Every picture tells a story - Or does it? - Young South African children interpreting pictures

In a previous study by the author, it was reported that South African children in Grades 2 and 3 used very different picture interpretation skills than did a group of British children and showed different patterns of change as they progressed through school. The present study replicates the South African results but uses a larger sample and investigates the picture interpretation skills of South African children more fully in their own right. Results replicated those of the previous study in every detail. In addition, the effects of schooling were more notable than were those of age, and achievement in home language held significant predictive power with regard to all of the categories examined. However, these effects were generally in the opposite direction from those reported for children in the developed world, consolidating and extending the view that children from different cultures may use pictures in rather different ways.