The document discusses linguistic theory and its application to analyzing data and texts. It provides examples of linguistic concepts like parts of speech, grammatical structures, and language acquisition theories. Key terminology is defined and examples are analyzed to demonstrate linguistic analysis. The purpose is to provide tools to make judgements about linguistic theories.

1. Teaching linguistic theory:
applying linguistic theory to
data and texts.
Using linguistic theory to enhance able pupils’
responses.
Using AfL to enhance able pupils’ work.
By Francis Gilbert www.francisgilbert.co.uk
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2. THE IMPORTANCE OF THEORIES IN THE REAL WORLD
What sort of attitudes and approaches underpin these two
articles?
Read the following two articles from the Daily Telegraph
and write about whether you think that children's
changing environment is affecting their language for
better or worse. Use evidence from your own
investigations and research. Teacher and class notes have
been added in CAPITALS.
Not on Speaking Terms: Why do many children lack basic
language skills?
Ann Jones is used to getting blank stares. As a primary
school teacher of 20 years' standing, she has seen the
communication skills of her classes deteriorate steadily.
"Too many children are starting school lacking basic
language skills," she says. "A simple request such as Go
to the cupboard and get the pencils, please' is met with
a blank look. Some of them simply don't know what I am
talking about.
IS THIS EXAGGERATED? THIS IS A BASIC COMMAND. THIS IS
SUGGESTING THE CHILDREN DON’T UNDERSTAND THE REQUEST
Nursery teachers agree with anecdotal evidence that
children are less verbally advanced than at any time in
recent history.
"The hard research evidence isn't there as yet because it
hasn't been done," says Gill Edelman, chief executive of
I Can. " But there is a growing body of opinion among
professionals that there are more children than there
used to be with communication difficulties - and boys are
three times more likely to have problems than girls.
Early intervention is critical because by the time they
get to primary school they may already have developed
behavioural problems through frustration."
Edelman believes it is vital that parents talk to their
babies right from the beginning. "Most parents do it
automatically, but some need encouragement."
Liz Attenborough at the National Literacy Trust agrees
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3. and the charity is running a campaign called Talk To Your
Baby. "One professional told me that, in the old days,
you could look around a nursery and highlight the
children with difficulties because they were unusual, but
nowadays it's the other way round - you highlight the
children without difficulties."
Blaming television is obvious, but Attenborough thinks it
is only part of the story. Most households are much
noisier, with a background din from a television or radio
preventing people from talking to each other. The family
unit is now smaller, with fewer adults around to talk to
children, and busy lives mean that traditional mealtimes
are becoming a rare occurrence. Attenborough also cites
the move away from active play to what she calls solo
toys, such as computer games. "Parents feel they have to
give their children expensive presents and don't realise
that children would rather have their time than something
flashy."
SOCIAL CONTEXTS ARE IMPORTANT. TELEVISION COULD BE BLAMED
TO AN EXTENT; THE LACK OF INTERACTIONAL LANGUAGE COULD BE
BLAMED. TELEVISION COULD BE A GOOD WAY OF DEVELOPING
INTERACTIONAL LANGUAGE EG TALKING TO YOUR CHILD
SOLO TOYS. IF THEY ARE USED TOO MUCH. THEY ARE NOT
PRIMARILY LEARNING TOOLS BUT SOMETIMES PARENTS USE THEM
AS REPLACEMENTS. CHILDREN COULD STILL TALK ABOUT THE
GAMES AT LENGTH AND COMMUNICATE WITH THEM. PERHAPS SHOWS
THE FLAWS IN CHOMSKY’S THEORIES. CHOMSKY WROTE THE THEORY
IN THE 1960S WHEN THERE WAS LITTLE OPPORTUNITY FOR SOLO
PLAY.
(Daily Telegraph, 3 April 2004)
Ignored and grunted at - TV toddlers have to be taught to
talk
Youngsters aged from three to five will be given lessons
on how to speak and listen properly under government
plans to tackle a decline in children's language skills.
