1. Developing good reading and investigative skills:
‘Listening’ to data and using annotation to stretch the most able students. Using AfL
to enhance able pupils’ work: Assessing pupils’ annotations.
Danny Collins’ Child Language Acquisition Project 2007
Michael has jus returned from school and is sitting in the dining room with his
mother and I. Michael is looking at his reading book from school. For the purpose of
the transcript below, Michael’s mother is called Tina.
1 Tina : Ben
Danny : Yeh (laughs)
Tina : Come on Ben (.) Whats wrong Ben? (Tina leaves the room)
Danny : Michael (.) what colours the dog?
5 Michael : bak
Danny : Yellow (1.0) say yellow
Tina : You come in with Mummy and Michael and Danny
(Tina enters the room with Michael’s younger brother Ben)
Tina : What’s happening now Michael (.) Look Danny’s looking at
your book
10 Danny : What’s the lady holding?
Michael : aa night
Danny : a light yeh
Michael : dit dit
Danny : What are them in the sky?
15 Michael : Dit dir
Danny : What’s that in the sky Michael ?
Michael : mm bnn nnn
Danny : Stars
Michael : Starrr
20 Danny : That’s it (laughs)
Tina : Did you say that was kipper? [referring to “dit dir comment
from Michael]
Michael : Dit dir
Tina : Kipper, // good
Danny: //Kipper (1.0) What’s that boys (.) that girls name?
25 Michael : mmmm nah noo
Tina : Is that biff?
Danny: Don’t know?
Michael : Bin
Tina : Biff
30 Danny : Whats that there // Do you know what that is?
Tina : // Chip?
Danny ? You don’t know?
1

2. Tina : errr shed (1.0) Say shed
Michael : shedr
35 Danny : oh look what’s that Michael?
Michael : odge ud ud
Tina : Is he sleeping?
Michael : (laughs) naahoooo
Tina : Whats he doing?
40 Michael : emm in (1.0) in
Tina : Theyr’e // inside
Danny : // in the shed?
Tina : the shed?
Michael : Done
Michael is in the dining area after returning from his first day at school. I am talking
to him whilst sitting at the table.
1 Danny : Michael (1.0) What’s my name?
Michael : Dan
Danny : Dan?
(Michael and Danny laugh quietly)
5 Danny : Who are my sisters?
Michael : Ermm mm
Danny : Rebecca?
Michael : Rebec
Danny : And Hannah
10 Michael : Anir
The following transcript was recorded two weeks after Michaels first day at school.
Michael is in the living room of his house after returning from school with his older
brother Jack and myself. I am observing the speech and recording what is being said.
1 Michael : Noo noo (.) no (1.0) mine (.) mine
Jack : Don’t you want the best time // in the world this can beat
anything
Michael : // Noooo (.) no
Michael : Dak (.) noo//
5 Jack : // Show him your wallet (.) look this is
Michaels wallet
Jack : You got five pound note (.) show him your five pound
Michael : noo
Jack : five pound (.) now I’m gunna take it
Jack : Show him your // favourite colour
10 Danny : // What are you reading Michael?
Michael : a buh
Danny : a book?
2

3. Michael : a buh
Danny: Who that?
15 Michael : ooo
Danny : oo? // Dr who?
Michael : // oo (1.0) ye oo
Danny : oo (laughs)
Michael : ooo (.) oooo
20 Danny : say doctor
Michael : docteer
Danny : doctor (.) say doc
Michael : docdir
Danny : who
25 Michael : docdir
Danny : yeh that’s it doctor
Michael : roe
Danny: rose
Michael : Rose //
30 Jack : // Whos that?
Michael : nun no
The following transcript was recorded two weeks after Michaels first day at school.
Michael is in the living room of his house after returning from school with his older
brother Jack and myself. I am observing the speech and recording what is being said.
1 Danny : What colour is Jack’s shirt?
Michael : um umm whi // whi
Danny : //good
Jack : Shall I put all you stuff in a like a
5 Michael : no naho (2.0) dakkkk dakk stoppp
Jack : no Michael shall we put it all nicely so Danny can see
them all?
Michael : dak dak dak dakkk
Jack : no so Danny can see
Michael : dak book da booo
10 Jack : Now put then cards there
Michael : there
In the following conversation Michael is in his living room after returning from
school. He is with his older brother; Jack, and his mother; Tina is also present with
his younger brother Ben. Ben is making unrecognisable babbling noises in the
background for the duration of this recording.
1 Michael : Dan dan donir
Jack : Shall I play dominos with you Michael?
Michael : Dan dan!
3

