Writing About Spoken Acquisition

English Language: AQA A Level, topic 2.2.8

Writing About Spoken Acquisition in Your Exam

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

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.

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.

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).

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.