Serious concern was expressed at a recent ministerial
meeting about the growing numbers of pupils starting
school unable to talk clearly or pay attention to the
teacher. A decision was made to introduce special
tuition.
Education researchers, who blame increased television
viewing and the decline of family conversation for the
trend, say that teaching such children the 3Rs is a waste
of time because they have not yet grasped the basics of
language.
3

4. Liz Attenborough, the co-ordinator of the Talk to Your
Baby campaign, run by the National Literacy Trust, said:
"Unbelievable as it seems, some children starting nursery
do not seem to have ever had a one-to-one conversation
with anyone.
The Department for Education and Skills asked officials
from the National Primary Strategy, the Sure Start Unit
and others working in early-years education to draw up
proposals for improving verbal and aural ability.
As a result, an "early language and communication
project" is being set up. This will make the study of
speaking and listening a priority in the classroom.
Guidance will be given to teachers and nursery staff on
how to improve children's capabilities in both areas.
One suggestion is that formal education should be
postponed for at least a year for children who lag behind
their age group.
A department spokesman confirmed that action to tackle
deficiencies in young children's speaking and listening
was being prepared after a government "think-tank"
considered the problem. "The think-tank grew out of a
recognition of widespread concerns about language and
communication in pre-school children," she said. "All
those working with the youngest children need to have the
appropriate knowledge and understanding of the
development of language. The aim of the project is to
improve that knowledge."
Research published earlier this year by the Government's
Basic Skills Agency found that head teachers believed
that - compared with five years ago - fewer pupils now
had basic language skills such as speaking audibly and
talking voluntarily to others. Less than half of those
starting school could recite songs or rhymes.
The findings prompted Alan Wells, the agency's director,
to give warning that a "daily grunt" phenomenon was being
created by parents, including some well-educated, who
were not devoting enough time to their children. He said
that an increasing number adopted a "leave it to the
school" approach, which was failing their offspring.
"In some families, parents seem to lack the skills to
develop the language of children," said Mr Wells. "In
others, parents with lots of money, but little time, buy
themselves out of giving attention to their children by
using computer games that children play themselves
without the interaction of the parents." Mr Wells said
that as well as parental neglect, excessive television
viewing was a cause of the decline in linguistic skills.
Other academics have blamed the use of computers and
schools' over-emphasis on reading and writing at a very
4

5. early age for some young children's poor grasp of
language.
The I Can charity, which promotes speech and language in
children, has estimated that one in 10 children in
Britain struggles to understand what people are saying
and has difficulty conveying thoughts and feelings.
Pressure for changes to teaching methods has been
heightened by a recent Sheffield University study which
found that children's language skills did not necessarily
improve once they were in school or nursery.
It disclosed that the speech development of 240 three-
year-olds from deprived areas actually deteriorated after
they had attended nursery for two years. Ann Locke and
Jane Ginsborg, the researchers, attributed their findings
to the children's limited exposure to spoken language at
home, but also in their subsequent early-years education.
Under current government guidelines, three- to five-year-
olds in schools, nurseries and playgroups are supposed to
reach goals in "communication, language and literacy".
Very young children are expected to be able to make eye
contact and express themselves with body language. By the
time they have reached five, they should have progressed
from simple statements and questions to the ability to
talk to others, initiate conversation, take account of
what people say and take turns in conversation.
However, many teachers and nursery staff are not
adequately trained in speech and language, says Maria
Mroz, an early-years researcher at Newcastle University.
"It is clear that talking and playing are not as
prominent as one might wish in developing children's
language. Early-years professionals recognise their
responsibility. However, they lack the tools and the
knowledge to assess speech and language development
specifically and to identify delay or disorder."
Liz Attenborough, of the Talk to Your Baby campaign,
welcomed the new government project and said that
language was the key to learning and behaviour.
She added: "Many people believe that if you haven't
tackled [language problems] by the time children start
formal school it is too late - or at least much harder to
do anything about."
Nearly 90 per cent of three-year-olds have some state-
funded early-years education and the majority of four-
year-olds are in school nurseries.