4. Jack : Shall we come over here and play shall we come
over here?
5 Michael : Dan dan
Ben shouts out and babbles in the background
Jack : Wanna play bowling?
Michael : No
Jack : Drive a car (.) look
10 Danny : What are they Michael?
Tina :What have you got in your hand?
Michael puts forward his hand
Tina : No in the box (.) whats in the the box?
Michael : Donir donir
15 Tina : Dominos
Michael : Dan donir Dan donir
Danny : Dominos //
Jack : // Who’s in the picture Michael?
Jack holds a photo of Michael and shows it to him
20 Michael : Me me
Jack : Is that you Michael
Michael is in my bedroom with his Father; Steve, his younger brother; Ben, my
mother and myself. His father is fixing my computer whilst Ben and Michael wait for
him in my room.
1 Danny : Have you got lots of friends at school?
Michael : Nooo
Danny : You havnt got lots of friends?
Michael : Noooo
5 Steve : You have got // lots of friends
Michael: // noooo
Steve : luke
Michael : Danny mow
Steve : Danny, Daniel sorry Daniel
10 Michael : Dannir
Steve : and who else?
Michael : dan da err umm da da
Danny : Are they your friends ?
Michael : neil
15 Danny : Are you going shy?
Michael : dine neil neil neil non neil
Danny : Oh are you cold ?
Michael : no
Danny : are you cold?
20 Michael : noo neil
4

5. The following transcript is taken in the living room of Michael’s home. Michael and I
are discussing a musical mat that he received for his birthday. This is the fourth time
that I have observed the speech of Michael.
1 Danny : What’s this Michael?
Michael : Mat
Danny : Mat?
Michael : Yer
5 Danny : Oh right what do you do with the mat?
Michael : ermm
Michael stamps on several different sections of the mat which produce a
musical note
Michael : Dop
Danny : Are you playing a song?
10 Michael : Naahooo
Danny : No? (.) play me a song then (2.0) you playing a
song?
The following transcript is taken from my fourth meeting with Michael. We are
situated in the dining room of his home, and are discussing a piece of work he
completed at school. Michael has jus returned from school.
1 Danny : Did you make these at school today?
Michael : yeh (.) glittir
Michael points to the different colour glitters on a sheet of paper
Danny : What colours this Michael?
5 Michael : bue
Danny : What about that one
Michael : Ded, blue, grin
Danny : Green?
Michael : ni gin
10 Danny points to the gold coloured glitter
Danny : Gold
Michael : Gol
Danny : And what colours the paper?
Michael : erm bak
15 Danny : Yeeeh
Michael : Mine
5

6. The following transcript is a recording of a conversation between Michael and
myself. He has just returned from school and we are sitting in the dining room at his
house. This is the fourth time I have observed Michaels speech and recorded it.
1 Danny : What are you drawing Michael?
Michael : (laughs) nah no arrghh arrgghh aarghhhh (makes claw-
like hand gestures)
Danny : What are you drawing?
The lid of a metal box falls onto the floor
5 Michael : ahhh bot (2.0) bot
Danny : A box?
Michael : a bot
Danny : Can I draw a picture?
Michael : noooo dannir
10 Danny : What shall I draw?
Michael : ummm no no
Danny : Tell me something to draw
Michael : um um um arrggh (.) um um um
Michael passes Danny a piece of paper and gestures a circle with his
hands
15 Danny :What shall I draw Michael? (.) shall I draw Michael?
Michael : No
The following transcript is the Fifth meeting between Michael, and myself where I
have observed and recorded his speech. Michael is at my house following Christmas
and is playing in the dining room with my two sisters; Rebecca and Hannah. My
mother Lynda is also in the room. This transcript is taken from the 27th December,
and therefore Michael is on school holidays for Christmas.
1 Danny : Bob pyjamas?
Michael : yea bob pyjamir
Danny : Where’s Jack and Ben?
Michael : Ahome
5 Danny : At home? (.) who are they with?
Michael : Mum Dad
Danny : Mum and Dad (.) ahhh (1.0) have you moved house
now?
Michael : noooo
Danny : Do you live in a new house now?
10 Michael : noooo
Danny : Is it nice?
Michael : noooo
Danny : oi!
6

