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Mediated Learning and Cognitive Modifiability: Dynamic Assessment of Young Ethiopian Immigrant Children to Israel
David Tzuriel and Ruth Kaufman Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 1999 30: 359 DOI: 10.1177/0022022199030003005 The online version of this article can be found at: http://jcc.sagepub.com/content/30/3/359

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JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY Tzuriel, Kaufman / MEDIATED LEARNING

This study examines the relation between mediated learning experience (MLE) and cognitive modifiability among children who underwent cultural change. The case of Ethiopian immigrant children who had to adapt to Israeli society, tested by a dynamic assessment (DA) approach, was used. Our main hypothesis, based on L. S. Vygotskys (1978) zone of proximal development concept and R. Feuersteins (1991) MLE theory, was that these immigrants would reveal cultural difference but not cultural deprivation. A group of first-grade Ethiopian immigrants was compared with a group of Israeli-born children on the Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM), the Childrens Analogical Cognitive Modifiability test, and the Childrens Inferential Thinking Modifiability test. There were significant group differences on the CPM and on the Preteaching scores of both DA measures, indicating superiority of the Israeli-born comparison group. However, after a short but intensive teaching process, the Ethiopian group narrowed the gaps and performed at about the same level on Postteaching and Transfer tasks.

MEDIATED LEARNING AND COGNITIVE MODIFIABILITY Dynamic Assessment of Young Ethiopian Immigrant Children to Israel
DAVID TZURIEL Bar Ilan University RUTH KAUFMAN The International Center for Enhancement of Learning Potential

A central question that has been raised recently with new Ethiopian immigrants to Israel is how to assess their learning potential, especially in view of the inadequacy of standard testing procedures to reflect this populations cognitive functioning accurately. The question, however, transcends the specific context of the Ethiopian Jews. Theoretically, it raises issues such as the impact of cultural changes on the individuals zone of proximal development

AUTHORSNOTE: Parts of this article were presented at the 23rd International Congress of Applied Psychology in July 1994 in Madrid, Spain. The writing of this article was supported by the Schnitzer Foundation for Research on the Israeli Economy and Society of Bar Ilan University. Parts of this article were written while the first author was on a sabbatical year at York University, Canada. Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to David Tzuriel, School of Education, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52 900, Israel; e-mail: tzuried@mail.biu.ac.il; fax: 972-3-535-3319. JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 30 No. 3, May 1999 359-380 1999 Western Washington University

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(ZPD), the effects of mediation on enhancement of cognitive plasticity, internalization of novel symbolic mental tools with transition from one culture to another, and resilience in coping with cultural incongruencies. Pragmatically, this question applies to a variety of populations who, for sociohistorical reasons, live as subcultures within a broad culture, and whose members might be penalized by inadequate diagnostic procedures. The main argument against using static conventional tests with culturally different populations is that the inadequate cognitive functioning they reveal does not reflect their true capacities (Feuerstein, Rand, & Hoffman, 1979; Guthke, 1993; Guthke & Al-Zoubi, 1987; Guthke & Wingenfeld, 1992; Haywood & Tzuriel, 1992; Hessels & Hamers, 1993; Lidz, 1987, 1995; Skuy & Shmukler, 1987; Skuy, Visser, Hoffenberg, & Fridjohn, 1990; Tzuriel, 1992a, 1996, 1997, 1998, in press; Vygotsky, 1978; Wagner, 1995). Crosscultural research using Piagetian-type tasks (i.e., static) showed that individuals in many cultures do not reach the formal operational stage without extensive schooling (e.g., Rogoff & Chavajay, 1995; Super & Harkness, 1986). Several studies showed that nonschooled children could perform well on conservation tests, but they did it at a much later age than that indicated by Piaget (e.g., Stevenson, Parker, Wilkinson, Bonnevaux, & Gonzales, 1978). In other studies, however, no differences were found between schooled and nonschooled populations (e.g., Strauss, Ankori, Orpaz, & Stavi, 1977). This variability on Piagetian tasks and of schooling effects was interpreted in relation to familiarity with materials and concepts (Rogoff & Chavajay, 1995) and the childs ability to understand the language of testing and the presuppositions of the testing situation (Cole, 1990). Our basic assumption is that the dynamic assessment (DA) approach makes it possible to overcome some of the cultural limitations by providing mediation to cope with cognitive, situational, motivational, and attitudinal factors that are responsible for the relatively low cognitive performance of children in non-Western communities. The term DA refers to an assessment of thinking, perception, learning, and problem solving by an active teaching process aimed at modifying cognitive functioning. DA differs from conventional static tests in regard to its goals, processes, instruments, interpersonal relationships, and interpretation of results (Feuerstein et al., 1979; Tzuriel & Haywood, 1992; Tzuriel & Kaniel, 1993). Whereas static conventional tests measure the manifested level of ones performance relative to his or her age-related group, DA produces change in the examineewithin the testing situationand assesses the implementation of learned strategies and cognitive principles in progressively more difficult problems. The childs level of performance after mediation points to the individuals ability to benefit from mediation and provides