(Sunday Telegraph, 1 June 2003)
THE ARTICLE RAISES SOME CONCERNS THAT IF CHILDREN ARE NOT
TAUGHT PROPERLY. WE MIGHT SPECULATE THAT WITHOUT THE
5

6. PROPER LANGUAGE SKILLS TO BEGIN WITH MORE FORMAL
SCHOOLING IS POINTLESS.
What do you think? Do you have an opinion, an informed
opinion or a “theory” about this?
What is the difference between a “theory” and a
hypothesis or “opinion”?
DEFINITION
The word theory has many distinct meanings in different
fields of knowledge, depending on their methodologies and
the context of discussion.
In science a theory is a testable model of the manner of
interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of
predicting future occurrences or observations of the same
kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or
otherwise verified through empirical observation. It
follows from this that for scientists "theory" and "fact"
do not necessarily stand in opposition. For example, it
is a fact that an apple dropped on earth has been
observed to fall towards the center of the planet, and
the theories commonly used to describe and explain this
behavior are Newton's theory of universal gravitation
(see also gravitation), and the theory of general
relativity.
In common usage, the word theory is often used to signify
a conjecture, an opinion, or a speculation. In this
usage, a theory is not necessarily based on facts; in
other words, it is not required to be consistent with
true descriptions of reality. This usage of theory leads
to the common incorrect statements. True descriptions of
reality are more reflectively understood as statements
which would be true independently of what people think
about them.
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7. According to the National Academy of Sciences,
Some scientific explanations are so well established that
no new evidence is likely to alter them. The explanation
becomes a scientific theory. In everyday language a
theory means a hunch or speculation. Not so in science.
In science, the word theory refers to a comprehensive
explanation of an important feature of nature that is
supported by many facts gathered over time. Theories also
allow scientists to make predictions about as yet
unobserved phenomena.[1]
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8. Providing you with the tools to enable you to make
judgements about linguistic theories
Year 13: Key Terminology Quiz for A2
1. What do we mean by the active and passive voices of
verbs? Analyse these sentences in this regard. 'I kicked
the boy'. And 'The boy was kicked by me'. What is the
difference in tone and approach?
2. What do we mean by the affix, suffix, and prefix of a
word?
3. What does 'amelioration' mean in the terminology of
language change and give an example of it. What is
perjoration? Give an example of it. What do we mean by
narrowing?
4. What do we mean by cohesion, coherence, anaphoric,
cataphoric references and deixis in a text? Explain all
these phrases with reference to one another. Analyse this
passage in this regard: TEACHER: 'As I said previously,
you need to make sure that you revise all your key
terminology. In the next lesson, we will be doing exam
questions...by the way did anyone watch 'Eastenders' last
night?'
5. VERBS. What do we mean by a verb, an auxiliary verb,
and dynamic and stative verbs? What is a modal verb? What
is a phrasal verb? What is the difference between a
transitive and intransitive verb?
Analyse this sentence in this regard: 'I have done my
best, but I am banging my head against a brick wall if no
one listens. I will be listened to! You should all listen
to me! I am talking now! You must listen to me! You
should all be locked in a cage and electrocuted.'
6. What do we mean by co-ordination and subordination
within a text? Analyse these sentences in this regard:
'He was a marvellous speaker and produced a great speech,
which expostulated upon the wonders of the vacuum
cleaner, which manages to clean up a carpet without
causing any noise...'
7. Pronouns. What do we mean by first person, second
person and third person pronouns? What are demonstrative
8

9. pronouns. Analyse the use of pronouns in this passage: 'I
really hate him, but you seem like to like him. You know,
we really hate him, don't you? He thinks he is marvellous
because he has powerful friends. They say he deserves a
break, but this is nonsense. Those people don't know what
they are talking about. I know better than that.'
8. What is diachronic variation? What is synchronic
variation?
9. What do we mean by a morpheme, a phoneme, and a
digraph? What is phonemic transcription?
