Development of selected conservation skills and the ability to judge sentential well-formedness in young childre

The present study examined the relationship between cognitive and metalinguistic development in young children. Cognitive ability was measured using standard Piagetian tasks and a modified conservation of number task. The standard task tested conservation of substance, continuous quantity, and weight according to instructions developed by Goldschmid and Bentler (1968). The modified task was adapted from research by Rochel Gelman (1982).;Metalinguistic ability was measured using a task wherein subjects were asked to judge the well-formedness of sentences using an interview format adapted from Cairns and McDaniel (1988). In addition, for any sentence that was rejected as ill-formed, a correction was requested.;Twenty-nine children ranging in age from 3;5 to 6;6 participated in the study. All experimental tasks were administered to each subject. Children were seen individually for two interviews within a week. The first interview included administration of the standard conservation task and one-half of the acceptability task. The second interview consisted of the modified conservation task and the second half of the judgment task.;Results yielded a positive correlation between conservation and age, although variability was noted in the distribution of the results. The data were categorized along a developmental continuum of conservation ability, ranging from no ability to conserve to a perfect score on the standard task. Evidence of conservation behavior in children younger than previously reported gave support to Gelman's accessing account of development.;Results of the acceptability task revealed that ability to judge well-formedness covaried with age, however variability was found within that overall relationship. Results were analyzed according to a developmental continuum of judgment ability, ranging from zero judgments to accurate judgments on all sentences. Analysis of correction data helped to determine that judgments were form-based.;Overall results showed that some children were able to judge well-formedness and not conserve. However, there were no subjects who could conserve on the standard task who could not also judge well-formedness. These findings were discussed with respect to methodological factors that should be considered when measuring conservation ability using the standard task.