Why Language Is Important

A recent report in the London Times newspaper highlights the importance of effective language teaching with lessons for us here on this
side of the Atlantic.

The British authorities, following a trend set in the U.S., have taken to alerting neighborhoods when a convicted child molester moves into the area. This has resulted in violent protests and rioting in towns across the country. In one unfortunate incident, a doctor in pediatric medicine was forced to flee from her home in Wales after neighbors daubed the word "paedo" (British spelling of "pedo") over the walls of her house in the belief, think local police, that she was a professional pedophile.

Both the words pediatrician and pedophile derive from the Greek work for a child. There is, however, a big difference between a person who devotes his or her life to the care of children and a person who is sexually attracted to them. Should the thugs who forced this doctor and caregiver out of her home through their presumed ignorance of this major distinction be expected to know the difference? Yes, after all, many people will, at some time or another, visit a pediatrician and confusing a medical specialist with a child molester could have serious conse-
quences.

In the United States, a Washington bureaucrat lost his job after he used the word "niggardly" (which means "stingy") in a report. This word derives from "nig," an old English word for a miser and has nothing to do with the racial epithet that comes from the Latin word for black.
As language educators, it is our job to enhance the vocabulary and language skills of our pupils. Encouraging self-expression is a wonderful thing, but, if a language learner cannot effectively communicate with others, then that self-expression is a terrible waste. Part of the rationale behind the "back to basics" movement that is sweeping the world of literacy education is the recognition that, without lessons in structured language, children cannot grow up to be effective communicators and their lives will be less enriched because of this lack of linguis-
tic abilities.

It is important for young language learners to express themselves through means of dialogue journals, essays, short stories, and letters. It is also important that teachers check what the students have written and respond by correcting mistakes where appropriate. The ability to spell words is vital; spell-checkers are marvelous tools but even they are fallible.

The writer of the Times article indicates that we may be suffering from a guilt complex about the overwhelming success of the English language around the world that has made us too "ashamed" to learn it properly. I think most of us would agree with the writer when she concludes, "without language we cannot communicate; without communication we cannot understand and without understanding we cannot survive. Lan-guage is the most essential of all the skills of modern life and our civilization will not progress until we master it."

Ben Ward is the Editor of American Language Review