10. What is phonics?
10. What is ellipsis?
11. What is etymology?
12. Child Language Acquisiton in a minute. What is a
holophrase? What is telegraphic speech? What is an LAD?
What is overextension? What is overgeneralisation?
13. What do we mean by subject, verb, object? Analyse
this sentence in this regard. The wretched man groaned,
put his hand to his leaky chest and then fell on the
floor.'
14. What do we mean by tags?
THE ANSWERS
1. What do we mean by the active and passive voices of
verbs? Analyse these sentences in this regard. 'I kicked
the boy'. And 'The boy was kicked by me'. What is the
difference in tone and approach?
I kicked the boy -- active VERY DIRECT
The boy was kicked by me -- passive LESS DIRECT AND MORE
FORMAL
Active voice describes a direct action and states the
verb subject and object, whereas in the passive voice the
subject can be removed, creating a more anonymous and
less dynamic, but more sophisticated tone.
2. What do we mean by the affix, suffix, and prefix of a
word?
9

10. An affix is a morpheme that you add to a word to alter
its meaning, a prefix is added to the beginning of the
word, and a suffix to the end of a word.
3. What does 'amelioration' mean in the terminology of
language change and give an example of it. What is
perjoration? Give an example of it. What do we mean by
narrowing?
Amelioration is when a word improves in meaning over time
due to a semantic shift, and perjoration is the opposite
i.e. a word becomes less desirable in meaning. For
example, gay. Narrowing is when a word becomes more
specific in meaning. E.G within the topic of LANGUAGE AND
TECHNOLOGY, the word FILE has narrowed its meaning to
refer exclusively to a document you are working on on the
computer.
Cohesion -- how clauses and sentences are linked together
using conjunctives, demonstrative pronouns and/or
punctuation to increase its fluency, which in turns
contributes to the coherence of a text (how easily it is
understood). An anaphoric reference is a demonstrative
pronoun that refers to an event that has taken place
BEFORE the time of the text, whereas a cataphoric
reference refers to a future event that has not yet
happened. Deixis, unlike cataphoric and anaphoric
references refers to something that is going on at the
same time as the text, but that which is outside of the
context. Therefore it is often accompanied by
paralinguistic features such as pointing and prosodic
features such as an increase in pitch and volume. ‘As I
said previously’and ‘last night’ are anaphoric
references, and ‘in the next lesson’ is a cataphoric
reference.
5. VERBS. What do we mean by a verb, an auxiliary verb,
and dynamic and stative verbs? What is a modal verb? What
is a phrasal verb? Analyse this sentence in this regard:
'I have done my best, but I am banging my head against a
brick wall if no one listens. I will be listened to! You
should all listen to me! I am talking now! You must
listen to me! You should all be locked in a cage and
electrocuted.'
A verb is an action word that describes that something
that has been done, that is being done or that will be
done. An auxiliary verb is one which carries a
10

11. grammatical function only. For example ‘have’ in ‘I have
done’ and ‘do’ in ‘Do you know?’ They are used mainly
when forming interrogatives and when using the perfect
tense.
A dynamic verb is one which describes an action, usually
a lively one such as ‘dive’ or ‘jump’, whereas a stative
verb is one that is more necessary than anything else,
and describes something mundane such as ‘to be’ or ‘to
have’.
A modal verb is one that indicates degress of certainty
and other attitudes towards an action e.g. ‘will’
‘would’.
A phrasal verb is one which consists of a main verb and a
preposition e.g. ‘go under’ and ‘lift up’.
6. What do we mean by co-ordination and subordination
within a text? Analyse these sentences in this regard:
'He was a marvellous speaker and produced a great speech,
which expostulated upon the wonders of the vacuum
cleaner, which manages to clean up a carpet without
causing any noise...'
Co-ordination is the linking of clauses together using
conjunctions such as ‘and’ ‘but’ and ‘or’. Subordination
is the liking of clauses together in such a way that it
gives one clause more importance than the other, i.e. one
can be used independently, and the other doesn’t make
sense on its own. In this instance, conjunctions such as
‘which’ and ‘who’ are used.
