"Young readers should be corrected whenever they make a mistake"

The question as to whether children should be constantly corrected while reading is one which sparks up many different issues. By analysing a transcript of 7 year old George reading a section of Biff and Chip book, we can look at whether it is more effective to correct children during speech, or let them figure it out for themselves.

By looking at the transcript between George and his mother, it is evident that there are many examples of correction in order to improve George's speech. According to Skinner's operant conditioning theory, language needs to be learnt through positive and negative reinforcement. This way, a child will associate a reward (or no reward) with a response. By referring to the data given, George's mother provides positive reinforcement when he correctly says "they saw a lorry (2.0)" and "in (2.0) the street it was (.) loaded". She says "yeah that's right" and "that's it" in order to encourage George to carry on speaking the way he is. As well as this example of positive reinforcement, George's mum demonstrates negative reinforcement and corrects the verb “made” to become “may” in the middle of George’s utterance. This immediate response shows George that he used the incorrect morpheme because they had similar phonemes e.g. ‘may’ and ‘made’. The quick correction allows George to carry on so it doesn’t disrupt the flow of his utterance. Following the reinforcement, George uses the correct morpheme and says “may get worse”, just like it says in the book he is reading. By referring to Skinner’s theory, it is evident that using correction techniques such as positive/negative reinforcement, causes children’s miscues to be re-worded and improved.

Furthermore, Vygotsky’s theory of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) supports the statement that young readers need to be corrected when they make a mistake. When George makes a mistake in his speech, his mother is there to model and scaffold the language he uses, in order to enhance his development. For example, the mitigated imperative “watch the endings” in response to George missing out the pluralisation of “house”. Not only this, George realises he needs to use the standard term “we need” instead of “we never” after his mother uses a mitigated correction of “nooo” to highlight his error. By softening the harshness of her response, it indicates to George that he needs to self-correct. With reference to Vygotsky’s theory, it is apparent that George’s mum has provided him with the scaffolding he needs to acquire language, and it is effective. Therefore, young readers should be corrected and supported whenever they make a mistake.

Despite the data being supported by certain theorists, the answer is not fully dependable on them. According to Piaget’s 4 Critical Stage Theory, George is beginning the Concrete Operational stage, being 7 years old. Piaget’s theory suggests that children actively explore and make sense of the world around them, mostly without guidance from their caregivers. At this stage, George would be expected to begin to think logically, but sometimes struggle with abstract concepts. For example, it can be said that he still struggles with concepts such as the “endings” of morphemes. He miscues more than once during the transcript by using “never” instead of “need”, and “made” instead of “may”. This suggests that George is at the very early stages of the Concrete Operational stage, but will progress as he gets older.

Overall, it can be said that children need to be corrected when they make mistakes in speech. If they didn’t, then they would never develop and acquire language the way adults do. However, when being corrected all the time, a child would be concentrating too much on saying it right, instead of actually following the narrative of a book like they should be. So, correcting through positive/negative reinforcement and scaffolding is useful as it provides a model for children, however, too much of it can affect their confidence and ability to speak fluently.

CLA

B.M Kroll (1981) 

Stage 1: PREPAROTARY STAGE

• Masters the basic motor skills needed to write
• Learns the basic principles of the spelling system.

Stage 2: CONSOLIDATION STAGE (age up to 6)

• Child writes in the same way it speaks.
• Uses short declarative sentences which include mainly ‘and’ conjunctions.
• Incomplete sentences as they don’t know how to finish the sentence off.

Stage 3: DIFFERENTIATION STAGE (age up to 9)

• Child becomes aware of the difference between speaking and writing.
• Recognises the different writing styles available e.g. letter, essay.
• Lots of mistakes.
• Use writing guides and frameworks to structure work.
• Write to reflect thoughts and feelings.

Stage 4: INTEGRATION STAGE (12+)

• Child develops a personal style.
• Child understands that you can change your style according to audience and purpose.

DOCTOR CATHY BARCLAY (1996)

Stage 1: SCRIBBLING STAGE

• Random marks on a page
• Writing and scribbles are accompanied by speaking

Stage 2: MOCK HANDWRITING STAGE

• Writing + drawings
• Produce wavy lines which is their understanding of lineation
• Cursive writing

Stage 3: MOCK LETTERS

• Letters are separate things.

Stage 4: CONVENTIONAL LETTERS

• Usually involves writing the name as the first word.
• Child usually puts letters on a page but is able to read it as words.

Stage 5: INVENTED SPELLING STAGE

• Child spells in the way they understand the word should be spelt- own way.