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more accurate indications about future treatment procedures and the prognosis of academic success. The DA procedure is very similar to the diagnostic processes developed by Vygotsky (1978), which were modified by other researchers (e.g., Campione & Brown, 1987; Carlson & Wiedl, 1992; Guthke & Stein, 1996) for assessment of the ZPD. Vygotsky argued that interpreting static test results (e.g., IQ) as a reflection of the childs abilities is misleading, because, in reality, the childs performance reflects his or her entire socioeducational history of the child. Moreover, given that the natural form of learning is collaborative, the assessment situation also should be constructed around collaborative interaction.1 Several attempts have been made in the last two decades to develop and apply DA measures with minority and culturally different populations. In the United Kingdom, Gupta and Coxhead (1988) developed DA measures for evaluation of Asian childrens learning efficiency. Other measures were developed by Guthke (1993) in Germany and by Hamers, Hessels, and Van Luit (1991) in the Netherlands. Previous studies with minority and culturally different children have shown that DA provides information different from conventional static tests. Guthke and Al-Zoubi (1987) compared a sample of 200 Grade 1 children in Germany to a comparable Syrian sample on both a static measurethe Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM)and a DA measure. The findings showed that the German children scored significantly higher than did the Syrian children. However, after a training phase, there was only a slight difference between the two groups. These results were interpreted as an indication that both ethnic groups have the same intellectual endowments. Similarly, Hessels and Hamers (1993) reported that although minority children scored significantly lower than Dutch children on learning potential tests, the differences were markedly smaller than with IQ tests. In South Africa, Skuy and Shmukler (1987) and Shochet (1992) used the Learning Potential Assessment Device (Feuerstein et al., 1979) and other psychometric tests with groups of children and students of Indian, Black, and colored origin (see also Skuy et al., 1990). Skuy and Shmukler (1987) reported that although mediation was not generally effective in producing change on transfer measures, it was effective with a subgroup of colored high-academic status students. The group that benefited most from mediation was the highacademic-status colored students. Shochet (1992) investigated the predictability of success in the 1st year of studies in the university using indexes of cognitive modifiability taken before admission on a disadvantaged student population. The findings showed significant prediction among less modifiable students but not among the more modifiable students (modifiability was measured by DA prior to start of the studies). It was surmised that the less

