ENGB3 Developing LanguageENGB3 Developing LanguageLanguage Acquisition

Outline of first two sessionsOutline of first two sessions

Session 1Session 1Recap of what is

required on ENGB3Focus on short

extracts of data to revise early stages

Focus on later stages, with emphasis on social development

Session 2Session 2Move into working

with data in the exam itself

Suggested approaches to reading, note-taking, planning and writing

Marking and redrafting exercises

ENGB3: what the spec saysENGB3: what the spec says

This topic area is designed to teach candidates about the nature and functions of language acquisition and

social development of children from 0 - 11 years. This unit will therefore require some knowledge of:

the early stages of language development and the learning of the sound system

lexical, semantic and grammatical development in language use between these ages

the importance of social interaction and the development of communication skills

the beginnings of reading and writing theories of acquisition and their role in understanding

how children acquire language.

Two key areas in this first sessionTwo key areas in this first session

How do you apply linguistic methods/ frameworks to data? How much credit will you get for this AO?

How do you link your observations to wider ideas from language study?

We will focus on some short extracts of child language data to draw out key concepts.

The importance of later stages and interaction between children and caregivers.

How can you usefully write about the later stages of language development?

We will focus on pragmatics and interaction.

Data set 1: extracts from talk Data set 1: extracts from talk during play over 2 yearsduring play over 2 years

(2,9)Liam: Did you hid it in my castle?Stan: Yes, I hid it in the dungeons. Liam: They shotted their arrows at the baddy (3,6)Liam: The goodies are going on their ship cos they’ve caught a baddie Liam: The cavemans are laughing Liam: I’m going to build a whole army of goodies//Stan: // yeah, cos the baddies are

coming (4,6)Stan: Don’t do that because you’ll hit the men and they’ll fall over.

Data set 1: extracts from talk Data set 1: extracts from talk during play over 2 yearsduring play over 2 years

(2,9)Liam: Did you hid it in my castle?Stan: Yes, I hid it in the dungeons. Liam: They shotted their arrows at the baddy (3,6)Liam: The goodies are going on their ship cos they’ve caught a baddy Liam: The cavemans are laughing Liam: I’m going to build a whole army of goodies//Stan: // yeah, cos the baddies are

coming (4,6)Stan: Don’t do that because you’ll hit the men and they’ll fall over.

Errors/areas of interestErrors/areas of interest

Did you hid it: confusion over formation of past tense in question syntax. Has successfully used auxiliary verb did in past tense form, but also inflected the main verb hide – hid

Shotted: overgeneralisation of past tense –ed form on irregular verb

Baddy/ goodies: phonological process of addition

Cavemans: overgeneralisation of plural –s ending on irregular noun

AchievementsAchievements

 (3,6)Liam: The goodies are going on their ship cos they’ve caught a baddie

Formation of two clause, complex sentence with a clause of reason (cos…) Use of present perfect construction (they’ve caught) rather than simple past

tense. Use of present progressive construction (are going)

  (4,6)Stan: Don’t do that because you’ll hit the men and they’ll fall over.

Use of three clause complex compound sentence (because…and) Use of modal will to create sense of future action/ consequences of actions.

Data set 1: earning marks Data set 1: earning marks

AO1: precision with language (esp. grammatical) terminology will secure marks.

Looking out for what children are achieving as well as the mistakes they are making will give you more scope for marks.

AO2: understanding of how to link language concepts, theory and case studies to data will help here.

Don’t try to shoehorn data into theories but look for possible connections.

What connections do we have from data set 1?

Data set 2Data set 2(Tom 2,7 with mum)(Tom 2,7 with mum)

(from ENB6 Jan 2005)

Data set 2Data set 2(Tom 2,7 with mum)(Tom 2,7 with mum)

G

A

C

D

B

F

E

Data set 2: features of caretaker languageData set 2: features of caretaker language

Data set 3: the pragmatics of Data set 3: the pragmatics of biscuitsbiscuits

a Ruby: dat (pointing at biscuit tin, age: 1 year 6 months)

b Ruby: biscuit, daddy (age: 2 years)c Stan: I want a biscuit, daddy (age: 3 years 6

months)d Stan: Can I have a biscuit, daddy? (age: 3 years 9

months)e Stan: Please can I have a biscuit, daddy? (age: 4

years 2 months) f Liam: I’m hungry, daddy (age: 4 years 9 months)g Liam: Stan’s had a biscuit. (age: 4 years 9 months)h Stan: Did you go shopping yesterday, Daddy? (age:

9 years)

Data set 3: the pragmatics of Data set 3: the pragmatics of biscuitsbiscuits

What do we mean by pragmatics?Atkinson, Kilba and Roca: “The distinction

between what a speaker’s words (literally) mean and what the speaker might mean by his words” (in Peter Grundy, Doing Pragmatics).

When applied to language acquisition, we might consider pragmatics to cover implicature, face, politeness and directness/ indirectness. There are other areas too.

Data set 3: the pragmatics of Data set 3: the pragmatics of biscuitsbiscuits

a Ruby: dat (pointing at biscuit tin, age: 1 year 6 months)

b Ruby: biscuit, daddy (age: 2 years)c Stan: I want a biscuit, daddy (age: 3 years 6

months)d Stan: Can I have a biscuit, daddy? (age: 3 years 9

months)e Stan: Please can I have a biscuit, daddy? (age: 4

years 2 months) f Liam: I’m hungry, daddy (age: 4 years 9 months)g Liam: Stan’s had a biscuit. (age: 4 years 9 months)h Stan: Did you go shopping yesterday, Daddy? (age:

9 years)