deficit hypothesis

In SOCIOLINGUISTICS and EDUCATIONAL LINGUISTICS, the name given to the view that some children, especially those belonging to an ethnic minority or with a working-class background, lack a sufficiently wide range of GRAMMATICAL constructions and vocabulary to be able to express complex ideas, such as will be needed for success in school. An unfashionable hypothesis in the intellectual climate of the present day, it is contrasted with the difference hypothesis – the view that the language used by such children is simply different from that found in middle-class children, though its social standing is lower. The difference hypothesis views all DIALECTS as intrinsically equal and able to express ideas of any complexity, though children who speak non-STANDARD dialects may not have had the same kind of opportunity or motivation to use their language in demanding educational contexts.