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Figure 3 Population of South Africa by language The assessment of children belonging to various cultural groups has received growing attention world-wide. In a multicultural society, such as South Africa, the practical problems facing cross-cultural assessment have mainly been associated with subcultures within a dominant culture. Anastasi (1982) stated the during all stages of development, heredity and environment interact and therefore shape human behaviour. Each culture encourages the development of behaviour that is adapted to it's own values, norms, and demands. Since behaviour is influenced by culture, and since psychological assessment is a sample of an individual's behaviour, cultural influences are likely to be reflected in the person's test performance. Biesheuvel (1987a) highlighted the importance which factors such as culture, home background, formal schooling and nutrition, have on an individual's intelligence. isiNdebele 2% Sesotho 7% siSwati 3% Sepedi 10% Xitsonga 4% Setswana 7% Tshivenda 2% English 9% isiXhosa 18% Afrikaans 15% There is considerable evidence to suggest that interest in cross-cultural research is growing. With this growth has come the need to adapt (commonly called "translate”) achievement, developmental, aptitude and personality tests, as well as psychological instruments, for use in multiple cultures and languages (Hambleton, 1994). Hambleton (1994) reported certain guidelines for adapting educational and psychological tests. The terms "adaptation" and "revision" are used interchangeably in the present study. These terms refer to the process involving the preparation of a test or instrument for use in a Other 2% isiZulu 21% 7
second language or culture. Hambleton (1994) defined an instrument adaptation guideline as "a practice which is judged as important for conducting and evaluating the adaptation or parallel development of psychological and educational instruments for use in different populations" (p.233). Manaster and Havighurst (1972) proposed that a "culture-common" test should have the following characteristics: (i) it should tap aspects of cultural experience which are common to all people to whom the test will be administered; (ii) it should be designed to have virtually the same degree of intrinsic interest for the different cultural groups to whom it will be administered; (iii) it should use a form of language which is widely familiar; and (iv) the directions should be stated in simple, operational terms which are easily understood. The suggested guidelines (Hambleton, 1994) and proposed characteristics (Manaster & Havinghurst, 1972) were both incorporated into the present study. The utilization of instruments which have neither been developed nor standardized in a particular culture, can prove to be biased and thus have long term implications for the individual involved. This raises the question of constructing a single test which can be utilized exclusively for a particular culture. However, the cultural and educational discrepancies existing between the various population groups, may compound the problem of constructing a single test for all South African children. Since the construction of a single test is fraught with many difficulties, an alternative approach has been put forward. This involves taking an existing culture-fair test, which is widely used in many countries around the world, and adapting it for use in all population groups of South Africa. This is where the Griffiths Scales of Mental Development (Griffiths Scales) play a critical role. PROBLEMS FACED WHEN TESTING IN A MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY Holt (1974) stated that as unobtrusive developmental variations and delays may be the first indication of serious conditions, early assessment of the potentially handicapped 8
Page 1 and 2: A REVISION OF A SECTION OF THE HEAR
Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTS ii Page ACKNOWLED
Page 5 and 6: CHAPTER FOUR METHODOLOGY Problem fo
Page 7 and 8: LIST OF FIGURES vi Page Figure 1 Po
Page 9 and 10: Table 24 The responses given to the
Page 11 and 12: The major findings of the present s
Page 13 and 14: Die hoof bevindinge van die huidige
Page 15 and 16: Holt (1979) has comprehensively sum
Page 17 and 18: Figure 1 Population of South Africa
Page 19: of disabled people increases slowly
Page 23 and 24: ange from birth to three years of a
Page 25 and 26: Africa cannot be separated from the
Page 27 and 28: 14 Hence, this study was aimed at p
Page 29 and 30: highly verbal in nature which is li
Page 31 and 32: perceptual-performance, quantitativ
Page 33 and 34: acquisition of this complex ability
Page 35 and 36: assessment of young children in Sou
Page 37 and 38: Table 1 Griffiths (1960) scoring cr
Page 39 and 40: that the two scales produced signif
Page 41 and 42: 28 (GQ) and in their performance on
Page 43 and 44: 30 British counterparts with respec
Page 45 and 46: 32 concluded that the Griffiths Sca
Page 47 and 48: 34 languages are usually successful
Page 49 and 50: individual been assessed. Hence, wh
Page 51 and 52: Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of exper
Page 53 and 54: ecome evident. Questions include th
Page 55 and 56: Plays language games (pat-a-cake, p
Page 57 and 58: 36-54 months. Grammar developmental
Page 59 and 60: understands, and, if the child appe
Page 61 and 62: 48 the child's performance on each
Page 63 and 64: 50 manipulate simple toys according
Page 65 and 66: children's verbal responses. The re
Page 67 and 68: CHAPTER FOUR METHODOLOGY PROBLEM FO
Page 69 and 70: Bailey (1987) lists several advanta
Page 71 and 72:
espondents, many mailed questionnai
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he studied the 2 Griffiths manuals
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62 written responses of the complet
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Stage 5 The most frequently suggest
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66 The subjects in the present stud
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Table 6 Demographic data for Sample
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In the present study, parents were
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Stage 6 Stage 7 For the large revis
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number of stimuli from the revised
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Table 10 The responses given to the
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Page 93 and 94:
80 Table 13 indicates the responses
Page 95 and 96:
Table 15 Frequency and percentages
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highest and lowest mean numbers of
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
88 Table 21 indicates the frequency
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65 months elicited the highest mean
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Table 26 Means and Standard deviati
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Page 111 and 112:
impacted on the spread of obtained
Page 113 and 114:
CHAPTER SIX CRITICAL EVALUATION AND
Page 115 and 116:
proposed criteria. Regarding Griffi
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include: LIMITATIONS The limitation
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e included into the Hearing and Spe
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Aldridge-Smith, J., Bi
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110 Development Bank of South Afric
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112 Scale scores of 3-5 year old bo
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University Press. Lister, C. (1981)
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Kegan Paul. Kegan Paul. Kegan Paul.
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Minnesota Press. Thomas, H. (1970).
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APPENDIX A Letters and questionnair
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Questionnaire attached to above let
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APPENDIX C Letter to parents for th
Page 139 and 140:
Biographical questionnaire for pare
Page 141 and 142:
APPENDIX E Riordan (1978). The valu
Page 143:
130
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