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modifiable students are less susceptible to being modified during the 1st year, either by direct exposure or by mediated learning experience (MLE). The main objective of this study was to compare the cognitive modifiability of newly arrived Ethiopian children (some of them came on Solomon Operation, in 1991) to that of Israeli-born children. Central to the sociocognitive approach of this study is the idea that thinking processes occur within meaningful contexts as individuals conduct purposeful goal-directed activities (Gauvain, 1995; Leontev, 1981; Rogoff, 1990; Vygotsky, 1978). The Ethiopian immigrants, upon arrival to Israel, had to overcome a gap of civilization and information of several hundred years and had to adapt to the Israeli society (Kaniel, Tzuriel, Feuerstein, Ben-Shachar, & Eitan, (1991). Coming from an illiterate society where their rich culture was transmitted orally, they had to go, upon arrival to Israel, through rapid change and adjust to differences in both material and symbolic tools. Cole and Griffin (1980) conceived these tools as cultural amplifierstechniques provided by the culture that alter the approaches used by its members in solving problems posed by their environment. The main difficulty of the Ethiopian immigrants is that the original tools, which conducted their material and symbolic activity, have lost their functionality. The Ethiopian immigrants have been thrown at once into a social context where they have to adjust to differences of skin color, climate, instruments, norms, language, lifestyle, and values. The culture they come from is rural, traditional, conservative, and continuous, with a central theme of survival, preservation of the status quo, and oral transmission of their culture from one generation to the next. In a very short time, they have to adjust to a technological, open, and constantly changing society that is different from theirs in terms of content, experience, structure, and form. Many of the Ethiopian children function on a relatively low level, and it is clear that their manifest level of performance is a result of sociocultural and contextual factors and not of their true learning potential. One way to conceptualize the cognitive functioning of the Ethiopian immigrants is by referring to the distinction between cultural difference and cultural deprivation (Feuerstein, 1991). Cultural difference exists when the individual is exposed to MLE processes, the content of which is different from that of the culture in which he or she is living. Cultural deprivation results when individuals do not have adequate MLE within their own culture. According to Feuersteins approach, MLE, which explains the individuals development of cognitive modifiability, does not depend on the content embodied in the culture but on the quality of the interaction between mediators and learners. Based on anthropological evidence of the existence of MLE processes among Ethiopian Jews (Rosen, 1986; Waldman, 1985), it was hypothesized

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that they would reveal cultural difference but not cultural deprivation. In line with the MLE theory, the culturally different individuals are those who may manifest certain deficient cognitive functions but who are expected to overcome them rather quickly and with fewer mediational efforts. This occurs because the MLE they have received prepared them to be more modifiable. The culturally deprived individuals, on the other hand, have a relatively reduced modifiability, which is a result of the insufficient mediation on a proximal level. Thus, our first hypothesis was that Ethiopian children would show initial low performance on cognitive abstract tests, but, after a short intervention given within the dynamic test situation, they would improve their performance and narrow the gap with their Israeli-born counterparts. Previous findings with Ethiopian adolescents support this hypothesis (Kaniel et al., 1991). Our second hypothesis was that the Ethiopian children would benefit from the mediation more in complex than in simple tasks. The rationale of this hypothesis is that mediation is required more in difficult tasks than in easy tasks. Both the task demands and a participants characteristics, such as level of familiarity and initial mastery of the problem, determine task difficulty. Because the Ethiopian children are assumed to reveal initial difficulties, especially with the more complex problems, they were expected to show higher modifiability in these problems than in simple problems. This hypothesis will be studied in two ways: (a) by comparing the means of the groups on different levels of task complexity, and (b) by correlating item difficulty with their parallel gain scores (Tzuriel, in press). In addition to the hypothesized group differences, we were interested in the nature of the relation between the DA and static test results. Our hypothesis was that static tests would correlate higher with the Preteaching than with the Postteaching scores. As a matter of fact, the Preteaching scores are also a static measure before the Teaching phase. Previous findings (Guthke, 1993; Tzuriel, 1989) showed, as expected, higher correlations of static scores with Preteaching than with Postteaching scores of DA tests.

METHOD
PARTICIPANTS

The sample was composed of a group of Ethiopian immigrant children (n = 29) and a group of Israeli-born children (n = 23) who were randomly selected from five classes in schools located near absorption centers. The schools of the Israeli-born children were defined by the Israeli Ministry of Education as

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disadvantaged. Most of the mothers (75%) and all of the fathers (100%) of the Israeli-born children had between 8 and 12 years of formal education. Most of these parents (67%-73%) did not have any professional occupation. None of the Ethiopian parents had any formal education or a professional occupation by Western standards. The Ethiopian subsample was composed of 15 boys and 14 girls; the Israeli-born subsample was composed of 10 boys and 13 girls. All children were in Grade 1. Data were gathered over 18 months; the Ethiopian children had immigrated to Israel 6 to 24 months before the testing took place. The mean age of the Israeli group was 86 months (SD = 2.33). The exact age of the Ethiopian group was not available because parents did not keep records of exact dates of birth but reported an age range between 6 to 7 years and 6 months.
MEASURES

