General OVERVIEW

Intro basics: General OVERVIEW

I will be analysing the development of children’s writing (including topics such as grammar, punctuation and formality) through their books over a period of time (from Reception to present day).As well as this, I will set an additional ‘experiment’ or task for the children (all ages) to write a letter to an old relative (SUCH AS a great, great, grandparent) explaining in as much detail as they can about the family now, the parents jobs, where they go to school, what’s their favourite subject etc. I will then compare these letters between siblings and analyse the formality, the level of descriptive language and the understanding of correct grammar.

ALL CHILDRENS WRITING AND PARTICIPATION WILL BE ANONYMISED ENTIRELY. ONLY AGE WILL BE INCLUDED.

What the theory/research leads me to expect to find- hypotheses.

Hypotheses-

The level of formality decreases as the subject’s get younger. Things would be described as ‘the basics’ (in terms of descriptive language, punctuation, grammar etc.) in a younger child’s writing. Whilst older children may try to explain further and in more detail with a proportion more of formality within their writing.

KEY QUESTIONS FOR THE WRITING TASK.

These questions have to be understood FULLY by the range of ages I’m using. Therefore the questions cannot be too complex or too simple because the participants may feel the need, subconsciously to conform to the question in terms of formality etc.

Write a letter to your great, great, Granddad or Grandma explaining…

Q1. Where do you go to school and what is your favourite subject?

Q2. What do your parents do as a job?

Q3. What are your hobbies and what do you like to do in your free time?

Q4. Do you have any brothers or sisters? If yes, what are their ages and where do they go to school?

Q5. What is your favourite piece of technology and why do you like it?

 POTENTIAL THEORISTS TO USE

JEAN PIAGET- http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

“Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980) was employed at the Binet Institute in the 1920s, where his job was to develop French versions of questions on English intelligence tests.  He became intrigued with the reasons children gave for their wrong answers to the questions that required logical thinking. He believed that these incorrect answers revealed important differences between the thinking of adults and children.”

Stage of Development/Key Feature/Research Study

Sensorimotor -0 - 2 yrs.  Object Permanence Blanket & Ball Study

Preoperational-2 - 7 yrs.  Egocentrism Three Mountains

Concrete Operational- 7 – 11 yrs.  Conservation/Conservation of Number

Formal Operational- 11yrs + Manipulate ideas in head, e.g. Abstract Reasoning 

 

(----------- = relevant to my study).

LITERATURE (1 paragraph-1point) PRE-RAPHAELITE + ROSSETTI

T. Discuss how Rossetti writes about nature in the poem ‘Shut Out’

Rossetti’s narrator draws our attention to the naturalistic detail that has attributes to the pre-Raphaelite style that Rossetti was so heavily influenced by. Such details included the inconsistency of human love, the importance of religion, individual unworthiness and the earthly pleasures which are an ever present prospect in both Rossetti’s and Pre-Raphaelite work. The rich and precise detail shown in this piece highlights the variety of earthly pleasures and  ‘beauty’ within the connotations of the supposedly metaphorical “song birds” and “flowers bedewed and green” as well as the downfall or ‘death’ shown within the “[grieving]” and the “tears” of the overall literal narrative; literal visual themes which are seen in many Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

LANGUAGE CW STUDY EXAMPLES AND DEFINITIONS (unfinished)

LANGUAGE CW STUDY EXAMPLES AND DEFINITIONS

Longitudinal Studies  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitudinal_study

“A longitudinal survey is a correlational research study that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time. It is a type of observational study. Longitudinal studies are often used in psychology to study developmental trends across the life span, and in sociology to study life events throughout lifetimes or generations. The reason for this is that, unlike cross-sectional studies, in which different individuals with same characteristics are compared, longitudinal studies track the same people, and therefore the differences observed in those people are less likely to be the result of cultural differences across generations. Because of this benefit, longitudinal studies make observing changes more accurate, and they are applied in various other fields. In medicine, the design is used to uncover predictors of certain diseases. In advertising, the design is used to identify the changes that advertising has produced in the attitudes and behaviours of those within the target audience who have seen the advertising campaign.”

