This study examines the work of children's writers from the 19th and 20th centuries in order to expose the persuasive power of language. Looking at the work of 19th century English writers of juvenile fiction, Knowles and Malmkjaer expose the colonial and class assumptions on which the books were predicated. In the modern teen novel and the work of Roald Dahl the authors find contemporary attempts to control children within socially established frameworks. Other authors discussed include, Oscar Wilde, E. Nesbit, Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis.

This study examines the work of children's writers from the 19th and 20th centuries in order to expose the persuasive power of language. Looking at the work of 19th century English writers of juvenile fiction, Knowles and Malmkjaer expose the colonial and class assumptions on which the books were predicated. In the modern teen novel and the work of Roald Dahl the authors find contemporary attempts to control children within socially established frameworks. Other authors discussed include, Oscar Wilde, E. Nesbit, Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis.

This original collection revisits and re-evaluates Chomsky's classic competence/performance distinction from a wide variety of perspectives and areas of expertise. The discussion is placed within a broad framework, taking account of a view of language both as a societal construct and as internal, developing within the mind and/or brain. Renowned experts in the fields of lexis, sociolinguistics, connectionism, Universal Grammar, language testing and interlanguage draw together ideas from the most recent developments in second language learning and psychological theory. Germane to their debate...