Ravens Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM) (Raven, 1956). The CPM consists of 36 problems divided into three sets, each containing 12 problems (A, AB, B). The examinee is required to complete a matrix by choosing the missing part from six alternatives given at the bottom of the page. The participant is required to induce a relation on the completed part of the matrix and then apply this relation to the incomplete part. The CPM items are based mostly on problems requiring completion of a Gestalt and accurate perception of symmetry. The Childrens Analogical Thinking Modifiability test (CATM) (Tzuriel & Klein, 1985, 1991). The CATM is composed of 18 colored blocks (red, blue, yellow) and three sets of analogical problems for Preteaching, Teaching, and Postteaching phases. Each set contains 14 analogical problems increasing in level of difficulty. The blocks are different in dimensions of color size shape. During the preliminary phase, the child learns about task dimensions, analogy rules, and procedures of giving the answers. Task dimensions are taught by constructing a matrix of blocks. The child is next given the Preteaching test with no mediation except for some focusing, encouragement to pay attention, and control of impulsive behavior. The Teaching phase, which takes about 40 minutes, involves mediation of problem-solving strategies. The objectives of the Teaching phase are to teach the child how to search for relevant dimensions, understand transformational and analogical principles, search systematically for correct blocks, and improve performance efficiency. Following the Teaching phase, the child is given the Postteaching test, which parallels the Preteaching phase. The CATM is scored by two methods:

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all-or-none and partial credit. According to the all-or-none method, a score of 1 is given to each correctly solved problem. Only full answers, which include all dimensions (e.g., color, shape, and size), are given a score of 1. According to the partial credit method, a separate score of 1 is given to each dimension. Both scoring methods should be used because they provide different types of information. For example, comparison of modifiability rates of both methods may show lack of improvement on the all-or-none but significant improvement on the partial credit method. This difference indicates a difficulty in integrative capacity; the examinee improves his or her performance at least on several dimensions but cannot integrate all of them and give a full blooming answer. The validity and reliability of the CATM, as well as its effectiveness with different groups of children, has been demonstrated both clinically and empirically (Missiuna & Samuels, 1989; Samuels, in 1998b; Tzuriel, 1992b, 1996, 1997, 1998, in press; Tzuriel & Caspi, 1992; Tzuriel & Ernst, 1990; Tzuriel, Kaniel, Kanner, & Haywood, 1999; Tzuriel & Klein, 1985, 1987, 1991; Tzuriel & Weitz, 1998). The Childrens Inferential Thinking Modifiability test (CITM) (Tzuriel, 1989, 1992b). The objectives of the CITM are to assess young childrens ability to solve problems that require inferential thinking as well as their ability to modify their performance following a process of mediation. The CITM is considered a strategy-dependent test. Content analysis as well as empirical data reveal that the CITM tasks require coping with complexity and abstract thinking in Piagetian terms, yet they can be taught to preschool children if efficient strategies are mediated. The test is composed of four sets of problems for Preteaching, Teaching, Postteaching, and Transfer phases. The child is first presented with a set of 24 familiar pictures (i.e., clothes, animals, and furniture) and he or she is asked to name them. Naming pictures is aimed at establishing familiarity with the objects. The child then is presented with two example problems and instructed in the rules and strategies for solving them and of procedures for gathering information. The problems are composed of a set of figural sentences. In each sentence, there is information about the possible location of objects in houses with different colored roofs. The tasks require systematic exploratory behavior; control of impulsivity; spontaneous comparative behavior; planning; inferential-hypothetical (i.e., iffy) thinking; and simultaneous consideration of several sources of information. The operations required for solving the task are related to the operation of negation (e.g., If the chair is not in the red house and not in the blue house, where should it be?) and inductive reasoning.