Examples of longitudinal studies (related to child/children development)

• Millennium Cohort Study – UK – 2000/19,000participants: Study of child development, social stratification and family life.
• Child Development Study- Cohort-United States-1987/585 participants: follows children recruited the year before they’ve entered kindergarten in 3 cities: Nashville, Knoxville, TN and Bloomington, Indiana.
   
   
  JEAN PIAGET  http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
  “Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980) was employed at the Binet Institute in the 1920s, where his job was to develop French versions of questions on English intelligence tests.
  He became intrigued with the reasons children gave for their wrong answers to the questions that required logical thinking. He believed that these incorrect answers revealed important differences between the thinking of adults and children.
  Piaget (1936) described his work as genetic epistemology (i.e. the origins of thinking). Genetics is the scientific study of where things come from (their origins). Epistemology is concerned with the basic categories of thinking, that is to say, the framework or structural properties of intelligence. What Piaget wanted to do was not to measure how well children could count, spell or solve problems as a way of grading their I.Q. What he was more interested in was the way in which fundamental concepts like the very idea of “number”, “time” “quantity”, “causality”, “justice” and so on emerged”
   
  “Before Piaget’s work, the common assumption in psychology was that children are merely less competent thinkers than adults. Piaget showed that young children think in strikingly different ways compared to adults.
  According to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge is based.”
   

THERE ARE THREE BASIC COMPONENTS TO PIAGET'S COGNITIVE THEORY:

1. Schemas

(Building blocks of knowledge).

      2. Adaptation processes that enable the transition from one stage to another (equilibrium, assimilation and accommodation).

     3. Stages of Development:

•sensorimotor,

•preoperational,

•concrete operational,

•formal operational

 

Stages of Development

“A child's cognitive development is about a child developing or constructing a mental model of the world. Jean Piaget was interested both in how children learnt and in how they thought. Piaget studied children from infancy to adolescence, and carried out many of his own investigations using his three children. He used the following research methods: Piaget made careful, detailed naturalistic observations of children. From these he wrote diary descriptions charting their development.  He also used clinical interviews and observations of older children who were able to understand questions and hold conversations. Piaget believed that children think differently than adults, and stated they go through 4 universal stages of cognitive development. Development is therefore biologically based and changes as the child matures. Cognition therefore develops in all children in the same sequence of stages. Each child goes through the stages in the same order, and no stage can be missed out. There are individual differences in the rate at which children progress through stages.  Piaget did not claim that a particular stage was reached at a certain age - although descriptions of the stages often include an indication of the age at which the average child would reach each stage.  Piaget (1952) believed that these stages are universal - i.e. that the same sequence of development occurs in children all over the world, whatever their culture.”

 

Stage of Development/Key Feature/Research Study

Sensorimotor -0 - 2 yrs.  Object Permanence Blanket & Ball Study

Preoperational-2 - 7 yrs.  Egocentrism Three Mountains

Concrete Operational- 7 – 11 yrs.  Conservation/Conservation of Number

Formal Operational- 11yrs + Manipulate ideas in head, e.g. Abstract Reasoning 

Research into the Language in Childs Development.

The linguistic list at lingusticlist.org/ask-ling/lang-acq.cfm – Ask a Linguist FAQ “All children acquire language in the same way, regardless of what language they use or the number of languages they use. Acquiring a language is like learning to play a game. Children must learn the rules of the language game, for example how to articulate words and how to put them together in ways that are acceptable to the people around them. In order to understand child language acquisition (…)” followed by questions and answers such as: “How long does it take to acquire language?” “Do all children learn at the same rate?” “How do children handle to language acquisition process?” and “What strategies do children use in learning language?”