7. Pronouns. What do we mean by first person, second
person and third person pronouns? What are demonstrative
pronouns. Analyse the use of pronouns in this passage: 'I
really hate him, but you seem like to like him. You know,
we really hate him, don't you? He thinks he is marvellous
because he has powerful friends. They say he deserves a
break, but this is nonsense. Those people don't know what
they are talking about. I know better than that.'
Pronouns are words that replace nouns to avoid repetition
and keep sentences compact. First person pronouns are
‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘my’, second person pronouns are ‘you’, and
‘yours’ and third person pronouns are ‘he’ ‘she’ and
‘his’ etc. First person plural is ‘us/ours’ and third
person plural is ‘them/they’.
Demonstrative pronouns are ‘this’ ‘that’ ‘them’ and
‘those’.
8. What is diachronic variation? What is synchronic
variation?
11

12. Diachronic variation is the change in language over a
period of time, whereas synchronic variation is
variation, overlap or ambiguity in language at any one
specific time.
9. What do we mean by a morpheme, a phoneme, and a
digraph? What is phonemic transcription?
A morpheme is a unit of meaning, i.e. the stem of a word,
a phoneme is an individual unit of sound, e.g. a
consonant, a vowel or a diagraph. A diagraph is a
combination of two vowel sounds together that make an
entirely new sound e.g. ‘ou’ ‘ow’. A phonemic
transcription is one which uses the IPA to make an almost
exact written version of something that has been said.
10. What is phonics?
Phonics is the idea that children can learn language by
learning individual phonemes and how they are written,
and by then putting them together to form their own
words. This is in opposition to the whole book strategy .
11. What is ellipsis?
An ellipsis is the omission of one or two words in a
sentence.
12. What is etymology?
Etymology is the study of the history and roots of words.
12. Child Language Acquisition in a minute. What is a
holophrase? What is telegraphic speech? What is an LAD?
What is overextension? What is overgeneralization?
A holophrase is a one-word utterance. Telegraphic speech
is a stage in CLA where a child can compose phrases of
three or more morphemes. An LAD is a Language acquisition
Device, a mechanism which Chomksy claims we are all born
with and that helps us to understand the basic principles
of grammar. Overextension is when a child overextends the
semantic meaning of a word to more than one word, e.g.
‘daisy’ for all flowers. Over-generalisation is the over-
use of a grammatical rule in cases where there are
exceptions. For example applying the past participle rule
to the verb ‘to fall’, resulting in ‘I fell’.
12

13. 13. What do we mean by subject, verb, object? Analyse
this sentence in this regard. The wretched man groaned,
put his hand to his leaky chest and then fell on the
floor.'
The subject of a sentence is the person who carries out
the action, the verb is the action, and the object is the
person/thing to which the action is done. ‘The wretched
man’ is the subject, ‘groaned’ and ‘fell’ are the verbs,
and ‘his leaky chest’ and ‘the floor’ are the objects.
‘Wretched’ and ‘leaky’ are adjectives, ‘his’ is a
pronoun, ‘to’ and ‘on’ are prepositions, and ‘the’ is a
definite article.
14. What do we mean by tags?
Tags are utterances added onto the end of sentences,
often used by children to gain reassurance during
acquisition e.g. ‘it’s raining, isn’t it?’
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14. Language Acquisition Theories
Behaviourism (B.F. Skinner 1950s-60s)
Language is learnt by positive reinforcement (offering a
reward for ‘good behaviour’) and negative reinforcement
(for ‘inappropriate behaviour’)
Language is a particular social behaviour that follows
this model.
Positive reinforcement can be verbal praise or
reassurance, and negative reinforcement could simply be
correction.
Skinner wanted to apply his theory to all aspects of
human behaviour – THE PIGEON CASE STUDY!
In Favour Of Behaviourism
Imitation plays a large part in the acquisition phonology
because children acquire the pronunciations of their
parents and carers.
