Tom in the Garden Transcript Essay

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.