2.2.8

Writing About Spoken Acquisition

Test yourself

Writing About Spoken Acquisition in Your Exam

Your knowledge of spoken acquisition can be assessed in a couple of ways:

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Mock exam question

  • In your exam, you will be given a question that looks something like this:
    • “Children cannot learn through imitation.”
    • Referring to Data Set 1 in detail, and to relevant ideas from language study, evaluate this view of children’s language development. (30 marks).
  • In addition to the question, you will also get one/two pieces of data.
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Come up with a good argument

  • Spend 10 minutes reading through and annotating the data for terminology and relevant theories.
  • Come up with a line of argument – do you agree with the statement? Remember that your essay is you proving your point, so the data must support your argument.
  • Think carefully about which theories best support your argument. A good essay shows careful consideration of the best theorists for the task. A bad essay uses as many theories as it can often without clear relevance to the task.
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Quote and explain

  • Quote and explain – all terminology-based claims must be supported with a quotation and any parts of the data you pick out should have its relevance explained (it’s no good saying ‘the child makes many inflectional mistakes’ and leaving it at that – it needs to be evidenced and have a point).
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Further exam advice

  • The question is asking you to ‘evaluate’ and so you need to explore ways in which the view can be supported and challenged.
  • Always look for patterns and complexities in language use.
  • It is essential to bring in as many relevant schools of thought as possible.
  • Ingrate key words from the question into your answer.

Jump to other topics

1Language Levels

2Language, The Individual & Society

3Language Diversity & Change

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