7. Michael bursts into laughter and switches his attention to Danny from
a toy
15 Danny: Do you like your new house?
Michael : Yuh Dan
Danny : Whats it like? (.) whats it like?
Michael : uuuhhhhh yuh
Danny : Is it big?
20 Michael : Bia
The following transcript is the Fifth meeting between Michael, and myself where I
have observed and recorded his speech. Michael is at my house following Christmas
and is playing in the dining room with my two sisters; Rebecca and Hannah. My
mother Lynda is also in the room. This transcript is taken from the 27th December,
and therefore Michael is on school holidays for Christmas.
1 Danny : Hello Michael
Michael : Hello mimir
Danny : Are you going home soon? (.) who’s coming to get
you?
Michael : ummm Mum Daddir
5 Danny : How are you getting home?
Michael : ummm Daddir up
Danny : Are you going in the car?
Michael : dar
Danny : What colours your car?
10 Michael : umm whi
Danny : It’s green isn’t it?
Michael : Noo whi!
Danny : It’s white?
Michael : yeh whi (.) whi
15 Danny : Silver?
Michael : Noo whi!
Danny : White oh right (1.0) what did you do in Romford?
Michael : ermmm brurk
Danny : Did you shop?
20 Michael : Dop dop
Danny : Did you buy anything?
Michael : No buy
Danny : no buy? Ahhh (.) So what are you going to do tonight,
are you going to see Ben and jack?
25 Michael : Ben and Dak
The following transcript is the Fifth meeting between Michael, and myself where I
have observed and recorded his speech. Michael is at my house following Christmas
and is playing in the dining room with my two sisters; Rebecca and Hannah. My
mother Lynda is also in the room. This transcript is taken from the 27th December, and
therefore Michael is on school holidays for Christmas.
7

8. 1 Danny : Are you alright Michael? (.) Michael
Michael : Beccc
Danny : You alright?
Michael : alriggh Dannir
5 Danny: What did you get for Christmas?
Michael : bob bob
Danny : Bob? (.) You mean Bob the Builder?
Michael : builder
Danny : Really?
10 Michael : nyee
Danny : Did you have a good Christmas?
Michael : dit dir
Danny : Did you have a good Christmas ?
Michael : dit dir (1.0) ye
15 Danny : Yea ? (.) Did you eat lots of food ?
Michael : nooo egg dough
Danny : Egg on toast?
Michael and Danny laugh
Danny : What did you have for breakfast this morning?
20 Michael : egg dough
Danny : Egg on //
Michael : // Dannir, danny (.) egg dough
Danny : Egg on toast
Michael : nyee (.) Beckdir (.) doo
25 Danny : Two?
Michael : Dannir
Danny : Was it nice?
Michael : Yea
Danny : Nice (.) I like your top, what colour is it?
30 Michael : errmmm whi
Danny : Grey
Michael : Grey
Danny : Brown
Michael : Bown
35 Danny : Who did you sleep with last night?
Michael : errrmm ummm (.) Beckdir bed
Danny : You slept in a bed?
Lynda : Rebecca’s bed
Danny : Ah Rebecca’s bed.
8

9. Analysing the data
Remind yourself of the relevant Assessment Objectives
AO1 - Select and apply a range of linguistic methods, to communicate relevant
knowledge using appropriate terminology and coherent, accurate written expression
AO2 - Demonstrate critical understanding of a range of concepts and issues related to
the construction and analysis of meanings in spoken and written language, using
knowledge of linguistic approaches
AO3 - Analyse and evaluate the influence of contextual factors on the production and
reception of spoken and written language, showing knowledge of the key constraints
of language
AO4 - Demonstrate expertise and creativity in the use of English in a range of
different contexts, informed by linguistic study
CRUCIAL GRADE DESCRIPTOR – DISPLAY IN YOUR CLASSROOMS!
A/B boundary performance descriptions Candidates characteristically: a)
communicate relevant knowledge and understanding of the methods of language
study b) consistently use appropriate terminology to support interpretations when
applying this understanding c) structure and organise their writing well d)
communicate content and meaning through expressive and accurate writing.
Candidates characteristically: a) communicate relevant understanding of linguistic
approaches, concepts and issues b) explore the significant features of linguistic
variation that create meaning in spoken and written language c) generally use specific
references to support their responses. Candidates characteristically: a) explore the
relationships between spoken and written language and the contexts in which both are
used b) communicate a practical understanding of issues relating to language in use.
Candidates characteristically: a) write effectively in a form and style matched to
audience, purpose and genre b) select and order relevant content c) identify here, and
suggest how, key linguistic features are used in their writing to create specific effects.
9

10. Analysing the data
Annotate the data, spotting all the
relevant features you can:
Contexts
Pragmatics
Semantics
Grammatical features
Phonological features
Put question marks by ANYTHING you
don’t understand
Grouping data
Discuss the data
What is going on here? What are the
most interesting aspects of the data? What
interests you?
What questions could you ask of the
data?
TAKE A STEP BACK FROM IT: What
are the MAJOR AREAS OF INTEREST?
10

11. What is this data saying to you?
Group the data
Write out a few different categories for
grouping the data
Gather quotation to fit into your
categories
START ANALYSING!
11

