Describes the controversial Deficit Theory in relation to Mary Mason's position that educational failure and linguistic "handicap" or "deficit" are directly related. Argues that Mason's position reveals a limited understanding of both linguistics to education and the process of sociocultural transmission. Questions the quality…

This issue dealing with language discusses language and social structure, social progress and sociolinguistics, oral and literate traditions, Portuguese Creole dialects in West Africa, a framework for describing how languages spread, socio-cultural conflict and bilingual education, linguistic variation in one-language societies, the language…