Stage 6: APPROPRIATE/ PHONETIC SPELLING STAGE

• Attach spelling with sounds.

Stage 7: CORRECT SPELLING STAGE

• Are able to spell most words.

Deborah Tannen Research

Tannen's Difference Approach

Tannen suggested that there are 6 contrasts between men and women:

Status Vs Support

Independence Vs Intimacy

Advice Vs Understanding

Information Vs Feelings

Order Vs Proposal

Conflict Vs Compromise

Tannen came up with these 6 contrasts, and implied that the words down the left side are all typical male traits. 

• Status - Males see conversation as competitive, they need to be the dominant person in conversation whereas women seek support and guidance
• Independence - Men focus on seeming not reliant on someone else - concerned with status and whether they seem strong whereas women appreciate support from other people, show intimacy
• Advice - Men revolve around wanting to solve an issue instead of a woman's objective of showing understanding and sympathy for an issue
• Information - Men are interested in the facts and figures of an issue, whereas a woman is more concerned about the well being of other people and how they feel
• Order - Men prefer using/hearing direct imperatives to do something whereas women use cloaked imperatives and often positive face to hide the fact they are using a command
• Conflict - Men seem to not be phased of the conflict between people and will happily state their opinion, whereas women are more likely to hide away their opinion to please others

Despite these observations and suggestions that Tannen has made, it is not to say that these apply to all situations. There will be males and females who do not adhere to these expectations and will be the complete opposite to what we would think.

Children's Books, Reading Schemes + Miscues

Popular Books

The most popular authors for children in their early years tend to be:

• Judith Kerr - The Tiger Who Came To Tea
• Janet and Allan Ahlberg - The Jolly Postman or Other People's Letters
• John Burningham - Would You Rather?
• Rod Campbell - Dear Zoo
• Eric Hill - Where's Spot?

The majority of these books have been published for years, and are old time favourites. The fact that they are old means they are classics - they are often passed down generations of families and have sentimental value to them. Typical features of these children's books are visually orientated. With conventions such as images, bright colours and interactive flaps revealing parts of the story. The purpose of these conventions is to match the intellectual capability of the target market. Typically, children aged 5 and lower are more interested in images, and not many words. With reference to Bruner's ideology, we can say that children encode visual based information, because it's the limit to what they can understand at this stage.

The most popular authors for children in their infant years tend to be:

• Michael Bond - A Bear Called Paddington
• Roald Dahl - The BFG
• Francesca Simon and Tony Ross - Horrid Henry
• Charlotte's Web - E B White
• Enid Blyton - The Enchanted Wood

The most successful conventions of these types of books, for infants, are the lighthearted storylines along with the illustrations. Because the audiences are still going to be young, they are interested in words and syntax on a page. However, if it's too complicated they will lose interest in the book. The popular books for this age category are mostly of a fictional style, such as the BFG or Charlotte's Web. The standard narrative with imaginary characters causes the readers to still be creative and imaginative. 

The most popular authors for children in their junior years tend to be:

• Michelle Magorian - Goodnight Mr Tom
• C S Lewis - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
• Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl
• J R R Tolkien - The Hobbit
• Louis Sachar - Holes

These books are considerably longer in length than the narratives written for younger audiences (early childhood, infancy). They have no pictures in them, and are specifically for older children because of the development in sophistication. While a lot of them still revolve around a fictional narrative, there is more maturity in these texts. Juniors will be developing their own reading and writing, so using these as templates will help them to do so. 

When I was younger, I remember being very fond of interactive and bright books in my early childhood. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle was one of my favourites. The main reasons for this being that there were bog pictures on every page, each with the caterpillar on. This made the book familiar to me so I kept going back to it. Furthermore, there were a few short sentences throughout the book, this meant that my mum or dad could read me the book before falling asleep at night. I had the hardback version, meaning the pages were nice to handle and durable.

Bibliography:

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/children/booklists/241/

Reading + Phonetics Schemes

The most popular scheme in primary schools at the moment is synthetic phonetics. Popular schemes include Jolly Phonics and Floppy's Phonics. This is when, with help from the teacher, children are told to break words down into their individual phonemes. For example, 'dog' would be broken down to form the sounds 'd' 'o' 'g' and spoken aloud to form the full word. By using these steps, it is a process which makes the development of phonetics easier. 

Typically, teachers will begin with single letter sounds (s,a,t,p,i,n) and once developed, will go on to learning more difficult, two letter sounds such as 'ou', 'oi' and 'ai'. 