12. A2 English Language Investigation
– D Collins’ response
Child Language Acquisition
Introduction
The process of the acquisition of language in children is one of the wonders of
human development. The ease at which children acquire basic grammar and
vocabulary is something that causes much debate among linguists. Especially
prominent are the theories of Chompsky and Skinner. Chompsky argues that every
human has the capacity for deep universal grammar, whereas Skinner puts forward
the case that children learn language by the processes of negative and positive
reinforcement.
My interest in the acquisition of language in children stems from the study of
Language development in Unit 6. By accompanying my studies in class, with the
further reading required for the Language Study it has allowed me to complement
each Unit well. In addition to this I have a keen interest in the development of
language in children. A specific reason for this is because I am able to relate my
studies to my cousin who is fours years old, and at a key stage in language
acquisition.
My cousin; Michael, recently began infant school, and is currently being taught by
a special needs teacher. This is because of his delayed acquisition of speech, which is
significantly below that expected for his age. A major reason for this is that he suffers
from Dispraxia, which is a condition that affects the co-ordination of the mouth
muscles and can affect speech. At the age of four, his speech is mostly restricted to
one-word utterances and sounds. For this reason I have decided to base my language
study upon the how the acquisition of language in Michael is affected by special
needs education in his first months at school.
Methodology
Over a period of three months I have observed Michael and his speech five times.
The first transcript is recorded following his first day at primary school, and the last is
recorded three months later following Christmas. There are a total of 20 transcripts,
and I will aim to use around 15 of these when analysing Michael’s communication
skills. The lengths of the transcripts range from 15 seconds to around a minute, and I
have transcribed them directly from a digital camera recording. I have aimed to keep
the semantic fields of my transcripts as narrow as possible, and have targeted specific
topics such as friends, school, the home, colours and clothing. Using this method, it
12

13. will be possible to chart any development in Michael’s speech regarding a certain
topic over a period of months.
The audience in the transcripts varies, but I am present at each recording. In two of
the recording sessions Michael’s brothers are present as is his mother. In the three
remaining sessions, I have observed speech between Michael and his father, and his
aunt and cousins. Using this method, I will be able to analyse any potential
differences in his speech depending on the company he is in.
Analysis
Questions
It is key to examine how responses from Michael differ depending on the nature of
the question posed to him. A key type of question I have posed to Michael has been
Open Questions, which give little clue of the answer required in the question. In my
first meeting with Michael from transcript 1 and 2 the following questions are posed
to Michael.
Transcript 1 line 1 and 2
Danny : “Michael(1.0) What’s my name?”
Michael : “Dan”
Transcript 2 line 1 and 2
Danny : What’s your favourite colour Michael?
Michael : mmm gin
Here we can see that if basic open questions are posed to Michael then a
recognisable answer is given. “Gin” represents Michael’s intention of saying “green”,
but due to difficulties with pronunciation, Michael cannot link “g-r” at the beginning
of the word. I will look to further examine Michael’s phonological problems later in
the project.
To examine open questions more closely it is vital to study examples of more
sophisticated questions posed to Michael.
Transcript 10 line 10,11,12 and 13
Danny : Your moving house?
Michael : Ye
Danny : Where are you moving to?
Michael : mummir, daddir, ben, dak, me, daddir
13

14. From this example we can see that Michael’s struggles to understand the second
question posed. In the semantic field of “the house”, Michael associates his family
members with the home. Instead of taking note of the word “where”, Michael instead
confuses it with “who”. Pragmatically this could mean that Michael has a notion of
moving house, and uses the people he is moving with to reinforce his understanding
of the question. I have recorded further evidence of this reinforcing of an answer, and
this is shown below.
Transcript 15 line 35 and 36
Danny : Who did you sleep with last night?
Michael : errrrrmm ummmm (.) Beckdir bed
Here it again appears that Michael fails to understand to nature of the question and
confuses “who” with “where”. However, I believe this further proves the point I made
previously, that Michael is reinforcing his answer, expanding on the answer by giving
further details, and stating where it was that he slept last night.
Transcript 3 line 16 and 17
Danny : What’s that in the sky Michael?
Michael : mm bnn nnn
Again we can see that when a sophisticated open question is posed to Michael, he
struggles to understand. This is shown by the “mm bnn nn”, which signifies Michael’s
intention to answer, but his lack of understanding for the question posed.
A key point to raise about open questions, is that they are more pragmatically
challenging to the recipient, especially to child in the process of language acquisition.
This is because the range of possible answers and the sophistication is commonly of a
greater complexity and diversity. Closed questions are more comforting on the other
hand, because they only incur a set number of responses. This could explain why
Michael has responded less well when posed open questions as opposed to closed
questions.
Closed questions offer limited responses to the question posed. This usually
incorporates an answer of “yes” or “no”. I will now look at some closed questions
posed to Michael to observe how he responds to them.
Transcript 7 line 5 and 6
Lynda : Do they [fireworks] go up in the sky?
14

