A Comparative Study of the Questions Asked by Two Groups of Seven Year Old Boys Differing in Social Class

Abstract

In this study a comparison was made of the questions asked by two groups of seven year old boys differing in social class. This issue arose from the results of comparative studies of answers given by five and seven year old children and their mothers of middle class (MC) and lower working class (LWC) groups, (Robinson and Rackstraw 1972). Answers had been found to differ in line with Bernstein's ideas of the functional differences in speech in LWC and MC language use. It was expected that similar differences would be found in questions. In general the results of this study clearly indicated the expected differences. The LWC boys were weaker semantically and syntactically. These results were discussed in terms of the difference in orientation to language use and its possible influence upon motivation and cognitive development in terms of a Piagetian model, with implications relating to education.

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