Basil bernstein and language codes

The underlying theory

The construct of elaborated and restricted language codes was introduced by Basil Bernstein in 1971, as a way of accounting for the relatively poor performance of working-class pupils on language-based subjects, when they were achieving as well as their middle-class counterparts on mathematical topics.

Interestingly, it was stimulated directly by his experience of teaching in further education.

What is it about academic writers? Even someone as closely attuned as Bernstein to the ways in which language is actually used, writes in a wilfully obscurantist manner. Actually, it is fasicnating to turn Bernstein's ideas onto himself...It is frequently misunderstood, largely because of Bernstein's unfortunate choice of labels.

The "restricted" code does not refer to restricted vocabulary, and the "elaborated" code does not entail flowery use of language. There is