Essay on My Four-and-a-Half-Year-Old Cousin's Remarkable Conversation Skills

Introduction

My four and half year's cousin was very good in exchanging pleasantries and progressing it from just an initial greeting to one that focuses on knowing more about everything. Her inquisitiveness and clarity of language excite one to talk more. In retrospect, she has a proper mastery of turn-taking and attentive listening. For instance, I least expected her to recognize that it was untraditional of me visiting them during the weekend. When I asked, "Hi Muhan! How was your school day?" I expected that, like any average child of her age, she would reply, "school was okay" however, she not only appreciated seeing me but also questioned, "Why? You always visit on weekend, right?" This was an amazing and stunning expression of context connectivity, as well as an ability to relate disparate events. Additionally, she was so much able to connect her stories and make some rhetorical questions in between, which then aroused my curiosity to know what next she was going to say. For instance, instead of just saying, "...I read a book, and the name is "But it's ok!" she added the rhetoric, "Oh! You know what?" This was evidently so exemplary. In the conversation, the juvenile focused on seeking justification for virtually everything that I was doing. She kept making follow-up questions that urged me to substantiate every bit of question I asked. Notably, the why, what, when, how questions which characterized her response expresses her distinctive ability to pursue more details while at the same time providing those that she perceives as sufficient feedback. Nonetheless, Muhan was not free from mental lapse when trying to recollect certain critical details about the story she had read. The "umm.....umm ok... I'll tell you about that story" show a lapse but also a deliberate attempt by her to ensure that she retrieved important information from her memory. She also got amused and expressed that she was into the story.

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Micro-Analysis

Diction and Phonology

Muhan correctly understood the context in which we were conversing and used the right choice of informal yet explicit expressions. For instance, she said, "Because my shoes love mud as much as I do!! But it's ok!!! I like my colorful shoes!!!!" Of course, she intelligently tried to justify why her shoes are always dirty, knowing well that her explanation would not result in any sanctions from me. She also said, "Nice to see you, Bai!" which shows her recognition of the context of our conversation; it was a casual one. On the phonological aspect, Muhan expressly used onomatopoeia to fill in her mental lapse. She expressed "mmm..." which allowed her time to collect her memory. She also correctly uses interjection to show interest and deliberation. one such interjection in her conversation is "umm." Nonetheless, she had improper recognition of homophones, especially the "p" and "b" sounds. For instance, the word "puddle" came out as "buddle." She still does not know how to differentiate between voiced sounds and those that are produced by the puff of air.

Syntax

Despite having a clue of the story she told, Muhan could not properly connect her words, ideas into a smooth and well-connected sentence. Most of the statements seemed short and without flow. Even for consecutive events, the juvenile could not use conjunctions such as "and," "moreover," or "nonetheless" to attain logical sequence. The simple senses she made largely affected my ability to comprehend the implied message. For instance, the statement "The story is about a boy. He wore a white shoe. He fell into the strawberry basket. His shoes turned pink," shows weak sentence structuring. She used multiple pronouns in the case of the boy in her story instead of just combining the three short sentences into one compound one since the subject was the same. The multiple short structured sentences undermined the cohesiveness of the story she was retelling. Nonetheless, she greatly integrated non-verbal cues in her conversation with me. For instance, she would raise her eyebrows when asking a question or roll her head to show hesitation. She excellently used personification in her statement, such as "my shoes love mud as much as I do!" She tried to give the shoes an ability to have a preference for mud just like she does. Muhan also had flaws in the use of definite articles for various nouns, which shows a case of subject-verb disagreement. An example of this is error is in the part of her story where she says, "He wore a white shoes."

Morphology and Academic Language

Muhan well understands the fact that for a sentence to qualify as one, it must have a subject and a verb. Despite the fact that the sentences are segregated unnecessarily into simple ones, she much observes the need to confer meaning through using verbs and nouns. Something peculiar with her statement is the use of word contraction such as "I'll" instead of I will and "it's" in the place of "it is." While such contractions are permissible in oral communication, they are not encouraged in academic or formal contexts. She meticulously used phrase mix like "Amy and I" which shows recognition of the formal order of referring to oneself in a list of others.

Additionally, she uses possessive pronouns such as "my" and "his." This expressly shows her recognition of the need to relate objects in her speech. There is also the use of personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, and interrogative pronouns. In the statement, Muhan occasionally refers to the boy in her story as "he," and in another instance, she says "we." These are pronouns that well fit the spaces where she used them. She also used the auxiliary verb have whenever she deems it fit to make her statement more distinctive and more precise. The child's vocabulary is not so advanced, yet hence she uses the living language in her expressions. Instead of using a single word to express what she means, Muhan uses so may descriptive words instead, which shows inadequate mastery of vocabulary. A case in example is "I'll tell you about that story" instead of "I will narrate to you're the story." Nonetheless, She well uses some vocabulary such as a puddle, castle, and snacks, which shows she is averse with somewhat elementary vocabulary. Generally, Muhan has a fair ability to develop communicative statements, which is incredible for a child of her age.

Instructional Recommendations

Muhan has an average mastery of English language mechanics, morphology, and conversational skills. Nonetheless, it is essential to emphasize on developing longer sentences that confer the same intended meaning. It would be beneficial also to introduce her to more complex vocabularies so that she does not have to use a lot of words in filling explanatory information. As an intervention, she needs to be given more stories to read and then recite essential things from them. This will not only help her in developing a logical sequence of events but also strengthening the morphology of her communication.