What is child language acquisition?

Learning outcomes
In this unit you will:

 Understand the structure of Paper 3, Section B, Question 2

 Review the assessment objectives as they relate to the question
 Understand the key skills and techniques required to approach the question

Assessment objectives

Child language acquisition is the second of the two language analysis topics that are assessed in Paper 3.

Language analysis involves thinking like a linguist. That means applying linguistic knowledge and
linguistic approaches to show your understanding of how the English language works.

The following table contains the assessment objectives and how they apply to the Paper 3. Question 2.
Consider how well you understand these requirements.

Assessment objectives Skills needed for question 2

AO1: Read and demonstrate understanding of a  understand the conventions used in
wide variety of texts transcriptions of spoken language

(5 marks)  understand the content of the

interactions in transcriptions, especially
in the exam text
A04: Demonstrate understanding of linguistic  know a range of linguistic methods and
issues, concepts, methods and approaches approaches, and be able to apply them to
the transcription in the exam
(15 marks)
 understand a range of concepts and
theories related to child language
acquisition

 integrate knowledge of concepts and

theories into an analytical exam essay
A05: Analyse and synthesise language data  identify characteristic features of child
from a variety of sources language and child-directed speech

(5 marks)  combine reference to details from the

transcription on the exam paper with
reference to examples and ideas from
wider study
Table 16.1: Assessment objectives and skills needed for Question 2
Child language acquisition (Section B, Question 2)
For Question 2, you will study basic issues related to how children acquire language in general and the
English language in particular.

 What are the main stages of early development (0-8 years) in child language acquisition?
 What features of language do children acquire first?
 How do they learn ways of interacting verbally?
 How do children’s needs match the functions of their spoken language?
 What theories have been put forward?
 What research has been done?

You will learn the conventions used in presenting transcriptions of spoken language for students and
linguists to study. You will explore some of the concepts and research studies related to children’s
acquisition of language.

What skills will I need?

You will need to:

 Become comfortable with the conventions and features of unscripted conversation and spoken
language transcriptions
 know the main stages of early development in child language acquisition
 be comfortable discussing theories of child language acquisition
 Be acquainted with the ideas and research of prominent linguistic theorists.

EXAMINER TIP

Many students are confused when they first see transcriptions of spoken language. One of the
conventions of transcription is that ‘normal’ punctuation is not used: full stops and capital letters are not
used to demarcate ‘sentences’ as people do not speak in the equivalent of what would be ‘sentences’ in
written English.

It can be very tempting to see the lack of punctuation or the lack of complete sentences as a series of
mistakes, and to think that spoken language is full of ‘errors: However, spoken language is not like
written language. You will be wasting your time if you expect a transcription of natural speech to ‘read’
like an extract from a playscript or a piece of written prose which has been planned, checked and
corrected.
What do I already know?
You already have at least two sets of skills and knowledge which you will be able to apply to new
concepts:

 The interest in (and general knowledge of) language which every speaker of English has
 The strategies for reading and writing which you developed during your AS Level year.

You need to be careful about how you apply general knowledge. At A Level, you have to think and write
as a student with accurate knowledge of linguistic concepts and terminology.

Table 16.2 shows how your AS Level skills will be needed and developed in working on the A Level units.

ACTIVITY 16.1

Find another student who will do this activity at the same time as you. Start by working independently,
then later you can compare your findings. You will both also need the cooperation of older members of
your families.

You are looking for examples of your own language development when you were young children. You
might remember some ‘milestones’ of your own development. But mostly it will be parents and
grandparents who have the clearest memories of the stages of language acquisition you went through-
for example, the first time you noticed a particular animal and could name it.

1) Find and make a note of as many examples as you can. Try to pin down dates and ages, When
you have had some time to do this and to think about putting the examples in order, compare
notes with your partner.
What you have is some rough research data. It will not be accurate enough for you to be able to
reach definite conclusions about child language acquisition but it will allow you to make some
inferences about ages/stages. It will also be useful when you come to look in Units 22-24 at
connections between language, thought and learning. Keep your research data. You may be able
to add to it.
2) If there are young children in your family, you should also take any opportunity to listen to and
observe their linguistic behaviour.

