Eng/KS5/Exemplar/Unit3

Exemplar Answer for Unit 3

Exemplar Question and Student Answer

Exemplar question and answer for January2003

SECTION B – The Study of the Language of Speech

______________________________________________________________

Read the following examples of spoken English.

Using both extracts, explore how the speakers convey ideas and feelings by close reference to the ways in which language is used.

In your answer you should comment on:

Vocabulary and features of spoken language
The attitudes and values conveyed by the speakers

EXTRACT 1

This is an extract from an interview on the radio between a record producer; Donald Shaw, who has his own recording label, and a DJ, Mike Harding, who is interviewing Donald Shaw. Harding has just asked Shaw to explain how he came to set up his own record label.

Key

(.)                                micropause
(1.0)                                pause in seconds
underlining                 particular emphasis of a word
Bold                          overlap

Shaw:             I had been erm (1.0) producing (0.5) some albums and I had felt that (.)                          y’know (1.0) I’d you’d spend months (.) working on this record an’
                        y’know
Harding:         uh uh
Shaw:              and you’d fell it was something that you really cared about an’ then (.)                           y’know (.) the album would be released and (.) ss six months later you c (.)                           you didn’t know anything about the record an’ it wasn’t around an’ I started                           to kinda feel (.) I don’t know I had some sort of sort of (.) anxiety about it (.)                           an’ it kind of all happened at the same time as Michael (0.5) McGoldrick                           had asked me to work with him on (.) his second album an’ er (0.5) I thought                           y’know this (.) this can’t happen y’know (.) a musician of this kind of (.)                          calibre its got to kind of get out there y’know an’ I thought (.) y’know I’m                          gonna try an’ get involved a bit more in the release aspect of it an’ the only                          way to do that really is to set up your own label
Harding:         yeah
Shaw:             an’ erm (1.0) I mean it’s not easy I didn’t expect to kinda like y’know (.)                          suddenly (.) transform (.) a mus a musicians (.) life but at least (.) y’know                          having worked on an album (.) for that amount of time an’ put a lot of energy                          into it you can continue the energy into the actual release
Harding:         yeah
Shaw:             and marketing of it as well

EXTRACT 2

This is an extract from the stage play Teechers by John Godber. In this extract two Year 11 girls are talking about the school Christmas dance and one of them, Gail, Professes her love for one of her teachers, Mr Nixon.

Gail:                             I love him.
Hobby:                         You don’t.
Gail:                             I am infatuated…
Hobby:                         What’s it feel like?
Gail:                             Brilliant… I was on his table for Christmas dinner…
Hobby:                        Yeh, but does he love you?
Gail:                            Dunno, but I’ll find out at the Christmas dance…
Hobby:                        Why, what are you going to do?
Gail:                             Snog him…
Hobby:                         Oooooohhhh, you’re not…
Gail:                             I’ll need some Dutch courage but I am…
Hobby:                         I don’t believe it…
Gail:                             Listen, I’ve got it all worked out. We go to the off-licence, you go in                                      and buy some cider.
Hobby:                         Why me?
Gail:                             Then I’ll bring some spring onions from home. We’ll drink the cider                                       then eat the spring onions.
Hobby:                         Spring onions, why?
Gail:                             Because Doug and Mr Hatton will be on the door of the Christmas                                      dance and Mrs Parry says if anyone is suspected of drinking alcohol                                      they won’t be allowed in… And I want to make sure I get in.
Hobby:                         Are you sure Mr Nixon is going to the dance?
Gail:                             Course he is, I’ve asked him a dozen times. I’ve sent him forty cards                                       in the Christmas post.
Hobby:                         Must have cost you a fortune?
Gail:                             No, my aunty works in a card shop, anyway it’s the thought that                                       counts.

Exemplar student answer

In extract 1, Harding has just asked Shaw a question. You can see how Shaw is thinking of the answer while answering as he pauses and uses ‘y’know’ – a kind of slang – twice in a short sentence. You can see how Harding is sensing his difficulty and encouraging him, showing him he is interested when he interrupts with his ‘uh uh’.

Shaw frequently uses elision – missing ‘d’s at the end of and for example. He also uses liaison in ‘gonna’ instead of going to and ‘kinda’ in stead of kind of. These choices in speech are common in London and Essex and suggest that this is where Shaw comes from.

