Vernacular Test Instructions in Relation to Cognitive Task Behaviour Among Highland Children of Papua New Guinea

S ummary . Analysis of results of tests of cognitive development in Papua New Guinea children indicated that membership of different language/culture groups was an important source of variance. Three groups each of 48 children were selected from one language culture group and equated for age and sex. Two groups weremade up of school children, equated for school experience; the third group had no school experience. One group of school children was tested in English, the language of the school; the other two groups were tested in the vernacular common to all three groups. Three tasks were used: an equivalence grouping of pictures, a class inclusion test, and conservation of length. All three tests were chosen because there were language differences between English and the vernacular in labelling the components of the task. Significant differences were found between the groups in their performance on the tasks. These differences were related both to amount of school experience and language of testing but the latter was, by far, the more significant

Age groups · Cognition · Developmental psychology · Equivalence (formal languages) · Ethnology · Linguistics · New guinea · Sociology · Test (biology) · Vernacular · Demography · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development