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Each of the Preteaching, Teaching, and Postteaching tests is composed of 12 items increasing in difficulty. The Transfer items (10) are different from the original ones on several dimensions such as negative information (e.g., The bird is not in the red house), location of colored roofs is inconsistent across rows, additional nonrelated objects are introduced, and in some items a reversal solution of the problem is required. Each new dimension requires consideration of a different aspect of the data: handling more complex information and filtering out irrelevant (homeless) objects, transforming negative information into positive, and controlling changes in clues regarding order of colors for house location. In several problems, two or more dimensions of transfer are involved, making these problems more difficult. The total score in each of the phases is 37. A Free-Recall phase usually is given after the Transfer phase. The objective of this phase is to examine the childs free-recall ability as an indication of incidental learning. The child is asked to memorize all the objects (pictures) that he or she saw. The examiner can encourage the child to continue to name objects even after the child stops. In the last phase of the CITM, Classification, the child is asked to classify the 24 objects into categories. The 24 objects can be classified into six categories: animals, clothes, furniture, shapes, transportation means, and plants. The child is first asked to classify all objects into groups according to some principle and give an explanation for his or her answer. If the child fails to make the classification or makes an incomplete classification, then mediation is given. The examiner chooses one of the categories and explains the common characteristic of all objects and then asks the child to sort out again the objects according to similar characteristics. A score of 2 is given to each correctly classified category. Categories, which include three correct objects (out of four), receive a score of 1, and categories, which include two objects, receive a score of zero. Cronbachs alpha reliability coefficients of the Preteaching, Postteaching, and Transfer phases are .82, .82, and .90, respectively (Tzuriel, 1992b). The validity and reliability of the CITM test was demonstrated in educational and developmental studies (Samuels, 1998a; Tzuriel, 1989, 1997; Tzuriel & Eran, 1990; Tzuriel & Weiss, 1998).

RESULTS In Table 1 are presented the means and standard deviations of the CPM, the CITM, and the CATM scores for both groups, as well as tests of homogeneity of variances in both groups.

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Means and Standard Deviations on the CPM, CATM, and CITM Tests for the Ethiopian-Born and Israeli-Born Children and Test of Homogeneity of Variances
Israeli-Born Test CPM CATM (Method 1) Pre Post CATM (Method 2) Pre Post CITM Pre Post Transfer M 20.33 8.65 13.39 41.30 50.56 26.04 36.00 29.09 SD 5.94 5.10 2.06 8.73 4.02 7.79 2.21 8.12 Ethiopian-Born M 15.60 5.10 11.52 24.59 40.17 13.45 32.65 22.21 SD 1.65 2.06 2.38 10.50 8.36 6.68 4.79 6.75 Cochrans C .93*** .69* .57 .59 .81*** .45 .82*** .59

NOTE: CPM = Colored Progressive Matrices; CATM = Childrens Analogical Thinking Modifiability test; CITM = Childrens Inferential Thinking Modifiability test. *p < .05. ***p < .001.

Tests of homogeneity (Cochrans C) showed that, in four out of the eight measures, there were significant differences between the two groups. The Israeli-born children showed higher variance than did the Ethiopian children on the CPM and CATM-Preteaching (Method 1), whereas the Ethiopian children showed higher variances on Postteaching phases of the CATM (Method 2) and CITM tests.
ANALYSES OF VARIANCE WITH REPEATED MEASURES

The results shown in Table 1 indicate, in general, that the Israeli-born group scored higher than the Ethiopian group on all tests. However, the improvement from Preteaching to Postteaching phases of the DA measures was higher for the Ethiopian than for the Israeli-born group. These findings were especially clear on the CATM-Method 1 scores. To study the significance of main effects and interactions, three analyses of variance (ANOVAs) with repeated measures were carried out on the DA measures (CATMMethods 1 and 2, and CITM). The independent variables were Group and Time, and the last variable was the within factor. It should be noted that the

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Analysis of Variance With Repeated Measures on CATM and CITM Test Scores
CATM (Method 1) Source of Variation df MS F Group Error Time Group Time Error 1 182.30 22.01*** 50 8.30 1 810.24 240.90*** 1 50 16.17 3.36 4.81* CATM (Method 2) df MS F df CITM MS F

