| The purpose of this investigation was to determine if there is a significant difference between the classification strategies preferred by monolingual 4- and 5-year-old children and bilingual 4- and 5-year-old children and relate this preference to age, gender, or language background. The dimensions selected for classification were those of function, form and color.; The subjects were 96 children: 48 males, 48 females, equally divided between 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds and children monolingual in English and children bilingual in English and an Asian language. The children attended day care centers and preschools in urban areas within 40 miles of Elgin, Illinois.; Five sets of classification tasks were developed. Each task involved sorting four pairs of common objects into two distinct groups. Each set of eight objects could be sorted by function, color or form.; The classification strategies selected by each sub-group were analyzed for each task using chi square.; This study concluded that there was no significant difference between the classification strategies of any of the groups examined. The trend for children to shift from a preference for classification by color to classification by form as age increased was not evident. The preferred classification strategy was by color. Of 480 classifications performed, color was the choice 204 times.; Further research on this topic should limit the bilingual population to those subjects speaking the same Asian language. To further clarify the fact that the monolingual response was a reflection of the strategies typical of monolinguals in general and not just of speakers of English, an additional group of subjects, monolingual in the Asian language used by the bilingual group, should be included. |
