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Language for its own sake: An A-level in Linguistics?

Published Feb 2007 in “English Drama Media“, the magazine of the National Association for the Teaching of English, pp 21-26.

Abstract

At the moment, A-level courses are available in English Language or English Literature, in a foreign language, in psychology, and in a host of other subjects that have something to do with language; but not in linguistics, the study of language for its own sake. Fifty years ago this would have been an entirely natural state of affairs – linguistics hardly existed even in our universities, let alone in our schools. Neither linguistics nor the schools were ready for it. But since then the world has moved on. To at least some people, the list of A-levels has an obvious gap where Linguistics should be. This article explains why, and what some of us are doing about it.