
professional linguists who have the necessary knowledge and full-time
commitment to linguistics which would allow them to select what is relevant
to teachers, or to any other professionals. Educationalists could not be
expected to do this for the simple reason that there is so much in contemporary
linguistics which is of no direct relevance to education. It is
arguably a social responsibility of linguists as a profession to present to
non-linguists in an accessible way the aspects of knowledge about language
which are of important practical value.