Echoic Responses of Standard English Features by Culturally Deprived Black and White Children

Abstract

Children's echoic responses of sentences, each containing a critical feature of the standard English language, were investigated. Ss were 20 black and 20 white, lower socio-economic level, children randomly selected from each of Grades 1, 3, and 5 of two southern public schools with 5-yr. histories of stability and equality of racial composition. The performance of white children was significantly superior to that of black children. Grade level was also critical. Both groups of children improved in their echoic performance with advancing age and/or education.