English Language child language acquisition exam question

1. Beth Graham
Using your knowledge of reading acquisition so far, write a detailed analysis of Text A and B,
focusing on what the transcript shows about Oliver’s approach to reading and the skills he has
so far acquired.
Oliver is a 7 year old boy reading the opening of Victorian Adventure, a title in the Magic Key
series. This information raises some key contextual factors such as his enrolment in year 2 at
primary school meaning the key stages will be playing a part in how they are learning to read. At
this age it would also be expected that children will be able to sound out unfamiliar words by
using their knowledge of phonics as tested in the Phonics Check at the end of Year 1. The fact
that Oliver is also reading to his mother suggests that this a familiar story, perhaps one has has
been reading for a while now.
In terms of structure, text A demonstrates that the past tense is used frequently throughout the
book. This knowledge of time connotes that this book is designed for older, more advanced
readers as the knowledge of verb conjugation is a requirement to read and sound out the text.
In terms of layout, text A shows that graphology plays a key role in aiding the child’s reading,
going against the theory of synthetic phonics due to the stressed importance of context.
Underneath the 2 large pictures on either page, the text is simply laid out as there are up to 6
words on each line as each line is either a short sentence or the line break acts as a comma,
introducing children to the idea of grammar. These sentence structures are also replicated
within Oliver’s reading, he reads each line of the text as a sentence and stops at the end of
every line even when full stops are not present “Biff and Chip had been to (.) London (1.0) with
Gran.” Oliver’s reading here demonstrates that he is attempting to apply linguistic rules and
conventions that he has already learned as books for younger readers incorporate very short
sentences to ensure the child’s understanding. This also suggests that Oliver has recently
moved up a key stage or excelled within his reading as he is beginning to read books with more
complicated structures.
Throughout the transcript of text B, Oliver can be seen making some errors whilst reading as he
attempts to apply his already existing knowledge and making virtuous errors. Skinner’s
behaviourist theory can be applied to the mother’s reaction to Oliver’s mistakes. The first
example is that of negative reinforcement when Oliver misunderstands the concept of ‘didn’t’ as
he reads “... but didn’t it take Gran.” His mother replies “no no what does it say,” By directly
telling her son that he is incorrect demonstrates Skinner’s theory of negative reinforcement.
However the mother also uses examples of positive reinforcement such as “that’s right good
boy.” By using these two example of reinforcement as documented by the behaviourist theory,
the mother is teaching her son that reading correctly will result in praise and something that
should be worked towards within his reading, whereas negative reinforcements allow Oliver to
recognise linguistic mistakes to avoid in the future.
Child directed speech is also used frequently throughout text B when Oliver is reading out loud
to his mother. A frequent feature of child directed speech used throughout are questions that the
mother asks to encourage a response from Oliver “it’s like when we went to London isn’t it.” The
mother attempts to encourage responses from her child to further engage him within the text. By

2. Beth Graham
relating what he is reading to a past experience, the mother might be promoting cognitive theory
and possibly object permanence as Oliver will be able to relate to the location and apply his
contextual knowledge to aid his reading of certain lexical choices he might have come across.
The concept of politeness strategies are also recognised within the texts, thus encouraging the
children that read them to incorporate these techniques into their own everyday vocabulary and
social cues. One example of a social nicety used is the dialogue said by Biff before asking a
question “excuse me (.) said Biff do you know where we are (.)” This demonstrates the concept
of turn taking within language but doing so in a polite manner, it also introduces the idea of the
question and answer complex that is commonly seen throughout direct speech within children’s
books.
In conclusion, text A and B focuses on Oliver’s approach to reading and documents the skills he
has already developed from his previous key stages in school. The texts also indicate that
Oliver is currently in the process of learning new skills such as the cognitive understanding of
time and grammatical structures, skills usually associated with older readers and higher key
stages. The interactions with his mother also play a vital role as she acts as a reinforcement
through her speech, she demonstrates various concepts such as Skinner’s behaviourist theory
and the importance of child directed speech.