PROBLEM SOLVING AS A FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE.

THIS RESEARCH ATTEMPTED TO RELATE PROBLEM-SOLVING BEHAVIOR TO LANGUAGE BY FINDING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN (1) PROBLEM SOLVING AND LANGUAGE TYPE AND (2) PROBLEM SOLVING AND CATEGORIES OF BILINGUALISM. ENGLISH-SPEAKING MONOLINGUAL AND TYPES OF BILINGUAL NAVAHO EIGHTH-GRADE PUPILS WERE COMPARED ON PROBLEM-SOLVING TASKS. IQ AND READING COMPREHENSION WERE CONTROLLED. FINDINGS INDICATED THAT THE COMPOUND BILINGUALS DID LESS WELL THAN COORDINATE BILINGUALS AND ENGLISH-SPEAKING MONOLINGUALS, BUT THAT THERE WAS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE COORDINATE BILINGUALS AND THE MONOLINGUALS. DIFFERENCES WERE EXPLAINED IN TERMS OF OSGOOD'S TWO-STAGE MEDIATION MODEL AND INTERFERENCE. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE LANGUAGE TRAINING OF BILINGUALS WERE MENTIONED. (GD)