Chinese and American Children's Knowledge of Basic Relational Concepts.

This study compared the performance of 300 Chinese children on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts-Revised (BTBC-R) with that of American children from the standardization sample of the BTBC-R. Subjects were in lsindergarten, first, and second grade, and completed the test at the end of the 1996-97 school year. The focus of the comparison was to determine: (1) will lexical diversity and morphological complexity affect the rate of acquisition of the basic relational concepts between children who speak distinctly different languages; and (2) to what extent do conceptual factors interact with linguistic differences in children's development of basic relational concept. The comparison showed that Chinese children acquired significantly more basic relational concepts than their American peers at both first and second grades but not the kindergarten level. This difference in acquisition was examined in terms of language characteristics of the two languages, and nonlinguistic factors were examined in terms of cultural and parental influences on young children's conceptual development. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/KB) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Irnprovement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION Nif(r CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as eceived from the person or organization originating it. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Chinese and American children's Knowledge of Basic Relational Concepts Zheng Zhou Ann E. Boehm St. John's University Teachers College Columbia University