Reflection: If you have been thinking like a linguist, then you might have had doubts about using the
term ‘research data’ to describe your findings in Activity 16.1. How reliable can such data be?

Re-cap of skills and knowledge needed

For Question 2, you need to demonstrate that you can:b

 read an ‘unseen’ transcription, and identify features of language relevant to the topic of child
language acquisition
  Apply knowledge from wider study
 Write in a discursive academic style which combines analysis with relevant theories and
concepts.

Exam practice: Section B, Question 2

Learning outcomes

In this unit you will:

 Practise strategies for dealing with the textual material you are given in Question 2
 learn strategies for planning your essay answers
 Learn ways of developing the content of your essay answers, and improving the quality of your
writing

Section B, Question 2: Child language acquisition

In Question 2, you will have to deal with a transcription of spoken language. This may be a conversation
in which children are speaking to other children, or an interaction involving both child(ren) and adult(s).

So you need to be familiar with ways in which transcriptions of speech are presented, and comfortable
in understanding transcription conventions.

Practice 1: Child language acquisition

ACTIVITY 17.1

Imagine you can listen to an audio recording of a conversational interaction. Better

EXAMINER TIP
still, imagine that you can watch a video recording.
The texts you will be
Then think about what you would miss if you could only read a written transcription
given in the Paper 3 exam
of this conversation. The person who transcribed it would have written down the
are provided to help you
actual words spoken, and shown who is speaking, but what other information about
display your knowledge
the interaction would a transcription not be able to show? And what extra features
and understanding. The
would an audio and video recording capture?
transcriptions of spoken
Give yourself 15 minutes to write down a list of the additional features of language will be
interaction which the recording could capture, beyond just the words that are presented in a way that
spoken and who speaks them. will give you as much
information as possible
Here’s a start: about how the speakers
 Intonation-e.g. a rising intonation might indicate that the speaker is asking a interacted as well as what
question and/or looking for a response they said.
 Volume-e.g. louder speech might indicate excitement or anger or ....
ACTIVITY 17.2

1) Look back at your list from Activity 17.1. Think about what you know of child language
acquisition. Now consider which of the features in your list would be most interesting if you
were analysing speech between children or between children and adults.
2) Then look at the following transcription key, which is very similar to what you will be given in the
exam. How well do the features of interaction in the key match the features in your list?

EXAMINER TIP

Transcriptions of spoken language do not look like most written texts. They use very little punctuation,
and you might be tempted to think that some capital letters and apostrophes have been left out by
mistake.

However, that is not how transcription of spoken language works. People do not speak in full sentences:
they pause, back-track, interrupt each other. In that way, spoken language is quite messy. So
transcriptions of spoken language are not going to look as tidy as edited written language. So do not
look at transcribed spoken language as an inferior or disorganised version of written language, look for
‘mistakes’, or think about how a speaker could have made themselves clearer. Look at the information –
the speech data – which you are given, and use your linguistic knowledge to analyse how the
interactions work.

You are going to practise an approach for dealing with an exam-style question. The question involves
linguistic analysis of a transcription of a spoken interaction between a mother and her daughter (age
four). They are preparing to bake a chocolate cake.

EXAM-STYLE QUESTION 17.1

Analyse ways in which the child and her mother are using language in this conversation. In your answer,
you should refer to specific details from the transcription, as well as to ideas and examples from your
wider study of child language acquisition.

(25 mark)

Strategies for dealing with this question

You will find the key at the end of this transcription. This is its usual position in an exam paper, but you
should look at it first. In addition to the usual information about the dynamics of interaction (pauses,
overlaps, intonation, volume, paralinguistic features) you are also given a very small amount of
information about speech sounds:

/tɒklɪt/=phonemic representation of speech sounds.

- You will find on the back of the exam paper a reference table showing all the possible
phonemic symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet. Thinking back to Activity
17.2, why might information about speech sounds be especially useful when looking at
the speech of a four year old?