Eventually, once all of the phonemes are learnt and practised aloud, it will become easier for the children to repeat words without the need for guidance from an adult. However, when new words are introduced, they will follow the same process to learn the word. They will 'decode' the word into their separate phonemes, and build them back up to form the word. 

A negative trait of this approach is that these processes will simply not work for all words. Slightly trickier words which are non-standard and don't comply with usual regular rules will mean that children find them harder to decode. Therefore, they will have to be guided with context on how to apply rules to different sounds. Furthermore, as classes will be going at one pace with each other, certain individuals may progress faster than others. If this is the case, they will be bored in class because they already know the words. To resolve this, parents usually get in touch with the teachers and extra books and tasks are sent home to assure the child is meeting their full potential. 

Advantages of this scheme include the fact that children can interact with teachers face to face. Often, this way of learning means that children can develop skills actively. So, by having the opportunity to communicate with adults, they can ask questions and be corrected any time they need.

The most popular reading scheme in primary schools across the UK is the Oxford Reading Tree, the home of Biff, Chip and Kipper. These are a set of books intended to help children learn how to read, with the option of home learning just from reading the books. Biff, Chip and Kipper are characters in a set of books which all tell the story of adventures that they have been on. These books are supposed to be an enjoyable and fun way of picking up language. There are also books to help children decode sounds and words, all with the comfort of learning in your own home. 

Advantages of these books are that there is an option to pay a set price and know your child will have the full collection of books. This will provide a learning experience that 80% of the UK also use in primary schools. The Oxford Reading Tree provides a fun way of learning how to read, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry books.

However, this learning experience may not provide as much support as other schemes. As the majority of the learning will be done through reading, there will be not so much of an active process involved. Therefore, even though children can ask where appropriate, it's not being given and taught to them in the same way as decoding the words with teachers.

Bibliography:

https://global.oup.com/education/content/primary/series/oxford-reading-tree/?region=uk

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/starting-school/oxford-reading-tree-explained/

Miscues

During the development of a child's speech, they will undoubtedly make mistakes along the way (miscues). By taking on the role of  teacher or parent, it is a duty to correct and notice these miscues in order for the child to advance in their speech. 

Common miscues recorded by adults tend to be:

• Mixing up the word order of a sentence - often happens with high frequency words
• Additions of unnecessary words - often when they are making sense of a text
• Omission - can indicate the child is reading too fast
• Changing tenses mid-sentence - can indicate the child does not understand tenses
• Substitution of a word - can indicate a child does not understand the existing word
• Repetition - can indicate a text is too difficult

Caregivers will often notice these miscues without having to look for them. If they are a regular occurrence, they will correct the child subtly until they say the statement in the right form. They may do this through echoing, modelling or positive/negative reinforcement. Many people record a child reciting a text they've never seen before. This way, when recording the speech, there are miscues made which may not have been noticed if the text had been rehearsed. 

Bibliography:

http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2234&context=reading_horizons

http://specialed.about.com/od/literacy/a/msicue.htm

Imitation & Reinforcement are the most important tools for CLA

Imitation & Reinforcement are the most important tools for CLA [30 marks]

The theory that imitation and reinforcement are important for the development of a child’s language is supported by Skinner, a social philosopher. Skinner’s theory very much revolves around a behaviourist ideology – language is acquired through an environmental influence and is not innate when we are born. So in order for a child to learn language, this must happen through operant conditioning, with guidance from their caregiver. Skinner proposed that positive and negative reinforcement were two features which enhanced a child’s language development the most. Positive reinforcement is when a certain behaviour is encouraged by providing a positive stimulus for the child, causing them to feel like they have been awarded – the action is more likely to be repeated. By referring to transcripts A and B, this could be Tom’s mother ‘echoing’ him when saying ‘it makes noises’. She is supporting him, which will then aid the development of his language to go further.  On the other hand, negative reinforcement is when a certain behaviour is more likely to be repeated in order to avoid an unpleasant stimulus. This could be remembering to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to avoid being punished by the caregiver for not using manners in speech. Skinner’s theory of imitation and reinforcement is one which is supported with reference to the two provided texts, however, it is not necessarily relevant to all utterances included in the sources.

