Social Class and Code Elaboration in Written Communication

The present study sought to test the tenability of Bernstein's socio-linguistic theory of ' elaborated' and restricted' coding orientations at the tertiary educational level, and in an Australian socio-cultural context. Differences in overall coding orientation were established for working-class and middle-class groups. In contrast to previous studies in the area, the social class groups were not contrasted on single coding dimensions, but in the totality of their coding orientation on the elaborated/restricted continuum.