Tom's transcript essay

Tom's transcript (aged 3 years and 9 months)

The transcript is of a young boy of an age of 3 years and 7 months called Tom. His Mother is purposely recording this conversation that has taken part outside. The Mother and Father both influence Tom throughout this transcript with child directed speech. This supports Vygotsky and Bruner in that Tom’s language development is influenced through interaction through his Mother and Father and also because of the environment he is around. Try to develop your opening paragraph to include the wider context.

Remember, we talked about starting with AO1. You have started with Power (AO2).  You also need a topic sentence so your reader is aware of which linguistic method you are discussing in this paragraph.Throughout this transcript the power shifts between Tom and his Mother and then also when the Father joins the conversation. The power at the beginning of the transcript is fronted by Tom. This is because the interrogatives that his Mother asks Tom are based around the answer that he gives. For example Tom says, ‘the bike (.) the dad bike’ and then Mother replies by saying ‘dad’s bike?’ This shows that the conversation is orientated and based around Tom. This quote from the transcript can also be linked to gender because of the fact that Tom is talking about his dad’s bike and then talking about how he is going to fix it. AO2 Gender This is gender specific as fixing a mechanical object is very typically performed by a male. Tom uses his dad’s bike to show that he looks up to his and this is also a reason as to why his Father has influential power. Also influential power is seen due to the control his Father possesses over Tom, for example the use of the utterance, ‘yeah (.) he has to get the bits out,’ supports this statement. Throughout the whole transcript the Mother has power over both Tom and his Father. This is (use 'may' - keep tentative) because Tom spends more time with his Mother during the week as Tom’s Father would be at work. This means that Tom would be more comfortable with his Mother and Tom would more open around his Mother. 

The use of the first person pronoun ‘I’ that Tom uses throughout the transcript shows that he is a competent speaker and reflects the age that he is. For example in the transcript Tom says, ‘I just getting the bits out OK?’ and also the use of ‘I need I (.) um I need to get the bits out OK?’ supports the statement I just produced. The use of the first person pronoun of ‘I’ supports the theorists Halliday and his heuristic language function. At this stage it shows that a child is a competent speaker and is confident and also comfortable in his surroundings to express him/her. During the transcript the heuristic stage of preoperational stage that is once again supported by Halliday and the taxonomy theory. The use of the utterance, ‘I trying to get the bits out Dad,’ supports egocentrism which comes under the preoperational stage. Children in this stage can mentally represent events and objects, and engage in symbolic play. In this utterance Tom is trying to get the bits out and is representing the bike in his symbolic play. The heuristic stage is also a reflection of the child’s age and in this specific transcript Tom is 3 years and 9 moths. This is where the theorist David Crystal can be related too. Crystal explains that Tom at the age of 3 years and 9 months should be shifting from the telegraphic stage on to the post telegraphic stage. Also the multiword stage in reference to the earlier quotes in this paragraph is interpreted by Crystal as to be a prolonged utterance is connection to a conversation.  The use of stage theory that is seen to be true with Tom is reflection to his surroundings and the way he has been brought up. Throughout this transcript Tom’s Mother and Father invites him to do most of the talking which allows Tom to learn through speech. This is in connection to Vygotsky’s theory of a child developing language due to his/hers surroundings and environment. This paragraph is good in terms of AO2 but there is too much going on.  You need to ensure you explore on concept at a time and convince your examiner that you know precisely what you are talking about.

In conclusion, in analysing the date through the linguistic methods and theorists, it is clear that Tom’s language acquisition is enhanced through social interaction and also encouraged through hints of the use of Child Directed Speech. It seems that through interacting with her Mother and Father and influence of her immediate surroundings, Tom is able to progress through each stage of David Crystal’s stage theory and is also able to develop his lexis range and utterance length.

Read the model essay under my user name for further development.