Language Comprehension Differences Exhibited by Kindergarten and Second Grade Nez Perce Indian and Caucasian Children

Abstract

The Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language (Carrow, 1973) and the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (Boehm, 1969) were administered to Nez Perce and Caucasian kindergarten and second grade children to determine if there were differences in the language comprehension abilities of the two groups at the different grade levels. The results of this study support the existing literature which indicates that differences do exist in the receptive language skills of children from these two cultures. This study revealed that differences in the comprehension of basic concepts, as well as differences in the comprehension of grammatical-syntactic structures, do exist between Nez Perce and Caucasian children (p<.05).