Despite the fact that imitation and reinforcement are crucial tools for CLA. It is debatable whether they are the most crucial. It is evident from texts A and B that other theories and ideologies may be better suited to the language transcribed. In text A, Tom, who is 2 years and 7 months old, is playing in the garden with his bike. Before even reading the utterances, we can tell that Tom is active in his role, not sat inside on the sofa. Bruner’s (1957) theory could underpin the reasoning for Tom’s speech throughout the conversation. Bruner’s ideology suggests that there are 3 innate modes of representation: The enactive stage (0-1 years), Iconic stage (1-6 years) and Symbolic stage (7+ years). It is evident that Tom has already completed the enactive stage, where he encodes action based information and is able to know what ‘sitting on the bike’ entails. Furthermore, the interrogative ‘is these drawing Cartoon Network cup of tea mum’ is an example of being in the Iconic stage. Even though Tom has overextended the proper noun ‘Cartoon Network’ from a term he is less familiar with and there is no grammatical agreement between ‘is these’, it can be said that Tom is grasping the concept and can encode visual based information. However, he is not yet at the Symbolic stage, where language and grammar are more sophisticatedly formed. From analysing the transcript, it is evident that Tom is developing through the 3 modes of representation, where his age of 2 years and 7 months can be referred directly to Bruner’s statement ‘knowing is a process, not a product.’

The Nature vs Nurture debate is one which has never really met a conclusion, even though many theorists have tried. The declarative ‘you’re not on dad’s bike (.) you’re on your bike’ uses personal pronouns directed at Tom and his father, explaining who the concrete noun ‘bike’ belongs to. This is an example of scaffolding, a concept in which Vygotsky (1978) came up with in his social interactionist theory. He suggests that children seek information actively from experienced adults or their caregiver, in order to acquire language. The Zone of Proximal Development is a bridge that needs to be crossed in order to learn what was not known before. So, Tom’s mother is helping him grasp that he is not sat on ‘dad’s bike’, but in fact, his own bike which has the same characteristics as his dad’s. He has overextended the term to something which is familiar to him, but needed the help from his mother so he could explain that he has possession over it. This scaffolding, reformulation and repair is what helps language acquisition, and eventually, Tom will be able to use these terms without the scaffolding from his mother. This can be further supported by Freund’s (1990) dollhouse study. This consisted of the comparison between a child being supported by their mother to place furniture in a dollhouse, and a child left to do it themselves. The observation resulted in the child who was provided with scaffolding from their mother performing better at placing the furniture – proving that nurture is a concept crucial for CLA. It could be said that Vygotsky’s theory supports Skinner’s learning ideology, as the response and guidance from the caregiver is extremely effective.

As much as the debate for Imitation and Reinforcement is strong, there will always be arguments to suggest otherwise. Both of Tom’s caregivers seem to give short responses in the transcript. Despite the fact that there are adjacency pairs and preferred responses throughout, it seems as if the parents are rather vague and provide simple syntax or even one word phrases at times. ‘You’, ‘my bike’, ‘really’ and ‘oops’ are some examples spoken from Tom’s mother and father. The case may be that these are deictic references – the reader will not understand unless they have the context of the conversation. Chomsky (1950) argued that there is a universal language innate in our brains. So, as a child, combining categories of speech (nouns, verbs etc) to create phrases is something we can do instinctively, without the help of our parents. The transcript firstly supports Chomsky’s theory because it is evident that Tom is using utterances of up to 4 words – including conjunctions such as ‘but’ in Text A, as well as personal pronouns such as ‘I killed it’ in Text B. Chomsky implies that by 2 years old, children should be able to acquire all of these language features, much like Tom can. Furthermore, the utterances from Tom’s parents and his elaborative responses suggest that he is developing well in his own mind, despite the rather restricted speech from his mother and father. This implies that imitation and reinforcement are not the most crucial for CLA, as there is evidence to suggest that Tom is able to develop language without full support from his parents at times.

To conclude, there are many arguments for and against whether CLA is most beneficial from imitation & reinforcement, or independent learning with innate instincts. Skinner’s research does hold some reliable evidence, supported by some aspects of the Transcript such as the positive reinforcement in Text A. Tom finds it hard to grasp the possessive pronouns of ‘dad’s bike’ along with the concrete noun ‘bike’. It takes many attempts of positive reinforcement and the echoing of ‘dad’s bike’ in order for Tom to finally say it correctly. This is real life proof that through the nurture of language and support from Tom’s mother and father, he uttered the accurate ‘-s’ inflection in ‘dad’s’, showing he was successful. Reinforcement seems to be the theory with the most background evidence, despite Chomsky’s ‘Universal Language’ argument.

