The Influence Of Preschool And Social Class On Children's Language Skills

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of preschool attendance and social class on the language skills of kindergarten children. Forty subjects, of average intelligence, were administered the Preschool Language Assessment Instrument (PLAI), a tool designed to measure young children's skills in coping with the language demands of the teaching situation. The subjects were divided equally into four groups: 1) low socioeconomic status without preschool; 2) low socioeconomic status with preschool; 3) high socioeconomic status without preschool; and 4) high socioeconomic status with preschool.