• actual question is a very straightforward open question, leaving you to choose what to write about.

•That means planning under pressure, which requires practice That practice starts now, because you are
going to read the transcription twice.

- The first time you will be reading to make sure you understand what’s going on in this
interaction: AO1 – understanding of text in terms of meaning, context and audience
- The second reading needs to be done with a pen in your hand. As you read, pick out any
features of spoken interaction which you think are interesting and worth your attention
as a linguist.

EXAMINER TIP

Carefully read transcription material

you have been given and make
sensible choices about what to include
from your wider study of child
language acquisition. Good planning
under exam pressure depends on
making good notes – and in the exam,
you should do this on the question
paper itself.
ACTIVITY 17.3

1) You should now have a list of features of the interaction between mother and child. Look carefully at
this list: it should contain features which you think are worth close linguistic attention.

A) Do they fall into groups? For instance: a Are any of them clear examples of a particular aspect of
Child Language Acquisition?
B) Are any of them clear examples of ‘parent-ese’? (Also known as caregiver speech, ‘parent-ese’ is
a term which covers typical ways in which parents speak to young children.)
C) Are any of them clear examples of features of spoken language in general, even if they are not
necessarily aspects of CLA?

ACTIVITY 17.4

Go back to the cake-baking transcription and the notes you made. Following the Reflection, you might
already have begun to organise those notes into an order which would help you to write an exam
answer.

A table is an effective way of organising ideas. You can easily construct one in your exam answer
booklet.

Practise by copying and then completing Table 17.1, which has been started for you. Use the middle
column to work out a simpler general knowledge explanation on your way to developing a more
complex and sophisticated linguistic analysis in the third column.

This is the sequence you should follow:

Identify significant features of spoken interaction → try to explain each of these features by applying
what you know about language → link your explanation to what you have learnt about child language
acquisition.

Give yourself at least 20 minutes to do this.

Feature of language and/or General knowledge explanation Linguistic analysis (→theory)

overlap
Speech overlaps: both speakers 1) Child is eager to speak, 1) Child is imitating the
resume speaking before the and has not fully adult care-giver (→B. F.
other has finished the previous absorbed 'rules' of Skinner's imitation and
utterance. conversation about reinforcement theory).
when/where it is
acceptable to interrupt. 2) Mother is deliberately
'modelling speech
2) Mother wants to patterns for her child,
involve the child e.g. teaching her
verbally as well as expressions such as
physically in the activity 'we're ready to cook'
of baking. Also aware of and expecting the child
need to teach the child to repeat them. (→
 about the dangers: (but child-directed speech/
watch () this is awful 'parent-ese).
hot (.) so you've to be
very careful) () okay.
Mother repeats: right (.) okay Mother is giving verbal signals
(1) right. to the child, checking that she’s
ready or that she’s understood.
Child and mother both make
sounds – mmm hmm – of
response/agreement.
Table 17.1: Organising notes into a helpful order

By making clear reference to characteristic features of a text (AOI) in column 1 of the table, you have
been subjecting the data to linguistic analysis and linking your findings to relevant theories and concepts
of child language acquisition, thus showing (in column 3) your understanding of linguistic issues,
concepts, methods and approaches (A04).

In Table 17.1, you were given just one example (Skinner’s ideas about imitation and reinforcement) of
how theories and concepts of child language acquisition could be used to help develop linguistic
analysis. Then you were left to work out for yourself which aspects of your knowledge of child language
acquisition would be most useful.

If you found that difficult, you might want to come back again to this transcription and have another try
at analysing ways in which the child and her mother are using language.

EXAM-STYLE QUESTION 17.2

Read the following transcription of an interaction between Harry (aged four) and his mother, as they
play with Harry’s toy trains. (Will is Harry’s older brother.) Discuss ways in which the speakers use
language, referring to specific details, and relating observations to ideas from your studies of child
language acquisition.

ACTIVITY 17,5

Read the transcription twice. (Remember to look at the transcription key first.

