METHODOLOGY

In order for me to carry out this investigation I will be the `Caregiver` which involves me reading `Winnie the Pooh`, a gender neutral book to two of nieces and my nephew. I used a tape recorder to record them, which I then transcribed. I got the parents of the children to sign a consent form which I created; in which they will give me permission of undertake this language investigation.

I intend to analyse and annotate my transcripts according to lexical, grammatical and caregiver language features which are evident within my texts. As I believe that these are crucial areas in the way children acquire language. I used Microsoft excel which allowed me to accurately count the number of verbs, adjectives, conjunctions, nouns etc. Which were used by each child. This resulted in statistical data that will create concrete evidence which I will use in my essay to support my analysis.

INTRODUCTION/HYPOTHESIS

For my A-level English language investigation coursework, I have chosen to evaluate child language Acquisition and how gender differences may be apparent at the telegraphic stage as well as how caregiver language can vary when interacting with different genders.
When looking over at my transcripts I will keep a few questions into consideration: * Does gender influence child language acquisition? * Does caregiver language alter our verbal communication when interacting with different genders?
Language development is a vital part of the human cognitive nature, understanding language development is an important aspect to understand the base and to recall its various components of linguistics. I’ve always wanted to know if there are real differences in the development of language skills between boys and girls and if caregiver language contributes to this. I am hoping to prove this point in my analysis.

ANALYSIS

Lexis
When I came to analysing the lexical choices used by the children in the transcripts, I decided to make this the focal point as lexis as it is an important factor which helps adults to recognise how much they have progressed. The bar chart below presents the different number of word classes which are apparent in the transcripts.

This table below is a breakdown of the bar graph in which I have identified specific examples from the transcripts. This leads to concrete evidence. Lexical words: | VERBS: A word that is used to describe action, state, occurrence etc. | ADJECTIVES: these are words used to describe something | NOUNS: names of people, places, objects etc. | YAKUB- some examples used | * Move * pull | * windy * small * naughty * `yewo` (yellow) | * Winnie * Pooh * Day * Piglet * Scarf * Air * House | ALIYA- some examples used | * is * pulling * picking * help * `flied` (meaning flew in the past tense) * Hurt * Blowed (past tense error) | * Windy * Higher * Wood * Strong | * Winnie * Pooh * Day * Eeyore * House * Garden * Carrots * Bwicks` (bricks) | LEILA- some examples used | * like * walking * wear * helping * is | * windy (pre modifier) * good * flying (pre modifier) * high * blue * pretty * broken * yellow * white | * Pooh * Day * Gopher * Tree * Coat * Sky * Bird * Scarf * Sticks * House * pumpkin |

Verbs The lexical choices made by each child can show what stage they are at in developing their language and applying it to situations and conversations. From the tables above we can gather that Leila uses a large percentage of verbs in her speech compared to the others. She uses verbs such as `like` `walking` `wear` and `helping` that cover different tenses which have seem to have arisen from the children’s book. She has clearly grasped this area quite well. Aliya is a year older than Leila and seems to use a wide range of verb choices, she uses words such as `pulling` and `picking` which are active verbs but in the present tense. When reading the book to Aliya she mainly focused on the characters were doing, which probably explains her use if active verbs. Aliya, however, was meant to say `flew` but said `flied` which is an overgeneralisation. This is an unexpected error to find at the post telegraphic stage that fulfils Noam Chomsky’s concept of overgeneralisation in which he states that a child generalises about the rules of grammar and applies the rules too broadly. Which is another way of saying that children use basic rules of grammar very loosely without regards to tenses, nouns and verbs. Yakub is one month younger than Leila, but only seems to speak half as much as her. All children develop at different stages, so age really is not a problem. He seems to be very independent and a lot quieter compared to the girls. `Move` and `Pull` are the only active verbs which Yakub uses. These are verbs which can obviously be done physically, whereas `hurt` that is used by Aliya has to be felt, where you need to experience it before you can apply it to anything . We can conclude that both girls Aliya and Leila use a lot more sophisticated verbs which include auxiliary, active and passive verbs whereas Yakub’s choices are a lot more simple and less complex. Adjectives Adjectives allow the children to express and describe actions that were being presented in the book. Leila used a wide range of adjectives such as `windy` `good` `high` `blue` and `pretty` whilst involved in discussing about the book. This presents a solid understanding, which allows her to be quite descriptive in her dialogue. From the use of adjectives we can gather that she can describe colours- `yellow` `white` `blue`, qualities- `good` and heights- `high`.
Aliya uses simple adjectives such as `Windy`,` Higher`, `wood`, `Strong`, which have quite clearly been learnt from the book. This presents a simple understanding of adjectives.

