Katharine has the ability to use verbs and does this in the right places. The only thing she does do wrong when using verbs is that she sometimes uses them in the wrong tenses. On line 5 Katherine says ‘I want to do that, didn’t I’, instead of ‘don’t I’. This is because when a child learns one tense she will use that for everything until she learns and understands others.
Pronouns are very difficult for children learning a language to grasp; this is shown in Katharine’s speech. On line 7 instead of using ‘I’, she uses ‘me’. Pronouns are so difficult, because their meaning depends on the context they are used in, and because parents often use names or roles a lot when speaking to children.
Katharine is also understanding, and using auxiliary verbs, usually in the right context. The only time Katharine omits the auxiliary verb is on line 11, but I think this is because she wants to say something and can’t find the right word.
Throughout the transcript there is no use of conjunctions, even where they could have been used. This may be because Katharine has not learnt or does not fully understand them yet.
The use of negatives is good; this is often found difficult for children of Katharine’s age.
I think that Katharine uses tag questions as a way of reassurance, because usually when she makes a mistake she will be corrected and learn from her mistakes.
Katharine’s mother uses child directed speech to try to involve her in the conversation. She does this by asking questions, as can be seen from line 8, 10 and 12. The mother also asks Katharine to show her the bottles on line 14.
Katharine is very good at asking questions to help her get to know what she wants. On line 21, she knows she wants to do some drawing because she says ‘I want to do some of that, please’. The ‘please’ on the end seems like it is acting as a question ‘can I do some drawing?’ she pauses to see whether her mother will get her some paper, when she realises she’s not going to get what she wants, she rephrases the question and gets the paper.
On line 19 Katharine says ‘I d’know’ this is laziness, she should have said ‘I don’t know’. She probably said this because she has heard someone else say it like that and has learnt it. This is a disadvantage of child directed speech, as the person the child is learning from may not be speaking properly.
From around line 20, Katharine and her mother get themselves confused. Her mother is still answering an earlier question when Katharine asks another.
Katharine can put sentences together and uses inflections, adverbs, tag questions and correct syntax in the right places; this means she is nearing the end of the telegraphic stage.
