nicole kotras masters thesis

a mean number of pronouns as was proposed by Griffiths (1960). Furthermore, children
from the Indian cultural group of both samples, were amongst the cultural groups who
elicited the highest mean number of personal and possessive pronouns from the large
revised pictures.
A general trend noted for the four cultural groups, is that the percentage of children
who passed successive age-appropriate items, does not decrease stepwise as would be
expected from the placement of items in order of difficulty. This is in agreement with Allan
(1992) and suggests that for South African children, the items are not placed in strict order of
difficulty, as proposed by Griffiths (1960, 1970).
An important issue to reiterate, is that the assessment of a child's language occurs
over a fixed period of time and within a finite number of situations. Development is never
static, and therefore an assessment at one point in time is a frozen "snapshot" of a dynamic
process (Harris, 1990; Oskaar, 1983). Despite the multitude of resources for language
assessment, language continues to be one of the most challenging disorders to evaluate
(Shipley & McAfee, 1992). This is no surprise when one considers how varied and complex
language really is. Therefore, when working with infants and children, one must always
carry the words of Truby (1976) who stated that, "Every child is different ... Not only is the
language of every child unique, but so is the developmental pathway associated with the
establishment and accomplishment of that language" (p.84).
The present study, in part, highlights the importance during early childhood, of such
factors in the environment as space in which to develop, time in which to dream and think,
and opportunities to play alone, as well as times in the company of other children. Too
much company is as great a hindrance as too little; to be continually stimulated by social
impressions without the time to absorb them is as bad as to be left too alone for too long.
Education is largely a matter of the provision of a suitable environment in which the child
may develop in his/her own manner and at his/her own pace, coupled with a careful control
of objective contracts, and in particular with a sympathetic and cautious answering of his/her
deliberate questions (Griffiths, 1945).
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