Some social and pragmatic aspects of language seem to be
learned this way for example turn taking patterns in
conversation.
Problems with the behaviourist model
Some evidence shows that some children don’t actually
respond to correction.
Children have their own idiolect and form sentences they
have not heard before.
Children aren’t exposed to enough language to develop as
quickly as they do.
Parents don’t always follow the rules of positive and
negative reinforcement.
Children do more than imitate as can be seen from over
extension (over use of a particular word) and over
generalisation (over use of a grammar rule, i.e.
‘felled’)
Language is too impoverished – children are not exposed
to enough standard English language to become fluent
themselves
In favour of Genetic argument
There are distinct milestones in language, so children
learn at more or less the same pace irrespective of
culture or mother tongue.
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15. Between the ages of two and seven language appears to
become less instinctive and more like hard work.
Children use language far more than they need to and do
not always react well to correction.
Overgeneralization
Research with chimpanzees and gorillas shows that
language is unique to humans.
All human languages though very different share some
fundamental similarities (universal grammar which we are
born with)
Beyond Skinner and Chomsky
Chomsky emphasised what children must already know rather
than the effects of experience whilst growing up.
As a reaction Jean Piaget investigated the idea that
language acquisition is parallel to the development of
thought (cognitive development)
Jean Piaget
Children only use more complex linguistic structures when
their intellect is ready.
As children develop they get a better awareness of
physical things such as size, heat and cold and to
accommodate this they acquire the language to express
them.
Forming sentences doesn’t just depend on grammar like
Chomsky says, but also on the ideas of logical
relationships involved.
Understanding = ability to acquire language
Language has two set functions: social and egocentric
(using language to help themselves and to learn about
their environment e.g. labelling)
Lev Vygotski
Vygotski believed in the exact opposite of Piaget. He
argued that language actually controls thought and not
the other way around.
George Orwell in 1984 took this idea further in imagining
a situation where the state could control the people’s
thoughts by changing the language they spoke.
There are examples of this today, for instance the fact
15

16. that an American President named a new generation of
nuclear missiles ‘the peace keeper’
Vygotski said that we never grow out of egocentric speech
but it goes underground and becomes part of our thought
processes (we are constantly labelling and assessing out
environment to help us)
Language is not just an expression but is vital to our
thought development
Bruner
Bruner put language acquisition firmly into a social
context emphasising language gets things done i.e.
children use it initially to get what they want to play
games, to stay connected with others (survival of the
fittest theory)
Bruner suggested the LASS (language acquisition support
system) which refer to the support for language learning
provided by parents – They provide more than models for
imitation as Skinner proposed.
16

17. Steven Pinker’s The Language Instinct
What does Pinker’s data about a child reveal about child
language acquisition?
17

18. Here is Adam, in the year following his first word
combinations at the age of 2 years and 3 months
(Pinker, 1994a). The numbers by the transcript
indicate his age, so 2;3 means two years, three
months and so on. Look carefully at the following
changes in his language development, and using the
systematic framework analyse the ways in which his
language has changed, suggesting relevant contextual
factors where appropriate, and referring to any
further research you have encountered during your
studies.
2;3: Play checkers. Big drum. I got horn.
2;4: See marching bear go? Screw part machine.
2;5: Now put boots on. Where wrench go? What that
paper clip doing?
2;6: Write a piece a paper. What that egg doing? No,
I don't want to sit seat.
2;7: Where piece a paper go? Dropped a rubber band.
Rintintin don't fly, Mommy.
2;8: Let me get down with the boots on. How tiger be
so healthy and
fly like kite? Joshua throw like a penguin.
2;9: Where Mommy keep her pocket book? Show you
something funny.
2;10: Look at that train Ursula brought. You don't
have paper. Do you want little bit, Cromer?
2;11: Do want some pie on your face? Why you mixing
baby chocolate? I said why not you coming in? We
going turn light on so you can't - see.
3;0: I going come in fourteen minutes. I going wear
that to wedding. Those are not strong mens. You dress
me up like a baby elephant.