You can further see that Shaw is thinking as he is speaking from his pauses and false starts in the main speech he gives, and also his use of ‘er’ as a gap filler. The frequent use of ‘y’know’ could either be gap filling as he searches for a word, or it might be that he is seeking reassurance that Harding understands and is interested.

In Shaw’s main answer you can sense his passion for his subject, his depth of emotion. He puts extra emphasis on important words like ‘anxiety’ and ‘calibre’. Emphasis is a wonderful tool to use in speech; intonation and pace can speak volumes.

Harding’s input to the conversation, just three short sentences, is expected as he is the interviewer and it is his job to draw the information out of the interviewee. In Shaw’s penultimate turn there are again many pauses and false starts, which again shows how the speech is unplanned conversation. The semantics of the extract confirm the information given about the nature of the interviewer and interviewee’s careers in the music industry, words such as ‘producing’, ‘record’, ‘album’, ‘released’, ‘musician’ are all in this semantic field.

Another point to note is where Shaw pauses between the first and surname of Michael McGoldrick. This may be because the audience wouldn’t know to which Michael he was referring, or it may be as an extra effort to ‘market’ Michael’s name on the radio. To be sure you would have to be aware of the wider context of the conversation – had Michael’s surname been mentioned before? Was it obvious that it was Mr McGoldrick that he was referring to?

In the extract from Teechers we don’t have the benefit of the information on pauses and emphasis. We can use our imaginations as to which words are emphasised. There are many sets of adjacency pairs, forming chains throughout the extract. This shows us it is a conversation between two people. Gail speaks more than Hobby which shows maybe she is more dominant in the pair. Also, Hobby is nearly always asking questions, again showing that Gail is more dominant. The use of language show the age of the girls, ‘snog’ and ‘oooooohhhh’ for example. There are also cases of liaison e.g. ‘dunno’ for don’t know.

The semantic field also indicates the age of the girls, ‘Dutch courage’, ‘cider’, ‘off licence’. The way Gail refers to Mr Nixon as ‘Doug’ shows that she thinks she knows him better and can be more informal with him. She uses Mr… for all the other teachers.

This answer was awarded the following marks:

AO2 – 21

A03 – 21

AO5 – 21x2=42

Total 84 out of 100. This would make it an A grade answer.

