THE ACQUISITION OF SPATIAL-POSITION MARKE RS AND FIELD-DEPENDENCE INDEPENDENCE IN YOUNG-CHILDREN

In order to study whether the use of particular comprehension and prod uction strategies among preschool children depends on. the Field Depen dence-lndependence cognitive style (ore), sentences including spatial localization marks were presented to 90 children between 3 and 6 years old. These sentences were included pragmatic and antipragmatic situat ions. Field-independent children (Ic) had better results than Field-de pendent ones (De), particularly when sentences were non-pragmatic. Fie ld independence appears to relate to lexical meaning and syntactic rol e, whereas Field dependence is more simply bound to the lexical meanin g markers.