3;1: I like to play with something else. You know how
to put it back together. I gon' make it like a rocket
to blast off with. You want - to give me some carrots
and some beans? Press the button and catch - it, sir.
Why you put the pacifier in his mouth?
3;2: So it can't be cleaned? I broke my racing car.
Do you know the light wents off? When it's got a flat
tire it's need a go to the station. I'm going to mail
this so the letter can't come off. I - want to have
some espresso. Can I put my head in the mailbox so -
the mailman can know where I are and put me in the
mailbox? Can I - keep the screwdriver just like a
carpenter keep the screwdriver?
18

19. Year 13: H G response to mock Child Language Acquisition
exam question with teacher comments
19

20. Read the following extract taken from Myzor’s Child
Language Acquisition, and using your knowledge of
Skinner, Chomsky, Piaget and Bruner, analyse the
interaction between child and mother discussing The
Snowman by Raymond Briggs. M is mother, K is
Katherine, 2 year old.
M: So what’s this book about?
K: Snowman
M: Mmm. What’s the snowman doing?
K: ‘S flying.
M: Mmm. Who’s he flying with?
K: James.
M: James. Yes.
K: Making he body.
M: He’s making his body, yes. And what’s he putting
on there? (1) On the top of the body he’s the...?
K: indecipherable.
M: The what?
K: Head.
M: The head, yes.
K: Hair, hair.
M: He hasn’t got any hair, has he. Poor snowman
hasn’t got any hair but he;s got a hat, hasn’t he.
K: He’s got there hat. Dat one’s sleeping.
M: Mmhuh.
K: indecipherable.
M: What’s James made his nose out of?
K: Uh, orange nose.
M: Orange. Yes, it’s an orange nose.
K: Yeh.
M: Let’s have a look. What’s he doing? Ho, ho, ho,
ho! He’s coming into the house. And what’s he doing
there? He’s trying all different noses. What’s he
trying there?
K: Pinenose.
M: Pineapple nose, yes.
K: He’s got no nose.
M: Yes, he’s got a pineapple nose and there he’s got
no nose.
K: He’s got it. (indecipherable) on back again. He’s
got it on back again.
M: He’s got it on back again, yes, yes. He’s got his
orange back on again. Mmm.
This transcript shows direct evidence of the theory
of Bruner. The Mother in this context is clearly
acting as a support system in the way that she is
encouraging the language development of the child.
Firstly, GOOD USE OF CONNECTIVE HERE she uses
interrogatives for both gaining the child’s attention
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21. and for acting as queries to promote independent
thought, and to encourage turn-taking patterns in
conversation. For example, EXCELLENT CONNECTIVE AGAIN
she builds on the statements and observations of the
child and builds on this by asking questions that
demand a direct response such as ‘He’s making his
body, yes. And what’s he putting on there?’
Furthermore GOOD CONNECTIVE, she includes the child
and draws the child to what is going on in the
pictures by using exclamations such as ‘let’s have a
look’, therefore she is encouraging her to have an
idea, then look at a picture and then develop the
idea further.
There is very little evidence of the mother directly
labelling objects for the child, as she clearly
follows some of Piaget’s ideas (that independent
thought is better because language development is
dependent on cognitive development). Instead, the key
feature of this conversation is the use of feedback,
which is parallel to the positive and negative
reinforcement ideas of Skinner in the behaviourist
theory. YES I AGREE WITH YOU The mother constantly
responds to the child’s utterances, whilst allowing
her to have time to speak, she constantly reassures
her (positive reinforcement) and also corrects her
without putting her down or highlighting a mistake
(negative reinforcement). This is perhaps because
there have been studies that show that although
negative reinforcement can be extremely damaging, and
less effective, it is also necessary to avoid
recurring mistakes (overgeneralization and
overextension) CAN YOU REFER TO THOSE STUDIES IN MORE
DETAIL?. The main method of giving feedback in this
conversation is to respond with utterances such as
‘yes’ and ‘that’s right’, even if the child uses non-
standard speech constructions and to then say the
correction, as if imitating what the child has said.
