Formal Operational Reasoning and Its Relationship to Complex Speech Patterns and Tentative Statement Use

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between formal operational reasoning and two language variables; subordinate clauses and tentative statements. It has been indirectly suggested in the literature that children who make greater use of these linguistic structures are at a more advanced stage in their cognitive development than their peers who make less frequent use of these structures. A total of 144 middle class, normal IQ boys served as subjects, 48 in each of grades 4, 6 and 8. A language sample was obtained from each subject, who was given three tasks of formal reasoning as well as the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. The three formal reasoning tasks were selected so that one was verbal in nature, one was non-verbal in nature and one combined both verbal and non-verbal aspects. The results indicate that subordinate clause use was not related to performance on the reasoning tasks and tentative statement use, only minimally. These findings support Piaget's theoretical position, suggesting an independence between linguistic and cognitive development.