Investigation Methodology

Methodology

In my investigation, I will focus on Language and Gender theory, paying particular focus to Deborah Tannen. She suggests that men and women acquire different traits in language. For example, men are more concerned about Status, Independence, Advice, Information, Order and Conflict. They are more prestigious, always looking to provide logical and hard evidence in a situation. This contrasts against women who possess kind, sympathetic and soft characteristics. 

In order to do so, I am going to gather data from the presidential debates from 2016. By looking at the speeches that both Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump have made in response to the same questions, I will be able to analyse the transcripts which will enable me to evaluate Tannen's theory. I will look at the phonetics of their speech, the specific lexis they use, discourse markers, grammar as well as the pragmatics of their speech. While doing this, I will apply it to Deborah Tannen's theory.

I will also analyse how both male and females cope well under pressure. Because of the nature of the debate, it will be interesting to see what techniques the candidates do to cope with the on-the-spot questions and comments.

Comparability

Because I am looking at two candidates running for the same position of the 2016 election for president, a lot of the factors will be the same. Trump and Clinton would be in the same environment on the same day, with the same questions being asked. This way, the only factors that are different are their beliefs and the fact that Trump is a man and Clinton is a woman. Both are hoping to gain full support of the American people, and will use different techniques to do so. 

Reliability

Because not all sources found on the internet are reliable, I will look at videos on Youtube of the real life debates. Instead of picking a transcript of their speeches online and analysing this, I am going to transcribe certain sections of their speeches myself so that I know all of the utterances were actually spoken by the candidates.

Ethics

In the circumstances of my investigation, considering whether my research is ethical is reasonably easy. Because the candidates already know they are being filmed and broadcasted everywhere, it is not necessary to ask for this permission because they will have already been informed about what will happen. 

Zachy Transcripts

Zachy Transcripts Analysis 

In this transcript, often, Zachy's speech does seem less fluent. A contextual reason for this could be that his mother is asking him questions about the robot he is building. This could have an impact on his speech because she is putting him on the spot, meaning he has to think of a response quickly. At times, it is evident that Zachy seems more fluent in his speech. For example, 'Yeah I need one more bit of tape' after his mother says 'is that what you're saying?' Vygotsky's theory is relevant here as Zachy's mother is providing the 'scaffolding' support for him to become more fluent in his speech and speak with more sophisticated grammar.

In the first conversation, Zachy's mother is setting the agenda by asking a lot of interrogatives in order to find out more about the robot. Zachy then responds with declaratives, mostly followed by his mother saying 'because...' to encourage him to expand on his speech. Latched talk is present here, Zachy and his mother are frequently uttering preferred responses, showing adjacency pairs in the transcript. In the second conversation of the transcript, it is evident that Zachy is setting the agenda of conversation. When his mother suggests they eat breakfast while waiting for the robot to 'heal', Zachy says 'it's gonna be a long time though (.) but we're not gonna have breakfast still.' Zachy is declaring what the agenda is, taking control of the situation.

By comparing the two transcripts which were set 13 months apart, we can see by analysing the speech that Zachy has developed in a number of ways. Zachy's language is a lot more sophisticated by the time he is aged 3 years and 5 months. His grammar structure is more mature, for example, he says 'it's gonna be a long time though (.) but we're not gonna have breakfast still.' He is beginning to grasp the concept of connectives and what words are suitable to go where. He has more of a pragmatic understanding of how sentences should be formed. In the first transcript Zachy says 'Look (.)/ blown way' when talking about his book. From this, and the whole transcript, we can tell that zachy does not form long, complex sentences. He is very restricted to his known simple sentence structure. This means he has not yet grasped the concept of connectives and more sophisticated language.  This supports Jerome Bruner's theory of constructionism because by comparing the two transcripts, he has reached the border of the Symbolic stage - information is being stored as language. By the age 2 years and 4 months, he has reached the Iconic and Enactive stages, but not yet the symbolic stage.

The vocabulary Zachy uses in the second transcript is a lot more advanced. When he was aged 2 years and 4 months, Zachy generalised lexis because he had not learnt a lot of terms, so could not use them. When he looked at his mother's bolognaise, he said 'what's this lasagne?' as an overextended term. He was familiar with what lasagne was, and knew that the bolognaise was not lasagne, but wanted to find out the correct term for the food. This implies that he has not yet got a full range of vocabulary. However, in the second transcript, he is using a wider range of lexis. 13 months is a long time for Zachy to learn and understand new terms, for example, 'sellotape', 'robot' and 'glue'. It could be argued he did not know these terms before, and has learnt them through experience. Vygotsky's theory can support the fact that Zachy overextended the term 'lasagne'. He was aware of the fact that the food was not lasagne, but used an interrogative to ask his mother what it actually was. He was using the 'scaffolding' of his mother to cross the 'Zone of Proximal Development' and learn new things.

