Language skills differences between adults without formal education and low formal education

Ariane Pereira,Karin Zazo Ortiz

doi:10.1186/s41155-021-00205-9

Ariane Pereira, Karin Zazo Ortiz

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-021-00205-9

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Abstract

BackgroundThe influence of education on cognition has been extensively researched, particularly in countries with high levels of illiteracy. However, the impact of low education in all cognitive functions appears to differ. Regarding to language, the effects of education on many linguistic tasks—supported by different processing—remain unclear. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether oral language task performance differs among individuals with no formal and low-educated subjects, as measured by the Brazilian Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery (MTL-BR). This is the only language battery available for use in Brazil, but lacks normative data for illiterate individuals. The secondary objective was to gather data for use as clinical parameters in assessing persons with aphasia (PWA) not exposed to a formal education.MethodsA total of 30 healthy illiterate individuals aged 34–60 years were assessed. All participants underwent the MTL-BR Battery, excluding its written communication tasks. The data obtained in the present study were compared against results of a previous investigation of individuals with 1–4 years of education evaluated using the same MTL-BR instrument.ResultsStatistically significant differences in performance were found between non-formal education and the low-educated (2–4 years) groups on the tasks Auditory Comprehension, Repetition, Orthographic/Phonological Fluency, Number dictation, Reading of numbers and also on simple numerical calculations.ConclusionThe study results showed that individuals with no formal education/illiterate had worse performance than low-education individuals on some of the language tasks of the MTL-Br Battery, suggesting that each year of education impacts cognitive-language performance. Also, data were obtained which can serve as a guide for PWA not exposed to a formal education.

Highlights

IntroductionIlliteracy is a global problem given that many countries, developing nations, still have high rates of illiteracy
Based on the hypothesis that each year of education contributes to cognitive development, the primary objective of the present study was to compare the performance of individuals with no formal education versus low-educated subjects on the language subtests from the MontrealToulouse Language Assessment Battery (MTL-BR) Battery to determine the effect of formal education on language
Significant differences were found between the groups on some MTL-BR subtests, where loweducated individuals had better performance than individuals with no formal education

Summary

Introduction

Illiteracy is a global problem given that many countries, developing nations, still have high rates of illiteracy. Many previous studies (Ortiz et al, 2006; Ortiz & Costa, 2011; Radanovic et al, 2004) involving language assessment have confirmed that education influences linguistic performance. The influence of education on cognition has been extensively researched, in countries with high levels of illiteracy. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether oral language task performance differs among individuals with no formal and low-educated subjects, as measured by the Brazilian MontrealToulouse Language Assessment Battery (MTL-BR). This is the only language battery available for use in Brazil, but lacks normative data for illiterate individuals. The secondary objective was to gather data for use as clinical parameters in assessing persons with aphasia (PWA) not exposed to a formal education

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