1600 comparison

Romeo and Juliet:

Peace, I have done. God mark thee to his grace!

Thou wast the prettiest babe that e'er I nursed.

An I might live to see thee married once,

I have my wish.

Modern day translation:

Peace. I’m done talking. May God choose you to receive his grace.

You were the prettiest baby I ever nursed.

If I live to see you get married someday,

all my wishes will come true.

• "thee" and "thou" are both informal
• The lexis "wast" is now obsolete 
• "e'er" now used as "ever"

http://nfs.sparknotes.com/romeojuliet/page_42.html

George reading essay

Young readers should be corrected whenever they make a mistake. Evaluate.

The transcript is of George, aged 7, who is reading a book to his mother and its clear to see that the use of Skinner's operant conditioning theory of positive reinforcement is frequently applied throughout. At the beginning of the transcript, after George pauses and seems to become slightly hesitant with the lexis "sandbags" his mother says "sound it out" and he continues to do so in which he successfully says "sandbags. His mother then rewards George with positive reinforcement by saying "well done". However, once again George seems to struggle with the lexis 'sandbags' as he says "sanbags" instead. His mother then uses the breaking down approach and separates the compound word into "sand" "bags" which allows George to echo her language and therefore use the standard form. After George uses the standard form of "sandbags" his mother rewards him after he has struggled by praising him and saying "good boy". The lexis "sandbags" is a compound word and a consonant cluster which is really unusual for George to see which may explain why he had such difficultly with it.

Throughout the transcript Georges mother provides him with a range of strategy's which is a form of scaffolding and a part of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development theory. The first strategy that she provides for him is the phonic approach which she applies and prompts him to "sound it out" after she notices that he is struggling with one of the words in the book. Another strategy that Georges mother suggests and uses is the breaking down approach. After George pronounces the lexis 'sandbags' as "sanbags" his mother begins to break the compound word down and models "sand" and "bags" as separate words and then George follows on by repeating and echoing what she has just said. By using the breaking down approach and the strategy of finding words within words will help George to read independently. 

Another example of when George is corrected by his mother for a mistake made in his language is when after he says "we never" his mothers response is "nooo". This could be seen as a use of negative reinforcement as well as it also providing George with slight scaffolding. By his mothers response being "nooo" she is only highlighting the error that needs to be corrected and allows George to self correct his language himself to "no we need". Towards the end of the transcript Georges mother makes another correction to his language when he says "made" rather than "may". Although because her correction was immediate it preserves the flow of the speech and allows George to continue with the book but at the same time still making him aware of the meaning of the text.#

In conclusion, I strongly believe that young readers should be corrected whenever they make a mistake. This is because it allows them to have a understanding and identity the mistakes that they have made and will allow them to self correct their own mistakes in the future.

Doctor Cathy Barclay 1996 - 7 stages to a child's developing its writing skills

Doctor Cathy Barclay 1996

7 stages to a child's developing its writing skills

Stage 1 - Scribbling stage

Random marks on a page

Writing and scribbles are accompanied by speaking

 

Stage 2 - Mock handwriting stage

Writing + drawings

Produce wavy lines which is their understanding of lineation

Cursive writing

 

Stage 3 - Mock letters

Letters are separate things.

 

Stage 4 - Conventional letters

Usually involves writing the name as the first word.

Child usually puts letters on a page but is able to read it as words.

 

Stage 5 - Invented spelling stage

Child spells in the way they understand the word should be spelt- own way.

 

Stage 6 - Appropriate/phonetic spelling stage

Attach spelling with sounds.

 

Stage 7 - Correct spelling stage

Are able to spell most words.

B.M Kroll 1981 - 4 stages in the development of writing

B.M Kroll 1981

4 stages in the development of writing. 

Stage 1 - Preparatory stage

Masters the basic motor skills needed to write

Learns the basic principles of the spelling system

Stage 2 - Consolidation stage (age up to 6)

Child writes in the same way it speaks

Uses short declarative sentences which include mainly 'and' conjunctions

Incomplete sentences as they don't know how to finish the sentence off

Stage 3 - Differentiation stage (age up to 9)

Child become aware of the difference between speaking and writing

Recognises the different writing styles available

lots of mistakes

Use writing guides and frameworks to structure work

Write to reflect thoughts and feelings

Stage 4 - Integration stage (12+)

Child develops a personal style

Child understands that you can change your style according to audience and purpose

Research (Unfinished)

Who are the most popular children's authors for early years, infants and juniors?

For children aged 0 - 5 years authors such as Janet & Allan Ahlberg, Eric Carle who produced the well known classic "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", Raymond Briggs who published "The snowman" and Rod Campbell are just a few of the most popular. 

For children aged 6 - 8 years authors such as Roald Dahl who produced the classic range of books such as "The BFG", Enid Blyton well known for the famous book "Five on a Treasure Island" and Dick King-Smith are just a few examples of the most popular authors. 

