Study of the language development of Ute Indian children

The purpose of this study was to analyze three aspects of language development (grammar, receptive language and expressive language) in Ute Indian children so as to have more insight into their problems and thus be better able to recommend specific programs for English; language development. The review of the literature discussed (1) the American Indian and his education? (2) the Ute Indians? (3) the culturally disadvantaged? (4) bilingualism? (5) language• The subjects consisted of sixteen randomly selected full-blood Ute Indian children from the kindergarten classes and an equal number from the third grade. The purpose of the testing was to discover any significant differences between the scores of these children and the norms. Sixteen average white children were selected randomly from the same classes as the above Indian subjects (eight from the kindergarten and eight from the third grade). These children were tested in order to determine if they were handicapped in language development by attending public schools with a large group of Indian children. The Utah Test of Language Development and the Grammatic Closure subtest of the revised (1968) edition of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities were administered to all subjects in that order. One fourth of the Indian subjects were retested on both measures. Twelve null hypotheses were then analyzed by means of nonparametric statistics. The significance level set for rejecting the null hypotheses was the .05 level. It was shown that kindergarten Ute Indian children scored significantly below the norms on all language measures used. Their scores reached the .001 level for expressive language, the .05 level for receptive language, and the .05 level on grammar. The third grade Indian children scored below the norms at the .05 level on the expressive language section, but showed no significant difference for receptive scores. Their grammar scores, however, were below the norms at the .001 level of confidence. Caucasian kindergarten children scored significantly above the norms for the total UTLD language score at the .05 level. There were no significant differences, however, between their grammar scores and the norms. The third grade white children's scores did not differ significantly from the norms on either the UTLD or the grammar test. Within the limits of this study, the investigator concluded that grammar seemed to be the greatest language deficiency among Ute Indian children. All of the Indian children also displayed a weakness in expressive skills. Receptive language, however, seemed to constitute their area of least difficulty. White children attending public schools with a large percentage of Indian children are not handicapped in the acquisition of language skills. Several recommendations that could help eliminate these language deficiencies in the Indian group were made. They included acquiring materials like the Tweedy Visual Lingual Reading Program or the Peabody Language Development Kits that would make language acquisition enjoyable. It was also suggested that expressive language be developed through discussions about experiences in the child's environment. Finally it was recommended that the curriculum of the older children who have not had the benefits of the above mentioned programs be revised so that they can receive extra language training in place of other class subjects.