1) On the first reading, make sure you understand what is being communicated between the two
speakers.
2) On the second reading, pick out and make notes on what you think are interesting and
significant features of the language spoken by a child and the language spoken to a child.
Reflection: ACTIVITY
Look at the notes you made when you read the transcription for the second time. Ask yourself: Do these
17.6
notes refer to the specific details and observations which the exam-style question instructed you to identify and refer
to?

EXAMINER TIP

You will notice that there is some linguistic terminology related to spoken language in Table 17.2 (e.g. tag questions and
inclusive language). You should use terminology like this to help yourself to focus on genuinely linguistic approaches and
analysis.

However, without proper discussion and explanation, linguistic terminology is not useful.
If you are going to construct an effective exam essay, you need to order your ideas. Since there are two
speakers in this interaction, one child and one parent, it makes sense to start by arranging the points
into two groups. Use two columns: you can copy those below, which have been started for you.

Features of mother’s language Features of Henry’s language

Asks many questions. (Why Initiates some topics – e.g. the
does she do that?) toy soldiers at the start, the
Uses tag questions (won't he/ idea that Father Christmas can
wouldn't it) to invite fly – and has an explanation for
agreement: how Father Christmas gets into
• to encourage Harry to people’s houses (he has
respond everybody’s keys!)
• check his understanding.
Uses inclusive language, e.g. Uses some elliptical
first person plural pronoun constructions – incomplete
‘we’/’our’. (why?) grammar/syntax-e.g. know
where other one soldiers gone’
Table 17.2: Features of spoken language

1) Look at the table you have just compiled. You should have been able to identify five or six
significant points about each speaker and their use of language. But what you may not have
covered is the way they ‘manage’ the conversation together.
Look at the transcription one more time. How do the dynamics of interaction really work? (This
means the ways in which the conversation moves between the speakers.)
2) Ask another student, friend or family member to help you read the transcription aloud, and pay
attention to anything that emerges from the reading.

ACTIVITY 17.7

The following is a response to Exam-style question 17.2, written by a student whose knowledge and
understanding of linguistic concepts and theories is not yet well-developed.

Read it carefully, looking at how this student has selected features of language for comment. Think
about how you might have used your linguistic knowledge to develop points further than this student
has.

Student response A

On reading the passage, it can clearly be seen that Harry’s mother is giving him clues which he uses to
improve his language.

She uses emphasis –‘all the soldier↗️’ to give Harry a clue that a question is going to follow. The
emphasised word is also in a way telling Harry that he is wrong when he says that all the soldiers were in
the bag. This acts as a gentle push for Harry to correct himself. This can also be seen when Harry’s
mother repeats the question when he does not answer it correctly.
Harry uses very few pauses (two in fact) in his sentences. Even these are all micro pauses, and their
length does not change. This is unlike his mother, who uses multiple pauses. This shows that his mother
acts as a mentor for Harry to learn. She also adds more pauses when Harry does not use any. These act
as hints for Harry to pick up and use in his own conversation.

She also uses the pronoun ‘we’ as compared to Harry. This we tells Harry that he must listen to his
mother.

We’ll have to sort out that toy cupboard before christmas (.) make room for new presents we might go
to nanny’s for christmas

Harry’s mother also repeats his sentence where he has made a mistake to hint to him that he has made
a mistake:

This gives Harry a chance to correct himself. She also corrects his incorrect pronunciation of ‘chimney’ so
that he understands his mistake. The pronunciation of ‘chimney’ is seen to be tough for Harry: it is
easier for him to say /l/ after /m/ compared to /n/

ACTIVITY 17.8

1) Now compare Student response A with your own table from Activity 17.4.
A) has this student selected specific details and explained how and why the speakers used
particular features of language?
B) Has this student used knowledge of child language acquisition concepts and theories to
develop points in further detail?
C) Has this student linked particular details of language use to ideas from wider studies of
child language acquisition?