Various examples of non-standard grammar are used throughout the transcripts by Zachy. For example 'look (.)/ blown away' is used in the first transcript by Zachy. Zachy is using a phrase which is non-standard English, but it still has the effect he desired for the listener. This phrase is an example of Halliday's Regulatory function. He is using the imperative 'look' to make his mother understand what he is talking about. So, even though he is not using standard grammar, he does not need to, because those 3 words were enough to gain a preferred response. Similarly, in transcript 2, Zachy does use a lot of non-standard grammar. For example, 'doo doo doo doo...' at the beginning. This does not make sense unless you understand the context of the speech. Even though Zachy has more of a sophisticated vocabulary, he still uses non-standard forms which could contradict theories such as Bruner and Piaget. This is because the transcripts were written 13 months apart, but in some ways are not that different.

Overall, the data provided is reliable because the transcripts can be supported by a variation of theorists. Their theories are backed up by evidence from the sources, showing that aspects of the transcripts are down to child's language development. A lot of the evidence in the transcripts show that 13 months can cause a lot of development and maturity when it comes to language, such as a more complex grammar structure, vocabulary and pragmatic understanding.

Zachy Transcript

Halliday's Functions of Speech closely relate to the Zachy transcript I have been analysing.

Michael Halliday created 7 functions which are present in child's language acquisition: Instrumental, Regulatory, Interactional, Personal, Representational, Heuristic, Imaginative.

In reference to the Zachy transcript, here are some quotes which can be explained by Halliday's theories.

Instrumental - A child uses language to express their needs
'It doesn't go frough' is an utterance made by Zachy when explaining that the pen will not fit in the binding of his notepad. This is a declarative, because he stating that the pen will not go through. However, it's also a cloaked imperative - Zachy is implying that he would like help from his mother with this task. He is using this phrase to express his need to carry out a particular action.

Regulatory - A child uses language to influence the behaviour of others
'Look, blown away dose papers' is an utterance spoken by Zachy to explain what is happening in the book he is reading. The imperative 'Look' commands his mother to see what he is seeing, persuading her to do so.

Interactional - A child uses language to develop social relationships
'Mummy' and 'Daddy' are address terms used frequently by Zachy towards his parents. This signifies the personal relation he has with them - one that is unique to these particular people. It also implies he has a close relation to his parents, because not all children will use this lexis to address their parents.

Personal - A child uses language to express personal preferences and individual identity
'I don't like bolognay' is an utterance which implies a personal preference of Zachys. The declarative shows that he has an opinion in which presents his individual identity.

Representational - A child uses language to exchange information
'I can't get it up dere' is a declarative uttered by Zachy expressing the fact he can't move an interactive part of the book he is reading. As well as this, it's a cloaked imperative of the fact he wants help with this action, most likely from his mother.

Heuristic - A child uses language to learn of and explore the environment and to learn
'What's this lasagne?' is an interrogative spoken by Zachy to ask what his mother is eating. This is an example of an overextension of the term 'bolognaise' because Zachy has recognised that they are similar things. This utterance also shows that Zachy is curious about the objects that are around him, and he wants to find out more

Imaginative - A child uses language to tell stories and jokes, creating an imaginary environment
'Oh, we're in the railway station' is an utterance spoken by Zachy to explain what is happening in the book he is reading. He is using a declarative to describe to his mother what the setting is, therefore setting the environment in his book.

Stages of Child's Language Acquisition

Stage 1 - Babbling
6-8 months

• 2-4 months - The first stage of acquisition for a child is named 'babbling.'  This consists of a child making 'cooing' sounds which sound very much like grunts and sighs, usually as a result of interactions with the caregiver
• 4 months - Laughter usually occurs around now 
• 4-7 months - This stage is called 'vocal play' where children experiment with different pitches, volumes and sounds. They make noises such as squealing, growling and yelling to attract attention
• 7 months - Called 'canonical babbling' where children form syllable-like sentences by opening and closing their jaw, lips and moving their tongue. Repeated sequences are produced such as 'dada' or 'nanana'. All of this language is more likely to be performed when the caregiver is present as it stimulates interaction, however it does happen when the child is alone

Stage 2 - Holophrastic Stage
9-18 months

• 10 months - Infants start to mumble recognisable words that are common in their surrounding environment. If it does not come from their local language, it is common that they are trying to explain their emotions. Overextension and underextension occurs when a child hasn't quite grasped what a word means e.g. 'dog' for all animals or 'teddy' used for a particular bear

 Stage 3 - Two word stage
18-24 months

• Infants associate and attach words together - often in pairs in order to start forming short syntax and phrases.

