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The Social Psychology of Language: a Perspective for the 1980S. Focus

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The Social Psychology of Language: a Perspective for the 1980S. Focus DOCUMENT RESUME ED 214 381 FL 012 830 AUTHOR Lambert, Wallace E. TITLE 'The Social Psychology of Language: A Perspective for I, the 1980s. Focus, Number 5. _INSTITUTION. InterAmerica Research Associates.,.Rosslyn, Va.; National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, Arlington, Va: SPONS AGENCY National Inst. of Education (DHEW), Washington,'D.C.; Office of Bilingual Education and Minori,ty Languages Affairs (ED), Washington, D.C. PUB DATE Feb 81 CONTRACT 400-80-004 NOTE, 9p.; Reprint of paper preiented at theInternational Conference on Social Psychology and Language (Brristol, England, July 1979). AVAILABLE FROM InterAmerica ResearCh Associates, Inc., National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, 1300 Wilson Boulevaid, Suite B2 -11., Rosslyn,VA 22209 ($1.005. EDRS PRICE MFOl'Plus Postage. PC Not Available fromEDRS. DESCRIPTORS Bias; *Cross Cultural Training; Cultural Pluralism; Ethnocentrism; *Language; *Language Attitudes; Psycholinguistics; *Second Language. Learning; *Social Integration; *Social Psychology; Sociolinguistics 'IDENTIFIERS Quebec 4 ABSTRACT Social prOblems such as prejudice, discrimination, and societal unfairness are examined from, the perspective.of their association with language. Researck*in the psychology of language is reviewed with regard to these issues and with particular referenceto the situation in Quebec. The first-question addressed is therole that attitudes play both, as determiners of the rate'of acquisition of a second or foreign language and as outcome effects attributable to the degree of skill, or lack of Skill attained in the study ofthe other language.. A second issue is the unfairness in educational 'systems and the connection rith language styles and'attitudes. The third topic'addressed i,the decline in interest in the study of foreign languages and the widespread immigration ofspeakers of other languages. A plan is proposed for sharing languages in the community rather than Concentrating on language instruction inthe schools. Finally, the demand far social and political independenceon the part of ciatural and linguistic minorities is looked at;in 'relation,to ',native and second language instruction. One conclusion isthat those t' involved with the psychology of language, need to turn their attention to broad sociopolitical issues that impingeon language in society. (AMH) S 1- ************************************************i********************** Reprpductions supplied by EDRS are the best thatcan be made from the original document. K *********************************************************************** .4' ve EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS NATIONAL INSTITUTEOF EOUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES MATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLY INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC/ HAS BEEN GRANTED BY The document hasbeen reproduced as eceeredrot.the person or orpanaavon Al& ou9Mau/1g41 Minor changes havebeen made to mprove eePrOOUCDOn quaky PoIntS Of view TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES or ocerbons stated In this O0C0 meat do not necessarily represent (Awl NIE INFORMATION CENTERRIC).". position or poky, February 1981 11140141. FOR BILIKRALoucanon Presenting Thought-Provoking Papers onBilingual Education Number 5 The Social Psychologyof Language: A Perspective forthy' 1980s Wallace E. Lambert attention to,a selection of formaHon of. a propose to do here is to direct your Since the early 'fifties, I have watched the problems which I feel our group serious these old'and stubborn social fraternity of men an4women who have in common a because of the'new and language. What on the is now ready to profitably reexathine interest in the social psychology of that has evolved. international group of powerful sodal psychology of language surface seems to unite this diversified, presented more with language and The selection, of course, is-a personal one, people is an` amazement 'and fascination crystal-ball reading for the field as a life. At a deeper level, as illustration than as the powerful influence it has on social from individual) basic common interest, whole. As you will see, the examples range howefer, I notice another, more attitudes, to broader social issuesinvolving namely an amazement and concern that the processesof pre- issues,like judice, discrimination, and other unattractive aspectsof social life so often get associated with language.It is this deeper level of unification that shapes my perspectiveon what directionsour subfield will likely take in thefuture. From the start of the movement in thefifties, those in- About the Author volved have made substantial contributionsand helped give Wallace E. Lambert is a professor