nicole kotras masters thesis

Africa cannot be separated from the broader social context in which these children are
currently growing up. As the test is utilized in diverse settings, in both first and third world
contexts, the revision of the pictures needs to include such pertinent factors. Hence, if
accurate developmental assessment of children from diverse backgrounds is desired, test
items need to be adapted for the different contexts in which the test is to be used. It is
therefore evident that the revision of the small pictures and large picture is likely to require
separate, context-specific (Allan, 1992; Bhamjee, 1991; Luiz, 1994; Luiz et. al., 1995;
Tukulu, 1996) and contemporary-specific aspects.
The Griffiths Scales, with special reference to the Hearing and Speech Scale, have
been discussed in Chapter 2. As the main focus of the present study involved the Hearing
and Speech Scale, the issues of language development and the concept of intelligence are
briefly addressed below.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND THE CONCEPT OF INTELLIGENCE
"Thanks to speech, man became man" (Humboldt, in Sampson, 1956). Of all of our
gifts speech is the most specifically human. The human child vocalises at a very young age.
They start their life with a cry and almost from the beginning, they express themselves in
vague sounds (Gesell & Ilg, 1946). Their parent figure learns to distinguish their utterances
and their references to pain, hunger and contentment by the end of the first month. At 6
months of age they are spending 3% of their waking time in speech activity. At 9 to 10
months they utter their first word. Vocabulary and understanding continue to increase, but it
is not until about 18 months, that a consciousness of the meaning of speech dawns
(McCarthy, 1930; Stern, 1924; Swan, 1992). At this age however, there is still much speech
which is not in conventional form. In the pre-verbal stage of language development, the
child's speech can be described as "incomprehensible" as it involves vowel sounds alone, or
combinations of vowels and distinct consonants (Sampson, 1956).
Children vary widely in the age and the efficiency with which, they learn to use
language. Studies of animals and infants have shown that communication and intelligent
behaviour are possible without language (Moore, 1967). However, Piaget (1928, 1932,
1959) demonstrated how children, by verbalizing their thoughts, are brought to the test of
reality; while the experiments of Vygotsky (1962) and his school (Luria, 1961) showed how
learning could be vastly improved and made possible at an earlier age by the introduction of
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