GCSE English Spoken Language – Revision Challenge

English Quiz - Spoken Language (Questions)

Spoken language is more than words. Tone, pauses, and politeness shape meaning in real conversations, speeches, and interviews that you study for GCSE English.

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Fascinating Fact:

Politeness strategies matter. Please, indirect requests, and thanks help save both speaker and listener from embarrassment.

In GCSE English, spoken language analysis looks at how people use voice, register, and context to achieve purposes. You will explore turn-taking, fillers, discourse markers, accent and dialect, and how power and politeness guide what is said and understood.

Key Terms

Register: The level of formality used for a specific audience and purpose, such as formal interview or casual chat.
Filler: A short sound or word like um, er, or like used to hold the floor or think.
Turn-taking: The way speakers share speaking time, including overlaps, pauses, and cues to speak.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What is spoken language in GCSE English?

Spoken language is everyday talk and performance speech. You analyse how speakers use tone, pauses, register, and strategies like politeness to meet a purpose for an audience.

How is spoken language different from written language?

Speech is interactive and immediate, with fillers, repetition, and non verbal cues. Writing is planned, edited, and more tightly structured with fewer spontaneous features.

What features should I analyse in a transcript?

Comment on context, purpose, audience, register, turn-taking, fillers, discourse markers, interruptions, politeness strategies, and any effects on meaning or power.

Try These Related Quizzes

What is a transcript?

[ ]	A transcript is exactly the same as a playscript
[ ]	A transcript is a written conversation which has had all of the errors corrected
[ ]	A transcript is a recorded conversation which has been written out exactly as it took place
[ ]	A transcript is a dialogue written in a narrative

Spontaneous speech is the opposite of...

[ ]	choreographed speech
[ ]	gifted speech
[ ]	practised speech
[ ]	scripted speech

The words 'um', 'er', 'uh', 'okay', or 'you know' are examples of...

[ ]	fillers
[ ]	hedges
[ ]	ellipsis
[ ]	pauses

Which one of the following is a reason why one speaker might interrupt another?

[ ]	Excitement
[ ]	Rudeness
[ ]	Strong disagreement
[ ]	Any of the above

In a transcript, which of the following represents a micro pause?

[ ]	(3)
[ ]	(.)
[ ]	...
[ ]	[...]

Speaking purely for social purposes or for the sake of interacting is known as...

[ ]	hedging
[ ]	informal speech
[ ]	formal speech
[ ]	phatic communication

What does 'stress' mean in the context of spoken language?

[ ]	The way a speaker pronounces words
[ ]	Specialist vocabulary
[ ]	An emphasis on an individual word
[ ]	Anxiety

When more than one person speaks at a time, ......... occurs.

[ ]	an ellipsis
[ ]	an overlap
[ ]	a hedge
[ ]	a filler

People vary their speech according to their audience (or other participants) and the ...... in which they are speaking.

[ ]	discourse
[ ]	context
[ ]	theme
[ ]	educational level

10.

Someone who speaks without much repetition or many fillers, pauses, or false starts would be described as...

[ ]	hesitant
[ ]	incoherent
[ ]	inarticulate
[ ]	fluent

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Voice

English Quiz - Spoken Language (Answers)

What is a transcript?

[ ]	A transcript is exactly the same as a playscript
[ ]	A transcript is a written conversation which has had all of the errors corrected
[x]	A transcript is a recorded conversation which has been written out exactly as it took place
[ ]	A transcript is a dialogue written in a narrative

A transcript includes the hesitations, interruptions, unfinished sentences, filler words, etc., which are present in spoken language

Spontaneous speech is the opposite of...

[ ]	choreographed speech
[ ]	gifted speech
[ ]	practised speech
[x]	scripted speech

Scripted speech has been written (and probably rehearsed) beforehand; spontaneous speech is unrehearsed

The words 'um', 'er', 'uh', 'okay', or 'you know' are examples of...

[x]	fillers
[ ]	hedges
[ ]	ellipsis
[ ]	pauses

Fillers give the speaker a chance to think - they can also be used to discourage another speaker from taking a turn in the conversation

Which one of the following is a reason why one speaker might interrupt another?

[ ]	Excitement
[ ]	Rudeness
[ ]	Strong disagreement
[x]	Any of the above

Speakers frequently interrupt each other, so it's important to be sensitive to the tone of the interruption

In a transcript, which of the following represents a micro pause?

[ ]	(3)
[x]	(.)
[ ]	...
[ ]	[...]

As with interruptions, there are many different reasons why a speaker might pause: a change of mind, hesitating to finish the sentence, asking the other person a question, indicating that it is someone else's turn to speak, etc.