ACTIVITY 17.9

1) Choose five significant points from your Activity 17.4 table which were not covered in Student
response A. (If you have not got five additional points, go back to the transcription of Harry and
his mother and find some new points and add them to your columns.)
Your Activity 17.4 table should already be organised in a way that helps you to plan a piece of
extended written discussion: you have a series of details from the transcription and you have
 linked each one to a concept/theory from your wider study of child language acquisition. So you
should now be ready to write.
2) Give yourself 40 minutes to write five paragraphs in response to Exam-style question 17.2 based
on the transcription of the exchange between Harry and his mother. Discuss ways in which the
speakers use language, referring to specific details, and relating observations to ideas from your
studies of child language acquisition.
3) Check what you have written. If any point is unclear, add an explanation
4) Now give yourself a break. If necessary, leave what you have written until tomorrow: it will be
easier to assess the quality of your answer if you come back to it later on.

EXAMINER TIP

It is fine to add some more information to an exam answer which you thought you had finished. (For this
reason, it is always a good plan to leave some space at the end of each answer in case you need to come
back to it later.) As long as the examiner can make sense of what you have added – and it is clear where
it belongs – then the extra discussion will be taken into consideration.

There are no marks for beautiful presentation in an answer for an English exam. An examiner is usually
pleased to see crossings-out and corrections because they show that the student has taken the trouble
to check what they have written and thought about how to add to or improve their answer.

ACTIVITY 17.10

Assessing your own writing is not a natural process. It is something you have to train yourself to do.

Put yourself into the position of a teacher or examiner, who has to assess several aspects of you
performance (in terms of assessment objectives) against a set of criteria.

1) Give yourself 5 minutes to re-read what you wrote for Activity 17.6.
2) Use Table 17.3 to give yourself an honest assessment of how well you fulfilled each aspect.
(Look at the assessment guidance on pp. 181-182 for mark criteria applicable to this question.)

AO1- 5 MARKS AO4-15 MARKS AO5-5 MARKS

understanding of what is being Understanding of linguistic Selection of examples from
communicated in the select issues, concepts, transcription (language data)
interaction methods and approaches
reference to features of reference to wider study of analysis of chosen examples of
language spoken by or to linguistic issues and concepts language data
children
reference to linguistic methods synthesis of chosen examples of
and approaches exam taken by language data with ideas from
appropriate theorists wider study
Table 17.3: assessment criteria
Reflection: Compare what you wrote in Activity 17.6 with Student response A.

 In what ways was your writing better?

 Were there any ways in which Student response A was better?
 Show your answer to another student, friend or family member. Ask them to find two good things and two
not-so-good things about what you have written.
 What could you do next time to improve your writing?

ACTIVITY 17.11

Student response B is part of a much more developed and well-informed answer to Exam style question
17.2. On p. 104, you will find some comments from an examiner, comparing this response with the one
from Activity 17.5.

1) Read the response through once, concentrating on how well this student has used linguistic
concepts and theories to support and develop points.
2) Then read the examiner comments.
EXAMINER COMMENT

This is a much more well-informed response than the earlier one. The student writes very well, using
terminology in a precise way, for example, using the term ‘utterance’ rather than ‘sentence. This shows
an understanding that spoken language is not organised into sentences in the way that written language
is. This student also understands that the mother is modelling and reinforcing a difficult pronunciation
rather than ‘correcting’ Harry’s ‘mistakes.

The first response showed some understanding of how the mother was acting as a ‘language acquisition
support system’ for Harry – though that terminology was not used.

DEVELOP YOUR SKILLS

1) Reading Student response B will help you to develop your own essay style.
A) You have re-read Student response B, ask another student to read it through as well.
B) Spend 5 minutes talking about the details that the student has selected, and ways in
which they have linked these details to concepts which they know from wider study.
C) Then list these details and concepts in a table. The first three have been completed for
you in Table 17.4.

Table 17.4: Links to knowledge from wider study of child language acquisition

D) As you complete the table, pay particular attention to how introducing the concept and/
or terminology from wider study has enabled this student to provide a more developed
discussion.
E) T it is your turn to practise this skill:
- each detail and concept you selected, write a developed explanation.
- You must provide an explanation of your own: do not just repeat what Student response
B wrote.

