A Comparison of Oral and Written Code Elaboration

Data obtained from 80 first year university students of middle-class and working-class origin were used to explore aspects of the relationships between oral and written language systems. Subjects participated in a group testing situation (written) and an individual interview (oral). The analysis, based on code elaboration theory, compared oral and written language protocols along the dimensions of structural complexity, language elaboration, verb complexity and personal reference. Results indicate that, in relation to oral systems, written systems were more complex in structure; revealed more adjectival but less adverbial elaboration; showed more complex verb structures; but contained fewer indices of personal reference.

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