Stage 4 - Telegraphic Stage
24-30 months

•  Infants form 'multiwords' but are at the early stages of forming sytax with semantic meaning. They often leave out determiners, modals and verbal auxilaries. E.g. instead of saying 'I can see a cow' they would say 'See cow'

Stage 5 - Multiword stage
30+ months 

• Grammatical and functional structures of an infants language. Multiple clause sentences become more popular

ICYMI, English Language is changin faster than ever , says expert

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/01/icymi-english-language-is-changing-faster-than-ever-says-expert

 This article revolves around the subject of the ever developing English Language.

John Sutherland, professor of English from University College London


The main verdict gained from the article is that parents feel as if their own children speak a completely different language to them. “Fleek” – which means looking good – came top of the list of terms parents did not understand, with 43% selecting it as a term they did not know" This just proves that so many parents are yet to understand what their own kids are speaking about.


It is evident that a lot of the language in which children use have derived from the development of technology, and younger people using what is available to them. It's also expected to carry on advancing, encouraging more and more of the younger generation to use the new language.

Text-speak: language evolution or just laziness?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/9966117/Text-speak-language-evolution-or-just-laziness.html

In this article, Anne Merritt, writing for the Telegraph, talks about how the development in language is creating a barrier between adults and children.

She expresses it as a negative issue, pushing adults further away from understanding and communicating with the younger generation. She states that the language derived from smartphones and technology development is now being used in writing, not just spoken language. She uses rhetorical questions to challenge whether this is not a form of evolution, but laziness.

However, studies have shown that using 'text speak' does not affect a child's ability to form and write an essay. They have the skills there, however words like 'u' are being used instead of 'you'. 

Despite this, it is clear that Merritt doesn't believe 'text speak' is good for anyone. She sees it as a decline in 'proper language skills, born out of a digitally literate culture that has grown too comfortable in an age of abbreviations and spellchecks.'

Why Save A Language?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/opinion/sunday/why-save-a-language.html?_r=0

An article written by John McWhorter for the New York Times discusses whether language should be saved, or just go extinct like the many that already have. 

He talks about his job as a university lecturer, answering many questions revolving round the subject of language. One particular question was 'If indigenous people want to give up their ancestral language to join the modern world, why should we consider it a tragedy? Languages have always died as time has passed.' This raises the point that if languages die out, the history and individuality also does too - 'If language dies, a fascinating way of thinking dies along with it'.

McWhorter shares this opinion, but with a few extras. Having language common with people brings a sense of connection and community between them. Having a universal language would mean that this tight-knit community would be lost.

McWhorter makes it clear that language is something that should be saved. He thinks that we should care about it, and even if a language is coming to an end, we should at least document them to keep the history. 'Languages, however, are variations on a worldwide, cross-cultural perception of this thing called life.'

Yes, we are judged on our accents

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/22/accents-altered-speak

This article written by Hannah Jane Parkinson surrounds the topic of how accent leads us to be judged, even before people know us. 

She explains how in the adult world, applying for jobs should not be phased by how strong your accent is. As a Liverpudlian, she talks about how she has felt the need to 'neutralise' her accent in order to come across as more 'posh'. Despite Esther McVey's (Liverpool born employment minister) statement that we should not balance out our accents in order to 'get ahead in life'.

She also talks about past experiences of being mocked when returning to her home city. The fact that she changes her accent according to where she is has led to her being accused of being 'posh' for pronouncing 'yeah' as 'yah'. 

The overall verdict of this opinion based article is that Parkinson believes that we should not have to hide our accent just to make ourselves be seen as people we aren't.  Even though we are judged according to this in the society we live in, it's not right. Changing accents hides who we really are, a part of our identity - which is not something we should strive for in life.

AQA Mock Exam Response

 

       1)    Text A is an online forum about the topic of ‘proms’ and the issues surrounding it. The website, ‘mumsnet’ is a place for discussion and offering advice. This can be supported by the ‘mumsnet’ logo being shown at the top of the page. Furthermore, it is clear that the purpose is to converse because there are adjacency pairs throughout. An example of this is woollyideas’ comment ‘Yes Kayano’ in response to a comment made five minutes before. It can be said that this shows interaction between the users of the site. The audience of the forum would most likely be mums of teenagers aged 16-18. This is because at this stage, parents would be in the process of buying prom gear for their children and so will be seeking advice.