The website is very clearly structured, giving an answer to every enquiry and covering all ground of child language acquisition.

https://aggslanguage.wordpress.com/comsly/ “4:1 Child Language acquisition theory [covering the grounds of theorists]- Chomsky, Crystal, Aitchison and Piaget.” This website states clearly four main theories made by the mentioned above with a clear bullet pointed list under  each theorist. Stating things such as the grammatical structures, syntactic structures and certain linguistics structures in relation to child acquisition. The entirety of the information is very formal but gives very clear ways to understand each process including for and against for each individual theory/theorist. It also includes an example of dialogue with explanations including terminology, with each line.

Simply Psychology at www.simplypsychology.org/langauge.html Language acquisition by Helena Lemetyinen 2012 – “Language is a cognition that truly makes us human. Whereas other species do communicate with an innate ability to produce a limited number of meaningful vocalizations (e.g. bonobos), or even with partially learned systems (e.g. bird songs), there is no other species known to date that can express infinite ideas (sentences) with a limited set of symbols (speech sounds and words).This ability is remarkable in itself. What makes it even more remarkable is that researchers are finding evidence for mastery of this complex skill in increasingly younger children. Infants as young as 12 months are reported to have sensitivity to the grammar needed to understand causative sentences (who did what to whom; e.g. the bunny pushed the frog (Rowland & Noble, 2010). After more than 60 years of research into child language development, the mechanism that enables children to segment syllables and words out of the strings of sounds they hear, and to acquire grammar to understand and produce language is still quite an enigma.” This website is brilliant for the psychological side of child language acquisition. It includes early theories, universal grammar, contemporary research and a conclusion with added references and full explanations under each sub heading.

Summer Project for A2 (Study of Language Change/CW)

Language Change

National Science Foundation ‘language and linguistics- Language Change’ 28/08/2015 available www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/lingustics/change.jsp (“languages change for a variety of reasons. Larger scale shifts often occur in response to social, economic and political pressures. History records many of examples of language change fueled by invasions, colonization and migration. […]  Frequently, the needs of speakers drive language change. New technologies, industries, products and experiences simply require new word [ing]. Plastic, [mobile] phones and the internet didn’t exist in Shakesperian time for example. By using new and emerging terms, we all drive language change.”

NSF clearly displays the variety of ways in which language can change and why it does so. Giving clear examples of the key changes historically and within modern society.

“Language History, Language change and language relationship. An introduction to historical and comparative linguistics.” Written by Hans Henrich Hock, Brian D Joseph- 1996. Chptr 1. Language Keeps Changing. Includes a large text extracted from the end of a song by ‘Ario Guthrie’ where he is “bantering with masses of young people” mostly in their late teens or early twenties at Woodstock festival in August 1969. With quotes such as “far out man” and “I was rappin’ to the fuzz” pulled and used as examples. An analysis by the authors which suggests the “youth [and] hip culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s…” still has the same connotations but different ways of using each word. Throughout the book explanations and studies are furthermore explored. (Read until pg 40).

The British Library found at www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/changlang/across/languagetimeline.html is an introductory website that gives a clear timeline set out of the way in which language is used from the Celtic era to modern day use. It includes brief and short explanations in which historic periods of time influenced the language used today and which words were extracted and are still in current use. Clear examples/lists of these words are under each explanation and history of the language used.

Language change (www-Rohan.stsu.edu/~gauron/fundamentals/course_core/lectures/historical/historical.htm) is a website based upon not just the general language change politically, socially etc, but the vowel shifts and proto language used historically into the modern era shown in poetry, pieces of writing, plays and television. It bases the entirety of the study around the regional dialects built over time stemming from invasionary happenings from various countries, who bought over their language and settled, therefore affecting ‘the English language’ we know today.

The Phonological Change in English (www.bris.ac.uk/german/hison/reading/hickyforth by Raymonf Hickey- The university of Duisburg and Essen, highlights how the the sound system of English has undergone considerable change in the 1500 years for which documents of the language exist. And how the language change is so great that the earliest forms of language are not readily comprehensible to speakers of English today. The primary focus is on the study of phonology starting in the 19hundreds and continuing to modern day. The mention of the ‘close link between lingusic theory and phonological studies” and how thi research into the history if sound in the English system is prominent throughout. The website lists many case studies who contributed hugely to the phonology study and should be remembered for future use.