1 4,653.63 41.83*** 50 111.26 1 4,015.15 132.40*** 1 50 242.69 30.33 8.00**

1 2,273.92 32.26** 50 70.48 2 2,802. 90 106.55*** 2 100 295.17 26.31 11.22***

NOTE: CATM = Childrens Analogical Thinking Modifiability test; CITM = Childrens Inferential Thinking Modifiability test. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Time factor of the CITM analysis contained three values for Preteaching, Postteaching, and Transfer. The findings are presented in Table 2. The Group main effects on the CATM and CITM tests indicate that, in general, the Israeli-born group scored significantly higher than the Ethiopian group. The Time main effects for the CATM scores (Method 1 and Method 2) indicate that the Postteaching scores are higher than the Preteaching scores. The Time main effects on the CITM test reveal the lowest scores in the Preteaching phase, intermediate scores in the Transfer phase, and the highest scores in the Postteaching phase. All main effects, however, were modified by significant interactions of Group Time (see Figures 1 and 2). Because the findings on both CATM scoring methods were similar, only the interaction of Method 2 of scoring is presented. The interactions shown in Figures 1 and 2 indicate that although the Ethiopian children performed lower than the Israeli-born children on the Preteaching phase, they improved their functioning more than the Israeli children did theirs, and the Ethiopian children narrowed the gap in the Postteaching performance. The gap between the two groups was even narrower in the CITM-Transfer phase, which consists of more difficult problems than those in the Preteaching and Postteaching phases.
ANALYSES OF COVARIANCE AND PARALLELISM TESTS

The CATM findings (Methods 1 and 2) were further analyzed by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with Group as the independent variable,

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Figure 1:

Childrens Analogical Thinking Modifiability Test (Method 2) Preteaching and Postteaching Scores of Israeli-Born and Ethiopian Children

Postteaching score as the dependent variable, and Preteaching score as a covariate. On the CITM, two analyses were carried out. In the first analysis, the Postteaching score was the dependent variable and the Preteaching score was a covariate. In the second analysis, the Transfer score was the dependent variable and the Postteaching score was a covariate. The findings are presented in Table 3. Each analysis included also a test of parallelism (Winer, 1971) to study whether the Pre-Post (or Post-Transfer on CITM) regression lines of the two groups are parallel. The results revealed no significant Group differences for any of the variables. In other words, although the Ethiopian children showed higher improvement on the DA scores, the pattern of improvement within each group was similar. Tests of parallelism revealed only in one analysis that the regression lines of the two groups were significantly differentthe CITM Pre-Post regression lines. Analysis of the CITM Classification score revealed an impressive finding. The Ethiopian children achieved a dramatic and significant gain from 0.70 to 9.00 as compared to a gain from 10.20 to 12.00 among the Israeli-born children. It should be noted that the low initial score of the Ethiopian children was not a result of inadequate instruction but of a different understanding of what is expected to perform. Also, it is interesting to note that no significant group differences were found on the Free-Recall scores. The last two analyses were

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Figure 2:

Childrens Inferential Thinking Modifiability Test Preteaching, Postteaching, and Transfer Scores of Israeli-Born and Ethiopian Children

available only on part of the sample, on 10 Ethiopian immigrant children and 15 Israeli-born children. For technical reasons, we could not test all children in Classification and Free-Recall phases of the CITM.

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Analysis of Covariance and Tests of Parallelism on CATM and CITM Scores

CATM Source of Variation Scoring method 1 Analysis of covariance (Postteaching) Group Error within Parallelism test Pre-Post Error within Scoring method 2 Analysis of covariance (Postteaching) Group Error within Parallelism test Pre-Post Error within MS F Source of Variation CITM MS F

2.96 4.22 .35 4.30

.70

.08

Analysis of covariance (Postteaching) Group Error within Parallelism test Pre-Post Error within

.75 10.91 66.07 9.76

.07

6.77**

83.81 29.69 49.33 29.28

2.82

1.68

Analysis of covariance (Transfer) Group Error within Parallelism test Post-Transfer Error within

155.15 42.62 21.34 43.06

3.64

.50

NOTE: CATM = Childrens Analogical Thinking Modifiability test; CITM = Childrens Inferential Thinking Modifiability test. **p < .01.

