The language of poverty or the effects of language codes of lower social class children on educational process

The objective of this study is to reveal the relations between the problems of children abandoning secondary education in family and educational process and their sociolinguistic features due to their academic failure. In particular, Basil Bernstein’s opinion related to children belonging to different social classes on their having different language codes because of their socio-economic and cultural properties was the starting point in our study. The research sheds light on the socio-linguistic dimension underlying school failure of 8 students suspended from the school due to absenteeism while studying at compulsory educational institutions within the vicinity of Erzincan province in 2012-2013 school terms. Theoretical background of the study concentrates on communication problems and failure related to family structure and school environment of the students. The research realized as a focus work is a descriptive study in which qualitative data collection and evaluation methods were performed. The preliminary preparation of the study including literature review lasted six months while the field study lasted two months. Through focus group and in-depth interviews, data were collected related to the problems of children in family and school lives and their expectations from parents, teachers and other institutions and suggestions on the subject were proposed related to theoretical background and the relevant literature.