15. Michael : yeh dye (.) ye
Transcript 8 line 17 and 18
Danny : Oh are you cold?
Michael : No
From these transcripts we can already gather that Michael appears to be more
comfortable when asked questions which require a “yes or no” answer. As opposed to
open questions, closed questions offer Michael a clue as to the answer required. An
interesting observation from these two transcripts is that they both refer to on of the
five senses, these being touch and his visual skills. This could suggest that Michael
has a solid understanding of sensual feelings and in turn can respond to questions
posed in relation to them.
In understanding speech, Michael occasionally needs prompting to be able to
provide an answer. An example of this is repetition.
Transcript 9 line 2,3,4 and 5
Steve : Say cheese
Michael : Cheeeee
Steve : Say cheese
Michael : Deeeeese
From this transcript we can see that following a further prompt from his father,
Michael manages to pronounce the “se” an the end of the word cheese, however he
also fails to pronounce the “ch” sound and instead replaces it with “d”. This is in
juxtaposition to the first time Michael attempts to pronounce cheese, where he
successfully pronounces “ch”, but does not incorporate “se” into the ending of the
word. This could suggest more about Michael’s phonological traits than his
understanding through further prompting by his father. It is possible that Michael
finds it difficult to include two complex sounds such as “ch” and “se” at the same
time. Instead he manages to pronounce one of these in each of his attempts to
pronounce cheese. A further example of this is shown below.
Transcript 13 line 11,12,13 and 14
Danny : Gold
15

16. Michael : Gol
Danny : And what colours the paper?
Michael : erm bak
As before we can see that Michael fails to incorporate a consonant sound with a
digraph within the same word. Here the two examples are Gold and Black. When
pronouncing gold, Michael has no problem in pronouncing “g”, but when it has to be
combined with the ending of “d”, he fails to pronounce the whole word. Again, when
saying black, Michael fails to combine the digraph of “Bl” with the consonant ending
of “k”. These facts suggest that Michael finds it hard to combine two consonants,
digraphs or a digraph and a consonant when they occupy the beginning and ending of
a word.
A further method of requesting information from Michael is through issuing
statements or imperatives. These demand an answer from the recipient and are more
declarative than a question. It is important to see how Michael responds to statements
as opposed to open and closed questions.
Transcript 11 line 12 and 13
Danny : Tell me something to draw
Michael : um um um arrggh (.) um um um
Danny: What shall I draw Michael? (.) Shall I draw
Michael?
Michael : No
From this extract we can compare the differing reactions from Michael when given a
question and a statement. When told, “tell me something to draw” Michael responds
with the false start or filler token of “um um um arrggh (.) um um um” suggesting
that Michael is willing to give a response, but is unable to understand the nature of the
request. The beginning of the utterance; “tell me”, could be seen as more abrasive
than beginning with “what” or “why”. This could explain why Michael struggles to
give an answer. When the same request is given in the form of a question; “What shall
I draw Michael? (.) Shall I draw Michael?”, the answer “no” is given immediately,
suggesting Michael understood the nature of the request better when posed as a
question rather than a statement.
The nature of questions and requests posed to Michael are of vital importance to
this study because they give and insight into Michael’s development, and indicate
where he stands in his understanding of basic commands. Through looking at various
transcripts, I have found that when open questions are posed to Michael, he responds
16

17. in a positive manner when the semantic field of the question is one in which he is
comfortable. For example in terms of family and school, Michael tended to respond
positively to open questions asked. However, when the semantic field of the question
went past the boundaries of what he was comfortable with. Then the responses
became either non-existent, or less confident and short. Michael tended to react far
better to closed questions, because they offered a clue as to the nature of the question
when asked. In their response, they often only require a single word, and so Michael
was often more comfortable in answering question that needed a simple “yes or no”.
I looked at repetition as a way of gaining a response out of Michael, and they
worked to a certain extent. Repetition is often used to correct phonological errors and
so they are used often in conversation with Michael. I found that when someone was
talking to Michael and a word was stated in order for him to repeat it, Michael often
understood that he had to copy the speaker, but whether he was successful or not
depended upon the phonological complexity of the word. For example I found that
Michael often found it difficult to combine to complex sounds in a word such as “ch”
and “se” when repeating the word cheese.
Audience
Through studying my transcripts of Michael’s speech, I have noticed that the
audience to whom Michael is in conversation with is key to his interest in the
conversation, tone and length of response. I have observed conversations between
Michael and his mother, father, younger brother, aunt and myself.
Firstly I will examine Michael’s interaction with his mother through speech.
Transcript 3 line 37, 38, 39 and 40
Tina : is he sleeping?
Michael : (laughs) naahoooo
Tina : What’s he doing?
Michael : emm in (1.0) in
In the context of discussing his schoolbook, it can be ascertained that Michael
shows a positive mentality towards the conversation. When asked two questions (one
a closed and the other an open question), Michael provides a response which answers
the question. Michael laughing when he is asked the first question suggests a positive
interest in the conversation. Also as seen before, the open questions provides a less
precise and detailed answer than a closed question. The reason behind this is again
that when Tina asks, “is he sleeping”, a clue is given as to the semantic field of the
question, and so provides Michael with an idea of how to respond. A further reason
behind Michael’s positive interaction with his mother could be attributed to the fact
that Tina is more aware of the semantic fields to which Michael responds the best.
This would be because she spends the most time with Michael, and has more
experience of his speech and responses
17