Self-assessment checklist

Reflect on the learning outcomes listed at the start of Units 16 and 17, and indicate your confidence
level between 1 and 5. If you score below 3, revisit that section. Come back to this list later in your
course. Has your confidence grown?
 Confidence level Revisited?
I understand the structure of Section B, Question 2.
I understand how to approach transcriptions of spoken
language, which involve children speaking and being spoken
to.
I have learnt strategies for planning my essay answers.
I have learnt ways of developing the content of my essays
and improving the quality of my writing.

Test yourself: Section B, Question 2

Learning outcome

In this unit you will:

• reinforce and practise what you have learnt in preparation for Section B, Question 2.

EXAMINER TIP

You have 2 hours 15 Question 2

minutes to complete
EXAM-STYLE QUESTION 18.1
the whole of Paper 3.
For each question, Read the following text, which is a transcription of a conversation between a mother and her
this works out as: five year old daughter Raina as they are walking in the countryside.
 5-10 minutes Analyse ways in which the speakers are using language in this conversation. In your answer,
for reading you should refer to specific details from the transcription, as well as to ideas and examples
and from your wider study of child language acquisition.
notemaking
(25 marks)
 5 minutes for
planning
 45-50
minutes for EXAMINER TIP
writing Pay attention to what the question tells you about the content and context of the
 5 minutes for transcription.
proofreading/
checking. Read the transcription key first. Although, it is at the end of the transcription, to remind
yourself not to treat this text like a written text.
EXAMINER TIP

If you look back at Unit 17, you will see that some of the advice focused on what to avoid when dealing
with transcriptions of spoken language. You should not:

 Treat a transcription as if it were like a written text

 See features of non-fluency (pauses, hesitations, repairs, re-formulations) as ‘mistakes
 use terminology as a substitute for analysis, but to use it to make your analysis clearer and more
developed
 Waste time trying to discuss at length features which you know about from your wider study
and which are not significant in the transcription
 ‘dump’ information and knowledge about child language acquisition, which is not relevant to
the transcription.

Self-assess your work using the assessment guidance at the back of the book. A model answer for this
question is provided on pp. 192-194.

There are 25 marks for this question, and you will be assessed in A01 (5 marks), A04 (15 marks) and AO5
(5 marks). So, as you can see, it will be your ability to demonstrate understanding of linguistic issues,
concepts, methods and approaches (AO4) which will ha the most significant effect on the mark you get.

Section B: Child language acquisition

Question 2

Read the following text, which is a transcription of a conversation between Tia (age 4 years) and her
father as they do some painting together.

Analyse ways in which Tia and her father are using language in this conversation. In your answer, you
should refer to specific details from the transcription, as well as to ideas and examples from your wider
study of child language acquisition.

[25]
 Section B, Question 2
You are going to re-read your essay answer. Before you do, look at the assessment objectives in Unit 16
(p. 92).

Remember, the balance of assessment objectives for the Section B question on child language
acquisition is not quite the same as the balance for Question 1.

However, the essential skills will always be similar for all Paper 3 and Paper 4 questions:

 Careful reading of the material, and sensible selection of examples to examine in detail
 clear, well-organised essay writing that allows you to explain and develop your points.

Look at the Assessment guidance section on pp. 180-181 for mark criteria applicable to this question.
You should use these to judge how well you have coped with the relevant aspects of the exam-style
question.

Reflection:

1) Students are sometimes advised to approach transcriptions of spoken language with a list of features
that they should be looking for.
This approach can cause problems. For example, what do you do if you have prepared yourself to find
and write about overlaps and non-fluency features, and you then find the transcription on the question
paper does not really contain any significant examples of these?
Did you do anything like that in your answer?
2) A04 (demonstrate understanding of linguistic issues, concepts, methods and approaches) was the most
significant element in this question.
•How well did you apply your knowledge of concepts and theories related to child language acquisition
to the transcription?
•How exactly can you improve this aspect of your essay writing in the future?
EXAMINER COMMENT

The question wording is the standard instruction for a Section B, child language acquisition question:
Analyse ways in which Tia and her father are using language in this conversation.

