Transcript Analysis

In the transcript Tom is two years seven months.  According to David Crystal’s theory of Grammatical Development, Tom should be in the ‘Telegraphic stage’. This is where three or more words are joined in an increasingly complex and accurate order; ‘I sitting on the bike’ He has used a subject The subject is 'I'.which is the bike, a verb which is sitting and named the object in which he is sitting on which is the bike. This syntax is commonly used by children who are aged 24 -36 months. This is varies from child to child as everyone develops at different rates. Tom is showing signs that he is moving towards the ‘Post – Telegraphic stage’ as he has started to use the adverbial; ‘I need to get the screw off in the bucket’. By stating where he is going to put the screws we can see he has developed a greater awareness of grammatical rules, this could be due to social interaction with his parents. 

Which linguistic method are you discussing in this paragraph.  To aim for a systematic approach, ensure you dedicate each paragraph to a separate relevant linguistic method. Within this transcript power is split between each of the participants. Your response must be data-led (AO1).  Here, you have started with Power (AO2). Mum is asking Tom multiple open end interrogatives to improve his speech and vocabulary but also to keep him engaged while recording is taking place. To do this she uses child directed speech; ‘what sort of noises?’ Toms answer to that question will determine what the next question will be. This shows that Tom has power over the conversation. However, Mum shows her power over Tom by using the imperative ‘don’t’. She is doing it in a non-aggressive way therefore showing ‘unequal encounter’ as she is the adult, therefore she has an overall power over Tom and what he does.  On the other hand, Dad uses ‘influential power’ to gain control over Tom. It is clear that Tom respects his Dad as he is proud to be fixing up his Dads bike; ‘dads bike mum (.) dads bike’. This could be because Dad is working most of the time and therefore doesn’t have as much interaction with Tom so he gets excited at the prospect of working alongside his Dad. Good - tentative AO3  This is also represented through Dads language as he is not as comfortable talking to Tom as Mum is, instead of encouraging Tom to speak by asking open questions, he agrees with the declarative that Tom has said previously, for example using one word utterances such as ‘yeah’. This shows he may not spend as much time with Tom as Mum does. This is also shown when Tom and Mum have shared knowledge of Tom’s behaviour. Tom at the beginning of the transcript says ‘please’ correctly but when he wants something off mum says ‘ plis’. Mum copies what he is saying suggesting she is not going to give into what he is asking her to do and again this is shared knowledge between them both.

Throughout the transcript Tom gives Mum a running commentary of everything he is doing. This is egocentric behaviour that is very common with most young children. Again- you have started with AO2.  Try to change the structure around - AO1 the AO2 then AO3.The first person pro-noun ‘I’ is used to support the notion that Tom is only really considering his actions within his imaginary play. Although adults also have a running commentary of what they are doing it is all done through an internal monologue. Vgkosky believes that through social interaction children gradually learn to internalise their thoughts when they are developed grammatically enough to understand and notice what is grammatically correct. If a child spends enough time with their parents or extended family they will start to learn grammatical rules, such as, speaking in adjuncy pairs as Tom has shown throughout the transcript. This social interaction could also lead to why Tom is so eager to fix the bike. If he has watched his Dad in the past fixing up a bike it is only natural that he would want too as well. It is a very gender specific job that Tom has chosen to do but also re- enforces society’s views that fixing objects is a very male thing to do. Good - awareness of Gender.

Tom shows signs throughout the transcript that he is in Hailidays ‘Heuristic’ stage of development. Again, AO2 has led your paragraph.  Lead with AO1. He is broadening his vocabulary by learning language through exploring his surroundings. This is mainly shown when he uses over-extension to work out what the screws are called. He calls them ‘puzzles’ as that is the closest word he knows to screws. If he wasn’t exposed to playing with the screws then he wouldn’t have been able to make the physical connection with the object. This method of learning allows him to have fun but also develop important lexical skills.
You demonstrate a clear knowledge of CLA.  Work on the structure of your essay and indicated by my comments.  There are so many positive comments about your response.  Look at the model essay under my name for further development.