18. I will now look at how Michael’s responses and attitudes towards conversation
differ when talking to his father.
Transcript 9 lines 6-14
Danny : How are you today?
Steve : Say I’m, fine
Michael : Dine
Danny : What colour is your shirt?
Michael : umm umm um it um mm um
Steve : Yellow
Michael : Nanir
Steve : And purple
Michael : Purpir
Straight away from this transcript we can see that Michael’s father appears to take a
more proactive role in the conversation. There are visibly more prompts and
phonological clues given by the father, and he appears to be more expectant of
answers. This expectant nature is shown when Steve states “Dine”, and “yellow”
before Michael offers a response. This could suggest that Steve has less confidence in
Michaels phonological capability than his mother, and so offers help through prompts,
often before Michael has been given chance to offer a response. It appears to show
that even when not confident about a word or response Michael attempts to give an
answer because of the expectant nature of his father’s speech. The transcript shows
that Michael has not yet mastered the sound of “y”, “le” and “f”. Twice he replaces
the ending to a word with “ir”, and this could possibly suggest that when Michael is
not confident about the final syllable he replaces it with a sound he is comfortable
with, this being “ir”. We can also see that again Michael responds positively to
repetition of the word, however as before, he struggles with the phonological aspect
of the word as opposed to the understanding of it.
The final conversation I wish to observe is one between Michael and his older
brother Jack who is 9 years old. It is important to establish how Michael’s speech
differs when talking to another child as opposed to his parents.
Transcript 5 line 1-7
Danny : What colour is Jack’s shirt?
Michael : um umm whi // whi
Danny : // good
Jack : Shall I put all your stuff in a like a
18

19. Michael : no naho (2.0) dakkk dakk stoppp
Jack : No Michael shall we put it all nicely so Danny
can see them all?
Michael : dak dak dak dakkk
When asked a question by myself, Michael provides a positive answer, this being
“whi”. Again, however we can see that Michael cannot use the “t” sound as the
correct last syllable of the word white. Michael’s attitude is positive to the question
posed by myself, however his attitude changes when Jack enters the conversation.
When asked a question by Jack, Michael responds with “no naho, dakkk dakk
stoppp”, and when this question is followed up the next response is “dak dak dak
dakkk”. Such a sudden change of attitude towards the conversation can be attributed
to the fact his brother is now asking him questions. Because of his greater familiarity
with Jack, it can be ascertained that Michael is more comfortable to express negativity
in his speech. An example of this negativity in his speech is shown by the following
extract.
Transcript 6 line 4,5,6 and 7
Jack : Look these are mine
Michael : No mine
Jack : No these are all mine
Michael : Noooo
This differs from when he is in conversation with myself, as although I am a member
of Michael’s family, I spend little time with him in comparison with Jack. Therefore it
could be said that he is less willing to express his true negative feelings to
conversation with me. Michael’s relationship with Jack is also different to that of his
parents. When in conversation with his parent’s they command authority over
Michael, and a greater level of respect is shown in his speech. When questions are
posed, which maybe out of the interest of Michael, he stills attempts to give an
answer, which is in juxtaposition to his brother Jack. This could possibly be an
example of parent’s expectant of answers from their children, and thus pressuring
them towards corrects speech through the use of repetition and prompting. The more
respectful nature of Michael’s speech is shown below when in conversation with his
father.
Transcript 8 line 7,8,9,10,11 and 12
Steve : Luke
Michael : Danny mow
Steve : Danny , Daniel sorry Daniel
Michael : Dannir
Steve : And who else?
19

