CLOZE PROCEDURE AS A TECHNIQUE FOR THE INVESTXGATION OF SOCIAL CLASS DIFFERENCES IN LANGUAGE USAGE

Cloze procedure was used to investigate the nature and extent of the differences in verbal behaviour of working and middle class boys. Words were deleted in sentences taken from ‘ formal ’ and ‘ informal ’, middle and working class letters and from ‘ middle and working class oral utterances. k h e results showed that the middle class boys used a wider range of words and preferred different words in this situation. The working class boys showed more conformity in their responses than the middle class boys, especially for the written materials. \ Fruitful lines for further research on ‘ restricted ’ and ‘ elaborated ’ codes are discussed. PROBLEM Bernstein (1961, 1962a, 1962b) has drawn a distinction between ‘ restricted ’ and ‘ elaborated ’ codes. He has formulated rules for separating them empirically and commented upon the functional significance of this differentiation. The evidence he has collected is consistent with his theoretical premises. There are many types of ‘ restricted ’ code, but Bernstein is particularly interested in the one to which many working class people may bc currently confined. He suggests that working clas