ofpsychology at life and structure to a promising newdiscipline. In this short accompaniments have been McGill University, a fellow in theCanadian Royal time span, language and its social National Academy of explored from various vantage points so tl at now we have a Society, and a member of the Education. He received his training. at BrownUniver- healthy store of facts; theories have moy from the home- Colgate University,the University of North spun, hunch-testing stage torespectable levels of sophistica- sity, Carolina, and, for short periods, atCambridge Univer- tion; and an impressive numberOfmrethodologiesas gogd sity and l'Universite de Paris. Hehas been aksiting as anything in thehard scienceshave been carefullyand professor at numerous American universities aswell as -systematically developed. Ingenuity, vitality,and concern in France, the Philippines, andThailand. have become the hallmarks of the field. My main argument-in this paper isthat the practitioners Wallace Lambert's interests in social andexperi- psycho-,. of this new field of inquiry, with theirparticular perspective, mental psychology,cross-nationalstudies, his pub- are now well prepared toapply their accumulated skills to linguistics, and sociolinguistics are reflected in stubborn social problems, and I am convincedthat this parti- lications, which include thefollowingtitles:Social cular perspective, shaped as it is by afocus on language, is in- Psychology, a textbook written in collaborationwith his valuable for the solution of, these problems.My hope is that brother, William W. Lambert, Children'sViews of Foreign 0 the problems weaddress in the 1980s will reflect the more Peoples. A Cross-NationalStudy,written with Otto with G rry general`conceins of behavioral scientistsprejudice,dis- Klineberg three titles written in collaboration Children. The St N,crimination, and societal unfairness, that is,the issues that Richard Tucker, Bilingua! Education of tihelped unite the fraternity members in thefirst place. What I Lambert Experiment, French Speaker's Skillwith Grammatical Gender: An Example of Rule-GovernedBehavior, and Tx, Vous Listed: A Social Psychology of Forms ofAddress, Atha. C.S 1 ' I-Isl. "The Social Psychology of Language. APerspective for the tudes and Motwahmi in Second LanguageLearning, fwrittenain 1980s," by Wallace E. Lambert, waspresented at the International collaboration with Robert C. Gardner,and Language, Conference on Social Psychology and Languagein Bristol, England Psychology and Culture: Essays by W.E.Lambert, edited by in July1979.This paper appears in a collection ofconference with J. Flamers Psychological-Perceptions, by H. Giles, A.S. Dill. His most recent work, written papers, entitled Language: Social Values: A Cross- W.P. Robinson, and P.M.'Smith (eds.),published by Pergamon and N. Frasure-Smith, is Child Rearing Press Ltd. (Oxford) in 1980. This material isreproduced by permis- National Study (New York. PraegerPublishers, June sion. 1979). -The author is greatly indebted to N.Sidoti and D.M. Taylor for advice and suggestions about the substance ofthis paper. schools, the community, and the whole society. In eachcase, telligence, can upset and disturb the motivation needed to language is a critical faCtor. The sixty-four thousand dollar learn the other group's language, just as open, inquisitive and questions, however, are: friendly attitudes can enhance and enliven the language Will we have the courage to "seriously confront these learning process. We also saw that parental attitudes, positive problems, equipped as we,are now? or negative, are picked up by children, so that the pupils bring a family complex of attitudes to the language class with Will we have the persistence to carry through to practi- them. Gardner and Smythe (1975) have gone further in ex- cal solutions? ploring these aspects of attitudes and have found that per- sistence in language study also hinges in large part on the atti- Attitudes as Input and Outcome reatures of tudes the pupil brings to school. Language Study But there is much more to be done in this domain, andwe First of all, it seems to me that we are now in a good position will continue to rely on Gardner and others for more infor- to take a more comprehensive view of the roles that attitudes mation. For instance, Genesee and Hamayan (1979) working play both as _determiners or predictors of the rate oft skill with Grade 1 Anglo-Canadian pupils did not find any neat, amassment in a second or..):reign language and as outcome simple relationship between attitufles and second-language effects attributable to the gree.of skill or lack t :If skill at- achievement, indicating that we need to explore the whole tained in the study of the other language. So far, we have two developmental course of attitudes as applied to language separate streams of research on this important issue, one on learning. Furthermore, Clement, Gardner, and Smythe (1977) the determiner
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