11HR

1. +
Spoken Language Study
– Store Standards

2. +
Introduction
 For your Controlled Assessment, you
will be focusing on ‘How spoken
language is used by different age
groups in different contexts’.

3. + Verbal behaviour – status,
power or powerlessness
 In your group, discuss where you would place
the following types of verbal behaviour on a
status line from ‘powerful’ to ‘powerless’:

4. Powerful Powerless
 Being the person who decides what will be
talked about (agenda setting)
 Interrupting someone
 Giving way to an interruption
 Ignoring an interruption and continuing
with what you were saying as if the
interrupter hadn’t spoken
 Apologising

5. +
Spoken Language in the Workplace
Jason & Joseph

6. + Ranking activity – who has the
higher status?
Jason, the manager
 Jason started with
Sainsbury’s 23 years ago
collecting trolleys. He
worked his way up and is
now the well-respected
manager of the Sydenham
branch, the largest
Sainsbury’s in the country.
His store deals with 65,000
customers a week and he
manages 800 staff.
Joseph, the trainee
 Joseph has been with Sainsbury’s
for less than a year. He works in a
small convenience store with 8
other staff. His entry for an internal
competition impressed head office
so much he is being given the
chance to train to be a manager in
only 3 weeks. This kind of fast-track
scheme is only usually available to
people who are already deputy
managers. The first part of his
training involves spending two
weeks at the Sydenham store,
working with Jason.

7. +
Jason & Joseph – ‘Store
Standards’
Non-verbal behaviour Verbal behaviour

8. +
Jason & Joseph – ‘Store
Standards’
Non-verbal behaviour Verbal behaviour
– Facial expressions
– Head movement (e.g.
nodding, holding head to one
side)
– Eye gaze/eye movement
(Where is the person looking?
Are they making eye contact
with the person they are
speaking to/listening to?)
– Gestures
– Posture
– Tone of voice
– Smiling/laughing
– Who interrupts whom? Does
the other person give way or
keep talking?
– Who speaks most? Who
speaks at length while the other
listens (holding the
floor)? Who decides what is
going to be talked about
(agenda setting)?
– Apologising
– Who gives instructions, and
how?

9. +
Activity 1
 Rank both Joseph and Jason according to
the power or status they each have in the
two clips.
 Compare the rankings with the predictions
you made.
 Make a note of your reasons, thinking about
the clues in their verbal and non- verbal
behaviour.

10. +
Activity 2 – Store Standards
Jason Joseph
Attitude &
Behaviour
How is this
reflected in
the spoken
language?

11. +
Practice written task
What factors influence the conversations between Jason (store
manager) and Joseph (trainee) in the transcripts provided?
 You should consider:
 The purpose of each conversation
 The status of the speakers and the context
 In your response you should make detailed comments on the
use & effect of specific language choices, including:
 Interruptions,
 Turn-taking
 Jargon
 Overlaps
 Colloquial language
 Hesitations
 Any other features you may notice

12. + What is the exam board looking
for?
To get grade A+ you need to show