Colloquial language is used in Text A. Examples of this are ‘back in the day’, ‘naff’ and ‘max’. This lexis is used because of the informal register of the forum and the fact that there is no need to be speaking with correct grammar. It could also be said that the forum consists of a hybrid of written and spoken language. The adjacency pairs, for one, but also the non-standard English such as ‘Yep’ used in many peoples comments.

A grammatical feature such as a subordinating conjunction is used by muckycarpet. For example, ‘Although the helicopter is way too OTT!’ following ‘Don’t be a grump!’ The use of the conjunction ‘Although’ shows that the commenter sees both perspectives to the issue and shows support towards woollyideas.

Graphological features such as the ‘confused’ emoji in woollyideas’ last comment is a feature of online usage. It uses computer aided communication to express emotions and feelings (without the use of lexis.) This is relevant to the form of the forum because modern advances in technology allows us to use different features online. This could lead us to suggest that woollyideas is more up-to-date with the technology we are familiar with today.

To summarise, Text A is an online forum with an informal register such as ‘Am I being unreasonable?’ followed by interaction between people. It can also be said that, because of the frequent use of interrogatives, the purpose is to seek guidance and advice.

  

      2)        Text B is an online newspaper article by ‘The Mirror’. This is shown by the recognisable logo at the top of the page indicating that the article is reliable and trustworthy. The purpose of the article is to inform. The frequent use of technical lexis as well as facts and figures supports the fact that this article aims to educate people of the issues surrounding prom. The audience of the article would be parents and carers of teenagers aged 16-18. This is because it very much revolves around the subject of money. Stereotypically, the parents would be the people paying for prom outfits, and so this article would interest them. Despite this, the article may also be aimed at teenage boys because it involves them, therefore they may be interested.

Proper nouns are used throughout Text B. For example, ‘formal shirts, shoes and bow ties’ as well as ‘tuxedos’ are nouns used to describe the extent to which boys are buying things for prom. This is also an example of field specific lexis. This is used to create a definite subject are of the article, and so readers know what type of items boys are buying.

Complex syntax is used throughout text B. Longer sentences such as ‘We have seen an increase in occasion wear sales since January whereas guys have been rushing in last minute to get ready for the big night.’ This is used to fulfil the form and formal register of the newspaper article.

The statement that boys are ‘looking to celebrities such as David Beckham and Daniel Craig for their inspiration’ uses proper nouns. Pragmatically, this syntax connotes the fact that it is not just females who face the pressures of society. Males also try to gain unrealistic outcomes and have the expectations of looking like movie stars. This is further supported by the image of Daniel Craig at the top of the article. The article signifies the fact that boys are aspiring to be the people on TV, which is not realistic at all. Furthermore the noun ‘Boys’ used in the headline has negative connotations. Usually, when we say ‘boy’ we immediately think of a childish male who has not yet matured (as opposed to a ‘man’.) This really highlights the fact that males who are buying prom outfits will never reach their goals of looking like their role model because they are still children.

 

      1)       Text A, an online forum on the website ‘Mumsnet’ uses colloquial language throughout when people are conversing with each other. These are features of every day conversation which are used because of the informal register of the forum. Dissimilarly, Text B is a newspaper article with a much more formal register than Text A. It uses technical lexis such as ‘spending on average £385. It is clear that these two texts are different in their register and mode.

Text A uses interrogatives throughout. For example, ‘who are these parents who think this sort of expenditure on a night out for a teenager is okay?’ This phrase could suggest that woollyideas is criticising the actions of parents who do spend money on their children. In context, it could also suggest that woollyideas is happy to criticise because this is on the internet. Therefore, people do not know of her identity and so she can say what she likes.

In contrast, Text B does not use any interrogatives, but declaratives instead. For example, the way role models ‘are smartening up male school leavers’. The auxiliary ‘are’ is stating that this is definitely happening. This, as well as the technical terms used is relevant to the purpose of informing, whereas Text A is to discuss.

Throughout the article of Text B, technical lexis such as facts and figures are used to exaggerate the issue of boys and proms. This could link to the Grice’s Maxim of Quality, because the lexis is as informative as it can be. In contrast to Text A, it lacks in technical lexis because of the purpose and informal register of ‘Mumsnet’.


Question Paper: http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77011-SQP.PDF
Data Booklet: http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77011-SDB.PDF