This is an open question: students are left to identify features of a child talking to an adult/ parent, and
features of an adult/parent talking to a child. Students will know, from wider study, what some typical
features of child-directed speech are; but they must remember that it is only worth writing about these
if they are significant in the interaction between Tia and her father.

As with Paper 3, Question 1, it can be easiest to start at the level of single words. And the single word
‘paintbrush’ is an interesting one to look at. Tia’s father uses the word in the first line of the
transcription (‘ll just get you a paintbrush) and then the two speakers manage to talk about
paintbrushes for the next 15 lines (the first half of the transcription) without using the word ‘paintbrush’
again.

The two speakers manage to do this by using the range of ways that the English language contains to
allow us to refer to objects (or people) without using the name (noun) of that object/person every time.
So in line 1 the father uses the pronoun ‘they’ to refer to paintbrushes in the plural, and in line 2 Tia uses
the pronoun ‘one’ to refer to the singular. In line 5 the father twice uses the pronoun ‘it’ to refer to the
singular; and then in lines 10, 11 and 13 both speakers use the pronoun ‘them’ to refer to paintbrushes
in the plural.

The fact that Tia can cope with and understand all these anaphoric references, shows a complex level of
language acquisition.

Students should not forget the second half of the question wording: In your answer, you should refer to
specific details from the transcription, as well as to ideas and examples from your wider study of child
language acquisition. One such idea would be the concept of child directed speech, and there is a good
extended example in the second half of the transcription. The father’s question ‘why do pussycats lick
themselves↘️’ is not a request for information but a prompt to invite Tia to display her knowledge.
Eventually she does that by overlapping with ‘CLEAN’, and she receives the reward of positive
reinforcement – an aspect of Skinner’s Behaviourist Theory of Language Acquisition.
21-25  show developed understanding of details of interaction in the transcription of spoken
child language on the exam paper
 show discrimination in selecting significant examples of the language used by
child(ren) and adult(s)
 show insight and detailed understanding in applying linguistic concepts related to
how children acquire language
 make detailed reference to theories/theorists and research studies
 combine analysis of examples from the exam text with well-chosen examples and
ideas from wider study
16-20  show accurate understanding of the interaction in the transcription of spoken child
language on the exam paper
 select relevant examples of the language used by child(ren) and adult(s)
 show understanding in applying linguistic concepts related to how children acquire
language
 make relevant reference to theories/theorists and research studies
 combine analysis of examples from the exam text with examples and ideas from
wider study
11-15  show basic understanding of the interaction in the transcription of spoken child
language on the exam paper
 select some examples of the language used by child(ren) and adult(s)
 show some understanding in applying linguistic concepts related to how children
acquire language
 make some reference to theories/theorists and research studies
 combine reference to examples from the exam text with reference to examples
and/or ideas from wider study
6-10  show limited understanding of the interaction in the transcription of spoken child
language on the exam paper
 identify some examples of the language used by child(ren) and adult(s)
 show limited understanding of linguistic concepts related to how children acquire
language
 make limited reference to theories/theorists and/or to research studies and/or to
ideas/examples from wider study
 try to develop points about examples from the exam text
1-5  show only occasional understanding of the transcription of spoken child language on
the exam paper
 identify some examples of the language used in the transcription, but struggle to
explain how they are characteristic of language used by children or to children
 show limited evidence of wider study
 make a limited attempt to express simple points clearly
 Model answer foe exam style question 18.1
This is a neat short introductory
Raina has a very cooperative conversation with her mother. paragraph, summing up Raina’s
contribution to the conversation in
At the age of 5, she can understand everything her mother linguistic terms. (Sometimes students
says to her, and she has ideas of her own. She manages turn- ‘throw in’ terminology like ‘adjacency
taking competently throughout the interaction, and almost all pairs’ and ‘turn-taking’ without
showing understanding, but this
the adjacency pairs are fulfilled.
answer goes on to use the
terminology in order to develop the
analysis.)
The context of this conversation is a walk in the countryside.
The mother’s agenda’ seems to be to point out bird life to her
Correct/accurate reference to what
daughter, with frequent use of the imperative LOOK’ with the mother says. (Sometimes students
raised volume to gain Raina’s attention. Sometimes these make inaccurate comments, e.g.
imperatives are accompanied by deictic language such as saying that a certain word is used
many times, when in fact it is only
‘over there’. used once or twice; but here the
mother really does say ‘LOOK’
multiple times.)
Raina’s ‘agenda’ is clear from the number of times she says
‘this way’, usually with emphatic stress on this. Her mother
does what many parents and care-givers do to avoid
confronting a child: she continually distracts her by pointing
out things in the immediate environment. All of the A developed explanation of the
interaction is about this immediate environment – the context, with some comment on
countryside they are walking through – so there is no need for aspects of Raina’s language
development for which there is no
either speaker to refer to anything outside that environment. evidence. (Usually, it is better to avoid
As a result, we have no evidence of Raina’s understanding of discussing what is not there-but this
abstract concepts like time, though we would expect her brief reference to ‘abstract concepts
like time’ is sensible here.
cognitive development to have reached a stage of coping
easily with such concepts.

