Tom in the Garden with Dad’s Bike
In this transcript we can see that
both Tom and mother are out in the garden, perhaps to spend time with dad (keep it formal - use 'father') and
because he learns from his environment. Tom is 2 years and 7 months and we know
that according to Crystal’s theory that he is in the telegraphic stage and
moving into the post telegraphic stage, which means he is becoming aware that
there are grammatical rules as shown by his sentences that are in the correct
syntactical order. There is further evidence of Tom’s awareness of grammatical
rules in the lack of mispronunciation. For example, Tom is able to say the word
“the” without substituting the fricative for an early consonant sound. This
clearly displays that the physical development of Tom’s vocal chords now
permits him to produce that fricative sound. Good - whenever you discuss stage theory, make it clear that you appraoch stage theory with cauction as children do not move from one stage to another over night.
Good - you have a clear systematic approach (AO1).
There are further phonological
features that can be seen in this transcript. Right from the beginning of the
transcript we see Tom placing emphasis on “oh please.” This is clear evidence
that Tom has grasped the pragmatic understanding that the phonological
manipulation of words can be used to influence others to provide him with what
he wants. In this transcript he is using emphasis on his words in order to try and
manipulate his parents to give him what he wants. He has therefore developed a
pragmatic strategy in order to assert his power in order to obtain what he
desires, a strategy that he would have learnt via socialising with others and
this therefore supports Vygotsky’s theory of social interaction resulting in
the development of children’s language. There is another instance in the
transcript that demonstrates Tom’s attempts to assert power when he reverts
back to his early childhood pronunciation of “please.” At this point in the
transcript Tom has seen a tape recorder and wishes to put it on but his mother
is prohibiting him from doing so. So Tom tries to use his pragmatic strategy of
changing the way he pronounces “please” in an attempt to influence his mother
to change her mind but instead the mother mimics Tom’s pronunciation as if to
mock him in order to assert her power over him. Good - this is an astute comment which includes an awareness of Power (AO2).
Looking at grammar we can see that
Tom is regularly missing out primary verbs, especially “am” in his sentences. However, we can see that Tom is able to utilise the primary
verb in his sentences when we see him say, “I am on dad’s bike”. It is clear to
us that Tom missing out the primary verb is a virtuous error, one he is not
doing on purpose. This error in his language occurs because primary verbs
belong to latter word classes Tom is yet to learn and understand. The fact he
is able to utilise “am” in one sentence is evidence of his transition from the
telegraphic stage into the post-telegraphic stage or it might suggest he is
learning ahead of what is typical of a child his age. We can also see that occasionally
mother will correct Tom (yes - she expands upon his utterance) when he misses out a primary verb such as when she
says, “you’re on your bike” early in the transcript. This is a subtle
correction and is an example of positive reinforcement, which relates to
Skinner’s theory who suggested that operant conditioning was important in terms
of children developing language. With Tom being in the garden he is able to
interact with his environment, which inspires Tom’s imagination, as can be seen
by the fact it is not made entirely clear whether the bike is his and he’s
saying it is his father’s or if it really is his dad’s bike. The presence of
his parents means that when Tom makes an error in his speech they can make
subtle corrections in order to further his language development.
Turning to lexis and semantics, we
can see a clear lexical field of bikes in this transcript with word choices
including “bike”, “screws”, “fix” and “handlebar.” It is important to note that
the transcript primarily focuses on fixing the bike and that fixing or
tinkering is widely considered to be a stereotypical male role. AO2 - Gender The reason
behind Tom’s stereotypical behaviour for his gender is that he is in the
presence of his role model, who happens to be his father who is of course the
same gender as Tom and we could argue that Tom has placed his father as his
role model because they are both the same gender. Throughout the transcript he
is constantly saying “dad’s bike” and clearly displays that this is all to
impress his father. It is also suggested that the purpose of Tom being out in the
garden with mother and father is so Tom is able to spend more time with his dad
because Tom learns from him due to his father being his role model.
Additionally, the dad may spend most of the day at work so being out in the garden
gives Tom and him a chance to bond. (Good - a perceptive contextual comment - but keep it tentative) Furthermore, we could argue that Tom’s
speech is an external monologue of his actions within the garden and provides a
sense of him talking out loud. This heuristic behaviour is a demonstration of
egocentric behaviour that shows Tom has mastered the concept of first person
pronouns. This all relates to Halliday’s theory of taxonomy and it can be seen
that Tom is approaching the end of taxonomy as he has also been displaying
language that hint at the exploration of imagination, which can be seen by Tom
playing with the screwdriver thinking he is actually fixing the bike. You 'sandwich' your AO2 well.
Finally, looking at child directed
speech we can see mother uses many interrogatives such as when she enquires
early in the transcript, “it makes noises?” Mother is clearly trying to keep
control by constantly enquiring into what Tom is thinking and monitor his
actions so that she doesn’t lose the power she holds. We once again see mother
using positive reinforcement to try and help Tom reach the word he is looking
for when he says “puzz” and “puzzles.” She tries to interpret that he means “parts”
but Tom then remembers he wanted to say “screws.” Tom had forgotten the word “screws”
and so he replaced it with “puzzles” because it was the only word he could
remember that was similar to what he wanted to say. This is an instance of
overextension and is common amongst young children when they either forget a
word they wish to use or do not know the correct word that fits the context of
their situation. So they replace the missing word with another that has a very
similar meaning. Returning to child directed speech; the father seems to be
just repeating mother’s positive reinforcement with phrases such as “very good”.
This repetition of the mother is perhaps due to the father not being really interested
in what Tom is doing because he may be busy or maybe his mind is on other
things. Alternatively, it could be down to the fact he has been at work all day
and Tom is preventing him from having relaxation time but nonetheless father chooses
to spend time with Tom because he understands Tom values his time with him and
looks up to him as a role model. However, he says and does very little and just
allows Tom to do what he wishes whereas mother has more control over Tom and
his actions. So we could therefore argue that the father has the least amount
of power in this transcript. Tom’s penultimate line is “I am”, which he said at
the same time his father was speaking and clearly reflects that he is
enthusiastic because he feels he has pleased his role model and made them
proud.
