Development of Comprehension of Logico-Grammatical Sentences by Grade School Children

Abstract

The development of comprehension of 50 sentences expressing comparative, passive, temporal, spatial, and familial relationships was evaluated in 210 grade school children. Significant increases in correct responses occurred during the first five grades but not between Grades 5 and 8. The periods during which significant increases occurred differed for sentence categories. In the early grades comparative relationships were easiest followed by passive, temporal, spatial, and familial relationships. The findings suggest that spatial relationships are established earlier in a developmental sequence than temporal relationships. In Grades 1 and 2 WISC Full Scale IQ and comprehension of logico-grammatical sentences correlated significantly.