Child Language Acquisition/Development - Joey Transcript

Child Language Acquisition/Development 
Joey Transcript - Question and Resources 

Question 4:
https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77021-SQP.PDF

Student responses with examiner commentary:
https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77021-CEX.PDF

Mark Scheme:
https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77021-SMS.PDF


“Interaction with caregivers is the most important influence on a child’s language development.” Referring to Data Set 1 in detail, and to relevant ideas from language study, evaluate this view of children’s language development. [30 marks]

Introduction:
·         ‘Interaction with caregivers…’
·         Divides language theorists
·         Mention both sides of argument briefly (e.g. ‘However, theorists on the other side, like Chomsky, believe language acquisition is an innate ability.’)
·         Possibly mention:
o   Post-telegraphic stage
o   Child-directed speech
·         Caregiver methods – repetition, interrogatives, positive and negative reinforcement

P1:
·         Skinner – blank slate- behaviourist theory
·         Caregiver methods, e.g. positive and negative reinforcement, shape a child’s lexical ability
·         ‘Prawns not crawns’
·         Skinner himself was not able to rpove thos as he only tested on rats
·         However, Deb Roy was able to record this son’s progress from ‘gaga’ to water’ through how his parents reinforced the lexis ’water’ to him until he was able to phonetically say it. He understood it sooner but needed to develop his phonetic ability with the help of his vorstelcaregivers.
·         Shows caregivers are the ones who provide children with the lexis they need and then encouraging them to use it
o   Seen through the constant interrogatives directed at Joey from the caregiver

P2:
 Bruner – LASS
·         Children require different contexts and interactions provided by the caregiver
·         Ritualised scenarios – ‘what shall we play with [Joey goes over to his play kitchen] oh (.) are you going to cook some dinner’ – ‘what are you going to have today sir’ (intimating it from possibly a waiter or serve at a restaurant)
o   Shows caregiver is providing the tools Joey needs to acquire new lexis and situations in which he might use it
·         Halliday’s imaginative function – Joey pretending to cook builds his pragmatic awareness because he is using lexis for more complex situations
o   ‘“egg (.) I’ve got lots of eggs’

o   Repetition – reinforcing his lexis, making sure he is understood 




P3:
·         Berko-Gleesen – Wug Test
·         Children naturally understand grammatical and linguistic rules without being taught them
·         They are able to apply tenses and create plural lexis for words that don’t even exist
o   Shows that they have an ingrained ability to adapt lexis depending on context
o   This is not an influence of caregiver language as Joey has never heard an adult say ‘that’s my daddy’s books that is’ – virtuous error
·         However, virtuous errors could also possibly be a result of societal and caregiver mistakes in that people often become lazy with their language which influences the child to do the same

o   They end up mimicking lazy language which causes mistakes in their own


·         Chomsky – nativist theory
·         Children are born with a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) that grants them the innate ability to apply grammatical rules – leads to overgeneralisation
o   This is not an influence of caregiver language as Joey has never heard an adult say ‘that’s my daddy’s books that is’ – virtuous error
o    ‘that say crawn’
·         Can be seen through Joey’s development in the post-telegraphic stage
o   Use of auxiliaries, determiners, negatives, interrogatives
·         Scientific evidence for a LAD – FoxP2 – device in your genes that helps us pick up language
o   People with defects in this gene have speech problems
o   Discovered in 2001

P4:
·         Chomsky – nativist theory
·         Children are born with a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) that grants them the innate ability to apply grammatical rules – leads to overgeneralisation
o   This is not an influence of caregiver language as Joey has never heard an adult say ‘that’s my daddy’s books that is’ – virtuous error
o    ‘that say crawn’
·         Can be seen through Joey’s development in the post-telegraphic stage
o   Use of auxiliaries, determiners, negatives, interrogatives
·         Scientific evidence for a LAD – FoxP2 – device in your genes that helps us pick up language
o   People with defects in this gene have speech problems
o   Discovered in 2001

P5:
·         Genie – never had a caregiver – feral child
·         Was able to pick up vocabulary but never apply to a sentences
·         Gained lexis not grammar
·         Same with animals – through positive and negative reinforcement animals are able to identify objects and learn the words for them and communicate them
o   However they cannot form sentences or phonetically say the words

·         Evidence for a CAP – we may have a LAD but this is useless without a caregiver







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