20. Michael : dan da err umm da da
From this extract we can again see that Michael responds positively when posed
questions by his Father. He offers answers when prompted or asked, and this is vastly
difficult to when in speech with Jack, when only negative responses to denote a lack
of interest in the conversation are given. It is probable that even if Michael lacks
interest in a conversation with his father, he will still offer an answer because of the
authoritive context of a conversation with a parent.
Paralinguistic features are key when trying to ascertain whether Michael has
understood the nature and context of a question. Speech is only an aspect of
communication, and paralinguistic features also come under this umbrella of
communication. Therefore they can be used to show understanding, to communicate
back a response and are a different component to study Michael’s understanding of
speech.
Transcript 10 line 3,4 and 5
Danny : What did you do at school today?
Michael gets up from the table and begins to point at a
cardboard box
Michael : bot bot
Transcript 11 line 1 and 2
Danny : What are your drawing Michael?
Michael : (laughs) nah no arghh arrgghh aarghhhh (makes claw
like hand gestures)
From the first transcript we can see that when posed an open question, Michael
understands the context and nature of it, but cannot respond immediately. The
question posed is highly conceptual, and requires Michael to recall information and
then summarise it in a response. To avoid ignoring the question, Michael points to a
box in the room to signify the fact that he has encountered boxes at school today. He
then tries to follow this up by accompanying it with some speech, this being “bot
bot”. Again we can see from this utterance that Michael finds it difficult to pronounce
some complex sounds such as “x”. Michael understands the concept that he must
summarise the nature of his question into a relevant response, and he summarises this
down to “bot bot” which incorporates the main activity of his day at school. This
activity was painting boxes, and therefore we can ascertain that Michael’s level of
understanding is on a level with the questions posed to him, but again, it is shown that
his phonological ability does not match his conceptual awareness.
20

21. The second extract again shows paralinguistic features, but this time Michael uses
them to emphasise the point he has just made though speech. It is key to understand
that when asked the question, Michael is drawing a dinosaur. When asked what he is
drawing, Michael uses onomatopoeia, which he links to the subject of his drawing.
The “arrghh” utterance signifies Michael’s linking of this sound often associated with
a monster, to the dinosaur in his picture. He then follows this up by making a claw
like gesture with his hand. This again shows that Michael associates this action with
dinosaurs or monsters through a semantic field of horror, monsters and dinosaurs. The
use of the gesture is used to back up the utterance, which Michael has given, and
could suggest that he is not entirely confident that I have understood him based on the
speech alone. In this case he uses a paralinguistic feature to confirm my
understanding.
Phonology
From studying the transcripts, it is clear to see that Michael struggles regularly with
the pronunciation of certain letters and digraphs. I will look to highlight particularly
prominent examples of this, and analyse whether there is a link between the sounds
and how they are pronounced.
“h” “gr” “”j” “k” « e e » or
«y»
On several occasions Michael has a clear difficulty in pronouncing “h”. When
attempting to pronounce “Hannah”, he instead responds with “anir”. A further
example is when talking about “Dr Who”, Michael instead pronounces it as “oo”.
When talking about the word “green”, Michael fails to pronounce the digraph “gr”
and instead says “guin” This occurs twice in the same conversation, and so it can be
seen to be a problem with Michael’s phonology rather than an anomaly. Further on in
transcript 13, Michael again fails to pronounce “green”, in its place he says “guin”.
Michael appears to also have a problem when pronouncing “j”. This is particularly
prominent when attempting to say his Brother Jack’s name, which appears to always
be pronounced as “Dak”, and is shown clearly in Transcript 4. Also in Transcript 4, it
becomes clear that Michael has problems when pronouncing “k”. Instead of ending
“book” with a “k”, Michael instead substitutes the “k” for a “h” and says “buh”. This
could suggest that Michael realises his difficulty in pronouncing “k” and instead
replaces it with a phoneme he is more comfortable with, this being “h”.
21