Yakub’s use of adjectives consists of `windy` `small` `naughty` and `yewo`. These appear to be quite basic. He has obviously heard the word `naughty` being used by an adult, which he then imitates. He struggles with the pronunciation of the colour `yellow` as he says `yewo` instead. This is a consonant cluster that occurs when there are a group of consonants close together in a word. The child then decides to drop a few of these and replaces it with a letter which makes it easier for the child to pronounce. Overall, from what we can see we can gather that children’s books tend to be very bright and have lots of opportunities to discuss and describe size, shape, colour and many other factors which help contribute to the growth of the child’s language development. Leila appears to have a wider knowledge and understanding compared to Yakub, who lacks in this area. Nouns Nouns are the most common word class that all three children use in their speech, as this is the first word class that children learn. Nouns can be very easily learnt, as children come across a vast majority of them in their everyday lives. This explains how children are able to adapt and apply mainly concrete nouns from a very early stage. Even though there is a 13 month gap between Yakub and Aliya, their noun usage shares similar aspects. For example, they both use concrete nouns such as `Scarf`, `house`, `garden` and carrots. These appear to be in our everyday lives and have most likely to have been taught through similar children’s books and games. However, Yakub uses an abstract noun- `air`, which I was surprised at, as it is more difficult to grasp. Leila’s use of nouns is quite similar to Yakub and Aliya, even though she is just one month older than Yakub and a year younger than Aliya. She seems to be quite intelligent for her age as she uses nouns which are not as obvious. For example `bird` `sticks` `sky` and `tree` would be classed as more complex nouns as they only appear to be in the outside world rather than indoors, so memorising them and applying the knowledge when applicable when discussing about the book. Over the last few paragraphs i have discussed a wide range of lexical choices that were apparent in the transcripts. We can gather from both the graphs above and texts that the girls seem to be quite intelligent when taking into consideration their age. On the other hand, Yakub seems to be a little behind, as he is a quite quiet and doesn’t speak much for his age. However, we can’t just judge a child on their age, we have to realise that children learn language at different speeds and rates. Grammar I decided to present my findings on grammar on a bar chart, as this allows statistical data to be created which I intend to use throughout my analysis, to support my observations. Grammar is such a significant part of child language acquisition especially due to the fact that Aliya, Leila and Yakub are all at various positions on the telegraphic stage. This is when they produce three or four word utterances- the beginning of sentence formation. The graph below shows the word classes used by each child.

In order to provide clear and concise evidence, I decided to create a table which is placed below. This roughly states some examples of what I found in the transcripts. Grammatical words: | Prepositions-spatial positioning of things. | Pronouns-refers to participants within a discourse | Conjunctions- the joining of a sentence by the use of a word | Auxiliary verbs- these are also known as helping words | YAKUB- some examples used | * in * to | * our * I | | | ALIYA- some examples used | * in * through * into | * our * we | * and | * do | LEILA- some examples used | * on * in | * him * I | * and * because | * have |