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	Exemplar Answer for Unit 3 Exemplar Question and Student Answer Exemplar question and answer for January2003 SECTION B – The Study of the Language of Speech ______________________________________________________________ Read the following examples of spoken English. Using both extracts, explore how the speakers convey ideas and feelings by close reference to the ways in which language is used. In your answer you should comment on: Vocabulary and features of spoken language The attitudes and values conveyed by the speakers EXTRACT 1 This is an extract from an interview on the radio between a record producer; Donald Shaw, who has his own recording label, and a DJ, Mike Harding, who is interviewing Donald Shaw. Harding has just asked Shaw to explain how he came to set up his own record label. Key (.) micropause (1.0) pause in seconds underlining particular emphasis of a word Bold overlap Shaw: I had been erm (1.0) producing (0.5) some albums and I had felt that (.) y’know (1.0) I’d you’d spend months (.) working on this record an’ y’know Harding: uh uh Shaw: and you’d fell it was something that you really cared about an’ then (.) y’know (.) the album would be released and (.) ss six months later you c (.) you didn’t know anything about the record an’ it wasn’t around an’ I started to kinda feel (.) I don’t know I had some sort of sort of (.) anxiety about it (.) an’ it kind of all happened at the same time as Michael (0.5) McGoldrick had asked me to work with him on (.) his second album an’ er (0.5) I thought y’know this (.) this can’t happen y’know (.) a musician of this kind of (.) calibre its got to kind of get out there y’know an’ I thought (.) y’know I’m gonna try an’ get involved a bit more in the release aspect of it an’ the only way to do that really is to set up your own label Harding: yeah Shaw: an’ erm (1.0) I mean it’s not easy I didn’t expect to kinda like y’know (.) suddenly (.) transform (.) a mus a musicians (.) life but at least (.) y’know having worked on an album (.) for that amount of time an’ put a lot of energy into it you can continue the energy into the actual release Harding: yeah Shaw: and marketing of it as well EXTRACT 2 This is an extract from the stage play Teechers by John Godber. In this extract two Year 11 girls are talking about the school Christmas dance and one of them, Gail, Professes her love for one of her teachers, Mr Nixon. Gail: I love him. Hobby: You don’t. Gail: I am infatuated… Hobby: What’s it feel like? Gail: Brilliant… I was on his table for Christmas dinner… Hobby: Yeh, but does he love you? Gail: Dunno, but I’ll find out at the Christmas dance… Hobby: Why, what are you going to do? Gail: Snog him… Hobby: Oooooohhhh, you’re not… Gail: I’ll need some Dutch courage but I am… Hobby: I don’t believe it… Gail: Listen, I’ve got it all worked out. We go to the off-licence, you go in and buy some cider. Hobby: Why me? Gail: Then I’ll bring some spring onions from home. We’ll drink the cider then eat the spring onions. Hobby: Spring onions, why? Gail: Because Doug and Mr Hatton will be on the door of the Christmas dance and Mrs Parry says if anyone is suspected of drinking alcohol they won’t be allowed in… And I want to make sure I get in. Hobby: Are you sure Mr Nixon is going to the dance? Gail: Course he is, I’ve asked him a dozen times. I’ve sent him forty cards in the Christmas post. Hobby: Must have cost you a fortune? Gail: No, my aunty works in a card shop, anyway it’s the thought that counts. Exemplar student answer In extract 1, Harding has just asked Shaw a question. You can see how Shaw is thinking of the answer while answering as he pauses and uses ‘y’know’ – a kind of slang – twice in a short sentence. You can see how Harding is sensing his difficulty and encouraging him, showing him he is interested when he interrupts with his ‘uh uh’. Shaw frequently uses elision – missing ‘d’s at the end of and for example. He also uses liaison in ‘gonna’ instead of going to and ‘kinda’ in stead of kind of. These choices in speech are common in London and Essex and suggest that this is where Shaw comes from. You can further see that Shaw is thinking as he is speaking from his pauses and false starts in the main speech he gives, and also his use of ‘er’ as a gap filler. The frequent use of ‘y’know’ could either be gap filling as he searches for a word, or it might be that he is seeking reassurance that Harding understands and is interested. In Shaw’s main answer you can sense his passion for his subject, his depth of emotion. He puts extra emphasis on important words like ‘anxiety’ and ‘calibre’. Emphasis is a wonderful tool to use in speech; intonation and pace can speak volumes. Harding’s input to the conversation, just three short sentences, is expected as he is the interviewer and it is his job to draw the information out of the interviewee. In Shaw’s penultimate turn there are again many pauses and false starts, which again shows how the speech is unplanned conversation. The semantics of the extract confirm the information given about the nature of the interviewer and interviewee’s careers in the music industry, words such as ‘producing’, ‘record’, ‘album’, ‘released’, ‘musician’ are all in this semantic field. Another point to note is where Shaw pauses between the first and surname of Michael McGoldrick. This may be because the audience wouldn’t know to which Michael he was referring, or it may be as an extra effort to ‘market’ Michael’s name on the radio. To be sure you would have to be aware of the wider context of the conversation – had Michael’s surname been mentioned before? Was it obvious that it was Mr McGoldrick that he was referring to? In the extract from Teechers we don’t have the benefit of the information on pauses and emphasis. We can use our imaginations as to which words are emphasised. There are many sets of adjacency pairs, forming chains throughout the extract. This shows us it is a conversation between two people. Gail speaks more than Hobby which shows maybe she is more dominant in the pair. Also, Hobby is nearly always asking questions, again showing that Gail is more dominant. The use of language show the age of the girls, ‘snog’ and ‘oooooohhhh’ for example. There are also cases of liaison e.g. ‘dunno’ for don’t know. The semantic field also indicates the age of the girls, ‘Dutch courage’, ‘cider’, ‘off licence’. The way Gail refers to Mr Nixon as ‘Doug’ shows that she thinks she knows him better and can be more informal with him. She uses Mr… for all the other teachers. This answer was awarded the following marks: AO2 – 21 A03 – 21 AO5 – 21x2=42 Total 84 out of 100. This would make it an A grade answer. Back to Key Stage 5 \| Back to English Homepage