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This paper attempts to examine critically the notion of a ‘natural’acquisition of language, and to explore the history of ideas about language which underlie current second language acquisition theories and theories of language in education. It places these theories in the context of a discussion of contemporary schooling, to argue that the ‘naturalizing’ of achievement as ability, combined with an evaluative school structure, works to deny certain students access to the criteria of evaluation on which their access to further education depends. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]