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Towards a dialect-neutral assessment instrument for the language skills of Afrikaans-speaking children: the role of socioeconomic status*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2012

FRENETTE SOUTHWOOD
FRENETTE SOUTHWOOD*
Affiliation:
Stellenbosch University
*
Address for correspondence: Dept of General Linguistics, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag x1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa. tel: +27 21 8082010; fax: +27 21 8082009. e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The aims of the study were to establish whether there is a correlation between the socioeconomic background of Afrikaans-speaking children and their performance on a dialect-neutral language test, and to ascertain whether the allowance the test currently makes for parental education level is sufficient. The Afrikaans version of the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation (Seymour, Roeper & de Villiers, 2005a) was administered to 231 Afrikaans-speaking children age 4 ; 0 to 9 ; 11 from various socioeconomic backgrounds. A positive correlation was found between the composite language scores as well as the scores for each of the language domains (syntax, pragmatics, semantics) and the primary female caregivers' highest level of education. Children with father figures present did not outperform those without. It appears that the original manner of accommodating parental education level in interpreting the children's language scores on the test is sufficient and need not be refined for the South African context.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , March 2013 , pp. 415 - 437
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

[*]

This material is based on work financially supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the National Research Foundation of South Africa. Any opinion, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and therefore the Foundations do not accept any liability in regard thereto. The author would like to thank Dr Katharina Bremer (Ruprecht Karls University Heidelberg) for her valuable input.

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