For children aged 9 - 11 years authors such as Michael Morpurgo who produced the well know "Private Peaceful", Jacqueline Wilson and the famous book "The Story of Tracy Beaker", JK Rowling and her book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" and Roald Dahl again and a few of the most popular authors.

What are the elements of these books that are successful?

• Using interesting, fun illustrations and artwork
• An enthusiastic story line 
• Teaching simple concepts such as numbers, letters or colors or even teaching diversity, love, manners, and acceptance.
• Using interesting language such as alliterations and poetry as well as incorporating advanced vocabulary

Which books for young children do you remember/love? Why do you remember them?
The books I loved and remember as a child are "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", "Elmer", "Dear Zoo" and "Spot The Dog" collection. These books were full of fun and excited pictures and illustrations. They all had very interesting and different story lines which is why i loved them and kept reading them over and over again. 

How are children taught to read in schools? 


What are the arguments for and against current approaches? synthetic phonics and reading schemes.


What sorts of 'miscues' do young readers make and how are caregivers encouraged to deal with them ?


Bibliography
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-blogs/news/222/
http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/06/what-makes-a-childrens-book-great-we-have-some-answers/
http://thewritepractice.com/childrens-book/

Imitation and reinforcement are the most crucial tools for children's language acquisition.

Imitation and reinforcement are the most crucial tools for children's language acquisition. Evaluate (30 marks)

1) Discuss the terms 'imitation and reinforcement' and acknowledge that they are important but not the most important

2) Explore patterns of language use and evaluate their relevance to theories and the question

3) Establish other theories and evaluate if they are important/more important with reference to care studies and data

The idea of learning and developing language through both imitation and reinforcement is a part of Skinner's operant conditioning theory as part of using both negative and positive reinforcement; as well as punishment. Imitation is the process of which a child learns language through the copying and echoing of how their caregiver speaks to and around them and reinforcement is when the language used by a child is encouraged making it more likely for them to repeat it. Positive reinforcement is when the child's language has been rewarded, encouraging them to use it again and repeat in the future as its what they are being rewarded for such as praise, echoing and reformulation. Negative reinforcement is when the praise or the reward is removed and not given. By the caregiver modelling the correct use of language to the child without them receiving a reward for the language they used, they will focus on correcting it and preventing the same mistakes that have been made. Skinner believed that children learn language through the environment as well as the consequences of their actions which is where he developed the ideas of positive and negative reinforcement. He also believed that learning would always take place as long as the speech imitation from the child was rewarded consistently. Intimation and reinforcement can be seen as very significant to learning language, although, they may not be the most crucial tools for children language acquisition suggested by the contrasting theories that other theorists believe to be more crucial to the learning and development of language. For example; Piaget's theory, Bruner and Vygotsky.

Both imitation and reinforcement can be found in the first transcript, text A, which is a conversation that took place whilst Tom was mending bikes with his parents. At the beginning of the transcript, Tom says "the bike (.) the dad bike". Tom is aged 2 years and 7 months and is currently in the telegraphic stage meaning that he is able to put together a utterance of three or more words, although Tom seems to get muddled and confused with the order of his words. His mother then responds and corrects him by reformulating the phrase  to the correct term, "dad's bike". This is an example of negative reinforcement as his mother has converted the utterance to standard English to be the appropriate way as it should be spoken. Tom then goes on to imitate and repeat his mothers response when he says, "yeah (.) the dad (.) dad's bike (.) dads bike mum (.) dads bike". Although he has clearly made several false starts, he has recognized that he isn't repeating his mothers response correctly and so he keeps trying until "dad's bike" 
has been modeled and has been successfully imitated. This could also be seen has an example of embedded learning. Further on in the transcript Tom applies his knowledge of the use of correct standard English again when he says, "I need to fix dad's bike (.) go (.) on (.) oh (.) I need to fix dad's bike again". With Tom continuing to apply what he has learnt and using the language he has develop throughout the transcript it proves Skinner's idea that once negative reinforcement has been reinforced the language is unlikely to repeat the same mistakes that have been made previously. This suggests that Skinner's theory has worked as Tom has learnt language through his mothers imitation and her use of negative reinforcement. Another example of positive reinforcement provided his mother is when Tom says, "it make noises" with his mothers response being "it makes noises". By her doing this and correcting Tom's elision and inflection of the missing plural 's' on the end of "makes" she is providing scaffolding. Scaffolding is the support that care givers provide to help children with the process of learning language, this is a part of Vgotsky's theory. Vgotsky's Zone of Proximal Development is the distance between what a child can already do independently and what they can achieve with scaffolding from the caregiver. Piaget's has criticized this theory and process of learning as he believes that children cannot advance their language unless they successfully go through the 4 stages at a certain age.