In this way, the child is exposed to the ‘correct’
EXCELLENT TO PUT THIS IN SPEECH MARKS sentence and
still gains a sense of reward for having been
imaginative and cooperative.
A key and controversial section in this transcript is
when the child says ‘He’s got it on back again’ and
the parent responds by imitating this and then saying
‘he’s got his orange back on again’. To some extent,
GOOD CONNECTIVE as Chomsky would say, this shows that
the child has a clear idea of fundamental grammar.
She has perhaps subconsciously identified the need
for a subject (he) an object (it) and an adverbial
time phrase (back again) to emphasise that it is an
action that has occurred before. EXCELLENT A GRADE
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22. COMMENT HIGHLIGHTING KEY GRAMMATICAL AREA Indeed the
fact that she has used non-standard syntax proves
this even further, because it is evident that she has
used a phrase that we assume she has not copied from
her role models, and that she has used her own
personal knowledge of grammatical rules to construct
this unique sentence. This therefore GOOD CONNECTIVE
suggests the presence of the LAD (Language
Acquisition Device) that has helped the child to
piece it together, and also that perhaps it is not
always that effective because the child cannot adapt
the grammar to fit the sentence she needs, so there
is a syntactical anomaly.
However GOOD CONNECTIVE, I believe that this sentence
could also prove PERHAPS THIS IS A LITTLE STRONG
ENDORSE? Piaget’s theory, which states that we are
not born with grammar, but that our acquisition of
language is dependent upon cognitive development. The
child has used the pictures she has seen to identify
the key concepts of what she wants to say in the form
of images – she has seen the snowman, and the orange
which she recalls from a previous picture. She
therefore CONNECTIVE knows that the snowman has
repeated a previous action, hence the use of ‘again’
and that he has actively put the orange on: ‘he’s got
it on’. One could deduce that using these concepts
she was able to find the words to express the
thoughts in her mind. Perhaps at a later stage of
cognitive development she would be able to make a
more standard and eloquent observation because her
intellect would allow it. The things that the child
says are very much based on visual aspects, and she
constantly comments on colour, appearance, and
objects that she has seen. The whole conversation is
therefore using language to express thoughts, to
label, to learn about the environment (although
fictional), just as Piaget hypothesised. The child is
using egocentric speech to help herself, with the
prompting of the parent who is helping her to develop
a thought pattern by questioning her.
Nevertheless, there are problems with Piaget’s
theory. He doesn’t take into account the importance
of the social aspect of speech, which is prominent in
this transcript. Bruner’s ideas are stronger here
than Piaget’s because the mother is acting as a LASS
(Language Acquisition Support System), and although
they share the common idea that language is used to
fulfil a need, Bruner emphasises the importance of
learning from a role model, whereas Piaget believes
in the importance of ‘self’. This transcript shows
that the social element of speech is very important
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23. because it demonstrates that we need other people to
provoke and help us during this difficult time of
language acquisition. NEEDS MORE EVIDENCE FROM
TRANSCRIPT HERE It is not something we can do alone,
as even the theory of Chomsky might suggest, because
research shows that those who are constantly exposed
to language and the speech of others respond better
and develop more quickly linguistically.
There are grey areas associated with all of the
language acquisition theories, but I think that
overall, Bruner wins through. It is after all, a more
modern and speculative theory and he has taken
aspects from both Skinner and Piaget. Almost every
sentence shows examples of feedback, which appears to
be one of the most essential things in encouraging
the child’s linguistic development, and the mother
here is so much more than someone for the child to
imitate – she constantly encourages her and also lets
her express herself independently.
AN A GRADE ESSAY WITH MASTERLY USE OF CONNECTIVES.
PERHAPS TOWARDS THE END YOU VEER AWAY FROM PROVIDING
CLEAR CUT EVIDENCE FOR YOUR POINTS. NEVERTHELESS,
THIS IS AN EXCELLENT ESSAY. WELL DONE.
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