Pit Corder

Stephen Pit Corder (6 October 1918 – 27 January 1990 and was instrumental in developing the field of applied linguistics in the United Kingdom.

Early life Pit Corder was born at 4 Bootham Terrace, York, into a Quaker family. His father, Philip Corder (b. 1885), was a schoolteacher of English origin, and his mother, Johanna Adriana van der Mersch (b. 1887), was Dutch. He went on to read modern languages at Merton College, Oxford, from 1936 to 1939.

After Oxford, Corder taught at Great Ayton Friends' School until serving in the Friends' Ambulance Unit during World War II in Finland and Egypt, having received exemption from military service as a conscientious objector. Corder established a Lectureship and Department of Applied Linguistics at Edinburgh in 1964.

Corder was the first president (1967–70) of the British Association for Applied Linguistics.

Notable publications Corder has produced multiple publications which have influenced the field of applied linguistics: Corder, S. P. (1960) An intermediate English practice book. Longman. Corder, S. P. (1967) "The significance of learner's errors." International Review of Applied Linguistics, 5: 161–170. Corder, S. P. (1973) Introducing applied linguistics. Penguin Education (at Google Books). Corder, S. P. (1981) Error Analysis and Interlanguage. Oxford University Press.

In Error Analysis and Interlanguage, Corder introduced the idea that the learning of a second or foreign language is developmental and can be studied by analysing the errors that learners make. These errors should be viewed as signs of positive language development rather than deficiencies. Corder's argument that learner language, later termed 'interlanguage' by Larry Selinker (1972), is a language in its own right is now generally accepted.