Your Artistry (renewed)

They say that some people make art, whilst other individuals are, as themselves, works of art. That "Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." [Cesar Cruz/Banksy]. "To restrict the artist is a crime. It is to murder germinating life." [Egon Schiele].  "The idea is not to live forever, it is to create something that will." [Andy Warhol]

My boyfriend, categorically, is an artist. The inability to see the world just as it is, comes alongside the passion and appreciation he has for everything art. To pick up a pen and see the universe differently to everybody else is his gift. More often than not, he creates unique and individually stunning pieces on a day to day basis without the need of force from others. The line in which he carries across every page makes no sense to those who can't see what he is seeing at the given time, but is visually appealing with every aspect of the phrase. The acknowledgement for the way a medium can create such different lines depending on the speed of the hand or the mind-set of a person is undeniably extraordinary. What saddens him most is for others, who can't seem to grasp the beauty of the topic, to shun a piece that has been delicately crafted throughout a number of days without a second thought. Whether it's a simple cinematographic composition, an undemanding illustration that requires minimum effort but a great understanding or a life drawing that has been composed using every visual shape exposed or a sculpture which gleams elegance from a single, certain angle, his passion never fluctuates but stands alone with a somewhat proud stance and screams picturesqueness without too much boastfulness to be off putting. He is an artist- without a shadow of a doubt- and his heart is his greatest masterpiece. They say that "A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art."[Paul Cezanne] Here's an illustrator that makes drawing feel as easy as appreciating a good view.

 His favourite sketchbook is a navy-blue Royal Langnickel. With its textured covering and lightly waxed, off white paper and its hardback, ink-stained shell it's hard not to fall for such an item-even if you know you'll never use it. One charming book in particular was given to me as a 17th birthday gift from him, with its battered corners from its adventures and pages full with ideas and pictures, it will forever sit as one of my most cherished items on my shelf. These sketchbooks line his walls in his 20x10 bedroom. Open one up and suddenly you're looking into his whole life. Portraiture, landscapes, typeface, patterns, doodles and people picked out from a crowd. These are his fast and deliberate sketches executed in humble Biro and pencil. A simple toolbox, not known by many who try their hand at art. For as long as I've known him, elaborate has never been his forte.

Or so he says.

Burning passions never usually come without elaborate-ness.

If there's one thing that I've learnt from him is that patience is a virtue. But also that some things don't require plans or charts or mappings out step by step. You are able to create and learn as the day passes and that is not something to be afraid of. Ideas come and go and in the words of one of his favourite artists: "There is nothing (...) then there is something for a brief moment, then there is nothing again." (David Shrigley) There is something about art. In passionate hands, crafted and manipulated deftly, the piece can and will take you prisoner. It will catch your eye and wind itself around your sockets like spider silk and when you're so enthralled that you cannot move, it'll pierce your skin. Something will click and numb any other thoughts. For many people, art will never be an important part of everyday life and for some it'll be the very soul of theirs but I believe that the universal agreement on what is gorgeously and undoubtedly artistic, although tainted, is still true to its form. And it's art created by such individuals as Romare Bearden, Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Frida Kahlo, J.M.W Turner, Donatello and other 'right brained' souls who's timeless pieces prove this theory and most likely always will.