Prepositions I have decided to analyse prepositions as this presents a movement from the telegraphic stage to the post telegraphic stage and also shows a level of sophistication. Yakub, Aliya and Leila all appear to have used the preposition `in`. This suggests that they have a basic understanding of this area, as this is learnt from children’s toys from as little as two years old. However Aliya seems to provide a wider range of prepositions which include `In` `through` and `into`. `Through` is a more complex preposition as it is less common in children’s everyday lives, so this acquires a level of understanding. Pronouns I decided to analyse pronouns as this presents understanding as it refers not just to the speaker but also to the participants in the discourse. Aliya, Leila and Yakub all appear to use the personal pronoun `I` when they are talking about themselves to the caregiver. This shows that they craving for attention as this is mentioned quite a lot in the transcripts. However, Leila at one point in the text appears to have said `Leila good girl` instead if saying `I am a good girl`. This shows a level of bossiness and emphasises her behaviour of being `good`. Aliya and Yakub appear to have used the possessive pronoun `our`. This is harder to grasp as there needs to be a sense of physicality between two or more people. These possessive pronouns also promote politeness strategies such as sharing which have most likely to have been taught by their parents. Conjunctions I thought exploring the use of conjunctions was a vital part of my investigation as this allows children to string together sentences that lead to compound sentences and more sophisticated structures. This shows a level of intelligence. However Yakub doesn’t appear to use any. Leila uses conjunctions such as `because` and `and`. `And` is quite an easy conjunction which can be learnt at a very small age. However `because` needs greater understanding as it requires an opinion/explanation which shows a consequence of actions and how two things are related. When Leila and Aliya both used conjunctions, their syntax remained in the same order, which is pleasing. Auxiliary verbs An auxiliary verb is a verb that gives further semantic or syntactic information about a main or full verb. In English, the extra meaning provided by an auxiliary verb alters the basic meaning of the main verb. Auxiliary verbs show a level of enhancement when constructing sentences. The reason I decided to analyse the use of auxiliary verbs is that it is only evident in children from the telegraphic stage. Aliya and Leila use `do` `can` and `have` during their interaction. From this they are turned into sentences. For example `Do rabbits have carrot cake for dinnertime? ` `Can we help rabbit pick up the carrots? `. Question formation here is quite sophisticated as it requires a reversal of the syntax. Declaratives Declaratives allow children to make a statement which doesn’t require an answer. When analysing my transcripts according to declaratives, I found that this feature of grammatical construction was used equally by all three children. Yakub uses simple declaratives such as “very windy” “naughty Eeyore” and “I like carrots”. These declaratives give Yakub a chance to express his opinions about the book. Aliya says “It’s made from wood. Our house is made from bwicks.” This fulfils one of Michael Halladay’s functions of `statements`, which is language that is used to express feelings, opinions, and individual identity. This shows a greater degree of intelligence compared to Yakub as her point is supported by a fact. Sentence lengths I thought it was quite important to analyse sentence lengths as from this we can determine how fluent a child is in their language acquisition. Yakub is at the two word stage in which his sentence lengths are quite short and the majority of them consist of around 2/3 utterances. Some examples would include: “Very Windy”, “Rabbit”, “carrots” and “In air”. Yakub has a very basic understanding of syntax, but needs to try and expand on what he is saying as he seems to be behind Aliya and Leila. Aliya is at the telegraphic stage and Leila is at the post telegraphic stage, so their sentence lengths appear to be more complex and consist of around 7/8 words long. An example of an eight word utterance from Leila’s transcript: “Ah look Winnie is walking in the wind”. She could of had kept the sentence quite simple b y just saying “Winnie is walking”. However she decided to expand on what she said by adding a noun. This presents a level of intelligence. Overall, I have analysed a wide range of areas in Grammar. I have found that girls are more confident in the language choices that make compared to Yakub. From analysing the spoken data, I have found that Leila appears to use a wider range of conjunctions, prepositions and pronouns, this again reflects her intelligence. Caregiver language
The role of caregiver in language development is critical. The early years of language acquisition are by far the most important to a child's ability to understand language and to communicate in an intelligible manner. When I was reading Winnie the Pooh to Aliya, Leila and Yakub I wasn’t aware that I used expansions/recasting and tag questions. It all seems to come naturally.
Expansions/recasting/intonation
Expansions and recasting allow children to get involved when communicating with adults. I used a wide range of these when reading the book to the children, as I thought it would help them to develop their language and broaden their knowledge. An example expansions and recastings that occurred in Leila’s transcripts was when Leila mentioned the fact that `Winnie is walking in the wind`. I then replied back and expanding on what she had said: `I know, he must be very cold as he doesn’t have his coat on`. This helped Leila to understand why the character was acting the way he did. Another example of this is evident In the transcript with Yakub when he says “scarf”. I then added and said “the blue scarf”. By doing so, it added further description to the dialogue, and kept him alert.
Intonation is the change in the pitch of the voice. An example would be when i said “Wii::” when asking Yakub what were going to be reading. The tone of my voice at this time was very high which created a happy atmosphere. This was a natural occurrence.
Positive reinforcement
B.F Skinner came up with the imitation theory. He came up with a theory that states that if you reward a child because of their desirable behaviour then this action is most likely to occur again as the child will feel like he/she has been rewarded. When interacting with the children I used a lot of positive reinforcement techniques which would help to make the child feel a lot happier. `Well done` `that’s right` and `good girl` are examples of positive reinforcement which appear to have been used throughout all three transcripts. I think this is a vital ingredient in bringing a child up in a way that will make them feel better about themselves. As this is reflected in the spoken data.

CONCLUSION/EVALUATION

This investigation hasn’t just allowed me to create my own original transcripts. But has also broadened my knowledge about child language acquisition and caregiver language, which has made me realise how important caregiver language is as it almost acts as a `learning tool`.

Yakub who is 3 years and 10 months old and Leila who is a month older, have a major gap in their language development considering they only have 30 days age difference. This all comes down to the way their parents interact with their children. Leila who is at the top end of the post telegraphic stage is able to produce a wider range of sentence structures, switch between tenses and has a solid understanding of word classes and word formation as analysed in my observation. She is able to do this as at home her parents will get involved in activities at home, which has had a good affect on improving her language skills.

B.F Skinner came up with a theory, which he believed that children acquire language through imitation. However, from my language investigation I found that children don’t necessarily learn from imitating. For example: Aliya says “err Piglet blowed.” and “They flied into the room..”. This is an easy error to make, as grasping tenses requires a level of understanding before it can be applied to a sentence properly. The child obviously hasn’t imitated someone who has said this as an adult wouldn’t say this. So therefore this challenges Skinners theory.