Question 1

Texts A is a transcript of a conversation between Josh (4 years and 2 months) and Franki (3 years and 4 months), and their child-minder, Sue.  Rather than state the information from the question - use it instead. I would discuss the wider context and what I would expect to find. For example, the fact that they are only ten months apart would make it unlikely that they are siblings - Josh is older and therefore would be more likely to be dominant - they are returning from a morning at school and therefore we would expect them to talk about their day - they are being looked after by Sue in an unfamiliar environment and would be unlikely to converse in the same way if they were at home  etc...

Text A is a conversation from when Sue the child-minder has just picked up Josh and Franki from their nursery school and has brought them home for lunch. Josh is aged at 4 years and 2 months and Franki is 3 years and 4 months. The text is purposely being recorded and throughout the transcript. (We don't know that on this occasion) As Sue is the child-minder this would influence the child less in interaction due to how comfortable they feel around her. Throughout the transcript even though the children seem uncomfortable (keep it tentative) feel uncomfortable they are influenced by child directed speech from Sue. This supports Vygotsky and Bruner in that Josh and Franki’s language development is influenced through interaction with Sue and also because of the environment he is around.  

In this scenario Sue demonstrates the use of Child Directed Speech. Although it is not clear from the transcript, her utterances will probably be expressed using exaggerated intonation as in ‘right (.) how are you doing Franki (.) have you got your shoes off yet.’ Through Sue’s prosodic features she is able to express her opinions whilst attempting to sustain Franki’s attention. In addition, Sue successfully encourages Josh’s and Franki’s participation in the exchange through the use of interrogatives, such as ‘would you like a drink? (2.0)’ and ‘were you a good girl?’ The use of interrogatives is an important aspect of Child Directed Speech as it develops the etiquette of turn-taking and stimulates interaction as demonstrated in the transcript as Franki’s responded with ‘yeah.’ The display of interrogatives also relates to power and that throughout this transcript Sue holds the power through the use of questions. Sue is leading the conversation with CDS and is reinforcing her point throughout the transcript. The use of this language is allowing the children to learn about socialisation which relates to the theories of Vygotsky. The power does shift a number of times in the transcript as although Sue is asking the interrogatives Josh and Franki lead the conversation with the answers they give to them questions. This means that the conversation is revolved around them but in the transcript their response utterances are very brief and are sometime one worded which doesn’t reflect the stage theory they should be at according to their age. This supports the stage theory of David Crystal and how he believes that people at the age of 3 and 4 should be at the telegraphic and even the multiword stage of utterances.  The mean length of utterance being so small reflects how Sue is the child-minder and how Josh and Franki might feel uncomfortable in their environment and feel nervous or anxious in replying to what isn’t their direct family member.

Focused just on Text A and Child Directed Speech with power intertwined into this.
You did indeed - and what a splendid paragraph - well done George. You may want to work on your introductory paragraph - there is an opportunity to pick up AO3 marks here.