The second transcript, text B, is a conversation between Tom and his mother whilst he is completing a jigsaw puzzle. Although, noticeably many examples of both imitation and reinforcement can be found throughout the transcript, the majority of them are to reinforce and scaffold Tom's behavior instead of his language. Whilst Tom completes a jigsaw puzzle with his mother, she praises him using positive reinforcement by saying "fantastic" and "well done". Tom clearly understands that he is being rewarded when he puts a piece of the puzzle together currently and so he repeats his twice to gain more positive reinforcement from his mother to encourage him to continue doing what he is already doing. Unlike the imitation and reinforcement given above to Tom's behavior, after tom says "I (.) I killed it (.)
I (.) killed the sh (.) sheep (.) mum (.) yeah" she models his language appropriately as to what he should of said being he "squashed it". Tom then goes on to confirm his mothers response by saying "yeah (.) I squashed it" which shows that he has successfully imitated his mothers language and has understood the appropriate terms he should of used. This is an example of negative reinforcement and also suggests that Skinner's theory has work has Tom has successfully imitated his mothers language and very quickly. 

There are other theories that theorists believe to be the most crucial tools for children's language acquisition than both imitation and reinforcement. One theory would be Piaget's theory, who said and believed that children cannot advance their language unless they successfully go through the 4 stages at a certain age ; sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. Tom is currently in the preoperational stage (2-7) as he is of 2 years and 7 months of age. This could explain as to why Tom couldn't correctly count the number of chickens he could see, he says "one (.) two (.) three (.) four (.)" and then repeats the same four numbers as before as he has not yet gone through the concrete operational (7-11) which Piaget said was to be the stage in children gain the ability of numbers. This supports Piaget's theory being that children must go through the four stages before advancing their language. Another theorist is Bruner, who believed and developed the idea that children go though three stages; enactive stage (0-1), the iconic stage (1-6) and the symbolic stage (7 years and older).

In conclusion, imitation and reinforcement can both be important tools for the way in which children learn language by giving them the foundations to develop it further and to use the correct standard English, they may not be the most crucial part for the development and process for children's language acquisition. Therefore, other theorists such as Piaget and Bruner who have their own ideas and theory's could equally be seen as a crucial tools for children's language acquisitions with evidence and cases to support this. I think that different aspects of many theory's can be put together and can all be relevant to the way in which children learn and adapt language.

Comparison of transcripts

In the first transcript Zach is 28 months of age and in the second one he is 41 months old, in this 13 month time gap its noticeable that Zach' language has significantly developed and improved. With his language being very simple and minimal in the first transcript with him only using simple sentences and he would frequently repeat his grammatical errors compared to the second transcript where he doesn't make these errors frequently he seems to be coming to terms with sentence structures and his language is beginning to develop and expand.Throughout both of the transcripts is scaffolding which is an idea developed by Vygotsky. He states that children have a zone of proximal development and there is a gap between what a child already knows and can do and what they can know and do with the help of scaffolding from their care giver. Zach's mother puts this in place and uses it to help him expand his language and the way he develops. Scaffolding if the support that the child care giver provides to help them to learn language which can be done by prompting and asking questions frequently.

Being that Zach is 28 months old in the 'Zachy 2;4 drawing a banana' transcript we would commonly expect to see the telegraphic stage of the child language acquisition but however we are already seeing sings of the multi-word stage. For example, "I got food on the floor" would be evidence in proving that Zach has started to enter the multi-word stage, as we would expect him to be in the telegraphic stage we would expect to see hum using a similar phrase like "got food floor" as an alternative. This contradicts Piaget's theory and idea that children cant advance their language unless they go through the 4 stages and have reached a certain age. 

Looking at Halliday's and Dore's child language functions, ive noticed that throughout the first transcript the function answering (responding to an utterance of another speaker) is more common and apparent as well as him often using the imaginative function. For example "Its got lots of hurt all the way down (.) so i put lots of (0.5) sellotape on it (.) so it could feel better". Compared to in the second transcript where the functions requesting an action and protesting are more frequent. An example of Zach requesting an action is when he says "please can you pick it up","can you do it mummy?" and when he says "we cant (.) we'll just have to wait an wait an wait".

In the time between the first and the second transcript Zach as also developed polite forms which also shows how much is language has developed and is continuing to do so like i stated above, such as "please" and "thank you". Children learn and develop manners from those around them specifically their main care givers which is exactly what has happened in Zach's case. When his mother says "you might need the magic word then" Zach instantly responds with "please" showing he understand what the magic word means and what he is being asked to do. This also shows that his mother formed his understanding of the correct words he must use when he is asking for something, being "please" and using the polite expression "thank you".

Comparing both of the transcripts together Skinner’s operant conditioning theory of positive reinforcement could be applied to both and how Zach's mother is encouraging him to proceed with his language development and to continue repeating what he is doing well. For example, phrases such as "well done”, “very good” are used by his mother to applause him and praise him. By using positive reinforcement in both of the transcripts its helped to enable Zach's use of language to develop and continue to expand to a greater extend. This will ensure that Zach knows what he is doing well and give him that extra boost to continue the way he is doing so.