Raina does seem to understand conditionals (if you be quiet Correct and useful identification of
youll hear them) and modal verbs of possibility (there might two utterance types which Raina does
understand-brief, but helpful analysis.
be creepy crawlies in there), but she does not respond
verbally to either of these topics. However, she does respond
by giving her attention to what her mother is pointing out:
 Usually it is better not to quote a
lengthy chunk of transcription, but
here it works well to illustrate the
previous point and lead into the next
point.
In this exchange. Raina shows her understanding that a baby
birdie’ might not yet be able to fly. She refers to the bird as ‘he,
showing she can substitute a pronoun for the noun birdie and
understand that the same creature is referred to by both words.
She also uses a tag question can he to ask her mother for Helpful (fairly brief) analysis of the
confirmation of her idea that he cannot fly. The mother offers a mother’s utterance, showing the
student realising that the mother uses
gentle disagreement – i think he can’-hedging her utterance and features of child-directed speech.
softening its force rather than using a bare declarative (he can). Makes this explicit a couple of
paragraphs later.
We have not got a lot of evidence for this, but Raina may be
learning politeness strategies from listening to and imitating her
mother. The mother avoids a face-threatening act here by hedging
Brings in a new concept: politeness
her utterance and Raina responds with a polite back channel
and face theory. This is well done: the
sound of agreement: ‘mm hmm’. She responds in exactly the same student recognises that ‘We have not
way (mm hmm) to her mother’s next attempt to engage her got a lot of evidence for this’ but still
attention (i can see the sea), and it may be that she is more manages to integrate this knowledge
from wider study.
interested in finding a way of getting her mother to allow her into
the field. But her next attempt at that (can i go in the long grass
and and chase it) is no more successful than her earlier attempt
Giving
(mumsimple
i’m/ explanations andthere
/ skip over to reasons(1)iscan
onewe
feature
go inofthis
child-directed
field). Herspeech
This links the previous point to child-
which you has
can see Notices and quotes four of the
mother reaingɘnɘ
the mother’s
sons: tooutterances. Another
long grass featurethere
in there... of child-
might be directed speech.
mother’s utterances, realising that
directed speech is substitution of standard vocabulary items with diminutives’
creepy crawlies in there we’ll stick to the path youll get dirty down each of them provides Raina with a
or ‘baby-talk-for example, when the mother says ‘birdies rather than ‘birds.
there. disagree about whether this feature helps language development.
Theorists Areason
lengthywhy she should
discussion not go
of ‘baby intoisthe
talk’
field. as a feature of child-directed
provided
Some argue that children should be exposed to the proper (Standard) term
speech, linking the example in the
from the start, and that to say ‘choo-choo instead of train’ and ‘moo-cow’
transcription to examples from wider
instead of cow’ hinders language development. But some recent research study, and bringing in knowledge of a
(2018) from the University of Edinburgh suggests that baby-talk and recent study. The student is aware
reduplication of sounds (such as ‘choo-choo) did help language development that different research findings can
in the age group of infants (9 months to 21 months) who were studied... contradict each other.