Language and Gender (Unfinished) Notes for revision 2015

General overview revision studies (condensed and combined)

Research into the many possible relationships between language and gender is diverse. Most studies could be said to encompass work notionally housed within applied linguistics, conversational analysis, feminist media studies, gender studies, interactional sociolinguistics, and media studies. Methodologically, there is no single approach that could be said to give a definite explanation in relation to generalising gender specific language. This is mostly because socially, standards towards each gender worldwide are constantly shifting- for example: the rise in feminism/feminists. Discursive, post structural, experimental approaches, difference, deficient and dominant theories can all be seen to have actively contributed to the study of language and gender-producing and reproducing different and competing, political and theoretical assumptions about the way gender contributes towards language. Research in this area could be divided into several main areas of study: firstly, there is a sustained and wide interest in the many varieties of speech associated with a particular gender; secondly, there are many studies that focus on the locally situated and contextually specific ways in which gender can be bought into being/invoked/made accountable (etc.) to and for peoples everyday talk/textual interaction; and thirdly,  there is an interest in the 'social norms' and conventions that produced gendered language- A sociolect associated with a particular gender is sometimes called 'genderlect'. The study of language and gender has greatly developed since the 1970s. Prominent  theorists include Dale Spender, Pamela Fishman, Deborah Tannen, Zimmerman and West, Deborah Cameron, Robin Lakoff and others.

In 1975, Robin Lakoff identified a 'woman's register' which she argued served to maintain women's inferior role in society. Lakoff also stated that women tend to use linguistic forms that reflect and reinforce the subordinate role. These include tag questions, "weak" directives and question intonation, among others. However, theorists such as Pamela Fishman argue against Lakoff's theory and suggests that women frequently use tag questions as they are an effective method of beginning and maintaining conversations with males. Fishman also states that females use questions-primarily in the form of "isn't it?" and "could've been?"- to gain conversational power rather than lack conversational awareness. She claims that "questioning is required for when females are speaking with males as men do not often respond to a declarative statement or will respond minimally." By asking these tag questions, Fishman states that they are used mostly as an 'attention getting device.' And to discover if the conversational partner is listening. Therefore, by adding a question she realised that the speaker is inviting the listener to respond. Tag questions are frequently used to verify or confirm information- and not just by females. Although in a woman's language they may also be used to avoid strong statements which, in effect, may lead to conflict or misunderstanding with the conversational partner. With collective information from various studies, it's clear that men and women differ in their use of questions within conversations. For men, a question is usually a genuine request for information whilst for a woman, it can often be a rhetorical means of engaging the other's conversational contribution or of acquiring attention from other participants or peers who are conversationally involved, techniques associated with a collaborative approach to language use. Therefore, women use questions more frequently than men and for different purposes.

Deborah Tannen supports this via her theories which suggest that women use language primarily to make connections and reinforce intimacy and understanding, whilst males use it to preserve their independence and negotiate status. A primary example of this in close relation to questions/questioning would be Tannen's "information vs. feeling." Tannen suggests that men use speech to exchange information, whilst women use language to express and share feelings. Additionally, she suggests that whilst women tend to be indirect when seeking cooperation, and make suggestions rather than commands, men tend to use and are more comfortable dealing with explicit orders-(Orders vs. Proposals). Tannen's other theories include Independence vs. Intimacy; Conflict vs. Compromise; Status vs. Support and Advice vs. Understanding. All of these theories suggest the ways in which both genders communicate, think and behave differently linguistically. However, the trend within Tannen's theories suggest the primarily more dominant and 'strong' characteristics come through from the male gender. Within all her suggestions, women are perceived to be personally interrupted  by their emotions and men to 'push them to one side.' The idea that emotions in language and communication are so one sided suggests a shift in power within the genders; strongly towards men-resulting in an overall impression that because women are "more in touch with emotion" that they're susceptible to hurt, being labelled as the "nagging gender" because they're less likely to answer back and therefore are easily dominated. The dominant perception that is heavily shown throughout her theories may be supported by theorist and speaker Dale Spender. Spender suggests that "women are seen in society as 'weak' if they don't play their gender." Spender highlights that in patriarchal societies men control language and it works in their favour. And that this has an affect on the 'disobedient' women who fail to conform to their given inferior role and are labelled by society as abnormal, promiscuous or frigid if they stray from the female stereotype (linguistically).