22. A very prominent feature or Michael speech is the use of the phoneme “ir”, which
replaces several endings to words. The most common of these is when Michael is
pronouncing a word which ends in “ee” or “y”. For example in transcript 6, “money”
has been pronounced as “monir”, “mummy” and “daddy” are “mummir” and “daddir”
and “Danny” is pronounced “dannir”. From looking at this, it is clear that Michael
struggles when pronouncing the phoneme “ee” or “y”. Instead he substitutes it with a
sound that he is comfortable with, and this is “ir”.
What appears clear about the connection between “ee” and “ir” is that they both
express a relatively similar sound. It may be possible that in the comfortable context
of a home situation, Michael becomes comfortable in saying “ir” as opposed to “e” or
“yy”, and therefore it becomes a habit to which he is not corrected. It could be
possible that if he was in a different contextual situation such as school, then because
he was less comfortable, Michael would be more open to correction of his mistake.
Also the fact that Michael replaces “ee” with the similar sounding “ir” could possibly
point towards Chomsky’s theory of Universal Grammar. This theory suggests that
each human has the deep grammar to be able to produce language, and this is different
to all other species on Earth. The fact that Michael cannot pronounce “ee”, but uses
his initiative to instead say “ir” suggests that Michael has a clear understanding of
grammar. He appears to understand that “ir” would be recognisable to a listener if it
replaces “ee”, and therefore because “ir” is a sound he is comfortable in producing, he
establishes it as a substitute for “ee”.
Conclusion
After analysing my transcripts I have uncovered some interesting patterns and
possible reasoning behinds Michael’s speech patterns. As stated at the beginning of
the study, Michael suffers from Dispraxia; a condition which affects the fine motor
skills and most notably control of the tongue and mouth. It is important to understand
that Michael intelligence is not affected by Dispraxia, only his means to convey it
through speech. For this reason Michael is undergoing the phases of language
acquisition a year or two after his peers.
I have consistently found that Michael conceptual awareness and understanding of
contexts is often let down by his phonological ability. He has the ability to understand
22

23. questions and sentences, which has been shown by his limited speech and
paralinguistic features. However, it is his lack of phonological capability due to
Dispraxia that prevents him from conveying his understanding.
Michael pragmatic awareness has been shown to be normal for his age several
times. He understands the needs to summarise responses, and even provides answers
which build upon the expected answer. Again it is his speech capability that lets him
down.
Context is a very important issue when understanding Michael’s speech. I have
noticed several times that his speech has been shaped by the contexts in which he find
himself., and also that he adapts his speech to fit certain social situations. This is
another example of Michael’s firm grasp of pragmatic understanding of speech. A key
example of context is the tone to which Michael speaks in. This varies between a
respectful, and engaging tone when conversing with his parents, to a more brash and
negative attitude when talking to his older brother Jack. The context of the household
stipulates that a positive tone should be taken when talking to his parents, as they hold
an authority over Michael. This authority is not present when talking to his brother,
and therefore the tone of conversation from Michael does not reflect this. These
factors show that Michael has a clear understanding of the context of conversation,
and the tones he should talk to various people in.
A final point I have observed about Michael’s speech is again context bound. He
has developed some bad habits when learning to speak, most notably replacing word
endings with “ir”. This could be explained by a lack of correction within the context
of the household. Michael will feel a sense of comfort at home, and therefore will be
more relaxed when speaking. If at school, his speech is liable to change due to the
different context and his knowledge that he is more likely to be corrected.
TASK: Mark this investigation using the grid and assessment
objectives.
ONCE YOU’VE GRADED IT, COMMENTING ON ITS
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS, BULLET POINT WHAT
YOU HAVE LEARNT ABOUT LISTENING TO DATA
HERE:
23

24. Language Change
Log onto this website and research the British Library’s
catalogue, finding two texts of similar genres to compare:
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/TourIntr
oGen.asp
MAKE UP YOUR OWN SCHEME OF WORK!
Useful background material can be gathered at:
www.universalteacher.org.uk
and click on the links for English Language A Level
Read the material and answer the quizzes.
24

25. A Level English Language essay
NAME:______________________________
ESSAY TITLE:________________________________________________________
D B C D E
DESCRIPTOR A DESCRIPTOR
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Main issues are outlined in the No attempt to illustrate
introduction, including contours of question.
comprehensive references to
possible CONTEXTS.
Introduction highlights the Introduction fails to address
importance of the question. the question.
ABIDING BY ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES
AO1 - Select and apply a range Select and apply a very few
of linguistic methods, to linguistic methods, to
communicate relevant communicate relevant
knowledge using appropriate knowledge using appropriate
terminology and coherent, terminology and coherent,
accurate written expression accurate written expression
AO2 - Demonstrate critical AO2 - Demonstrate limited
understanding of a range of understanding of a range of
concepts and issues related to concepts and issues related
the construction and analysis of to the construction and
meanings in spoken and written analysis of meanings in
language, using knowledge of spoken and written language,
linguistic approaches using knowledge of
linguistic approaches
AO3 - Analyse and evaluate the AO3 – Describe in a limited
influence of contextual factors fashion the influence of
on the production and reception contextual factors on the
of spoken and written language, production and reception of
showing knowledge of the key spoken and written language,
constraints of language showing knowledge of the
key constraints of language
AO4 - Demonstrate expertise AO4 – Demonstrate very
and creativity in the use of little expertise and creativity
English in a range of different in the use of English in a
contexts, informed by linguistic range of different contexts,
study informed by linguistic study
SUMMARY:
MARK:
TARGETS: GRADE:
25