PRE- TO POSTTEACHING IMPROVEMENT AS A FUNCTION OF TASK DIFFICULTY

One of our hypotheses was that mediation, within the DA procedure, will, in general, be more effective for complex than for simple problems. Based on previous findings with low socioeconomic status (SES) groups (Tzuriel, 1989), we also hypothesized that the Ethiopian participants would benefit more from the mediation provided in difficult than in relatively easy items. To test these hypotheses, ANOVAs were carried out with Group, Difficulty Level, and Time (2 3 2) as independent variables; the last variable was a within factor. The Difficulty Level on the CITM was comprised of problems with 2 (easy), 3 (medium), and 4 (difficult) houses, respectively. The Difficulty Level on the CATM test was comprised of items 1-7 (easy), 8-10 (medium), and 11-14 (difficult). Due to the different range of scores in each

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Difficulty Level, the scores were weighted (minimal and maximal scores become equal) before the analysis. The ANOVA revealed a significant interaction of Complexity Level Time for the CITM, F(2, 100) = 11.87, p < .001, and for the CATM, F(2, 90) = 11.06, p < .001, indicating that higher improvements, in the whole sample, were found more for the high-complexity and medium-complexity than for the low-complexity items. This result was partly determined by a ceiling effect (see the Discussion).
CORRELATIVE ANALYSES

Two sets of correlational analyses (separately for each group) were carried out. In the first set, the CPM scores (static) were correlated with the Preteaching and Postteaching scores of the DA tests. In the second set, the level of item difficulty was correlated with the gain score of the same items. The correlations of the CPM with the CITM and CATM scores were carried out separately for the Ethiopian and the Israeli-born children. Differences of correlations between Preteaching and Postteaching scores were tested, using Fishers Z analyses. The findings are presented in Table 4. As is shown in Table 4, the CPM correlates with the CATM (Method 2) in both groups and with the CITM Preteaching, Postteaching, and Transfer scores in the Israeliborn group. Comparison of correlations between the Preteaching and Postteaching scores in each group using Fishers Z analyses did not reveal any significant difference. Comparison of correlations between the two groups revealed only one significant difference on Free-Recall, Z = 2.89, p < .01. To test the relation between task difficulty and the degree of modifiability in each group, we also used correlational analyses. The CITM and the CATM items were first rank-ordered according to their means on the Preteaching phase. The data were then analyzed by correlating the degree of difficulty with the level of gain for each item. Our hypothesis was that the more difficult the item, the more mediation is required and therefore the higher the improvement from Preteaching to Postteaching. The results for the CITM revealed Pearson product-moment correlations of .93, p < .001, and .94, p < .001, for the Israeli-born and the Ethiopian groups, respectively. The results for the CATM revealed Pearson product-moment correlations of .95, p < .001, and .45 (ns) for the Israeli-born and the Ethiopian groups, respectively.

DISCUSSION The major objective of this study was to investigate the cognitive performance of young Ethiopian immigrants as compared to Israeli-born children.

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Pearson Product-Moment Correlations of CATM and CITM Scores With CPM Test Scores
Test CATM (Method 1) Preteaching Postteaching CATM (Method 2) Preteaching Postteaching CITM Preteaching Postteaching Transfer Free-Recall Classification Ethiopian Israeli-Born

.24 .28 .73** .63** .19 .20 .32 .74** .37

.33 .18 .70** .52** .48* .42* .42* .09 .03

NOTE: CATM = Childrens Analogical Thinking Modifiability test; CITM = Childrens Inferential Thinking Modifiability test; CPM = Colored Progressive Matrices. *p < .05.**p < .01.

Based on the MLE theory of Feuerstein et al. (1979) and Vygotskys (1978) theoretical ZPD concept, we hypothesized that Ethiopian children would perform lower on initial measures of cognitive ability than Israeli-born children. However, we predicted that, after a short phase of intensive mediation, they would improve their performance and narrow the gap with their Israeli counterparts. The results on the CPM and on the Preteaching phases of both DA tests (CATM, CITM) showed that although the Ethiopian group scored initially lower than the Israeli-born group, they narrowed the gap on the Postteaching scores. These results are similar to findings reported previously on older Ethiopian participants (Kaniel et al., 1991) and to findings in other countries showing smaller differences between minority and mainstream groups after a mediation given within a DA process (Guthke & Al-Zoubi, 1987; Hessels & Hamers, 1993; Skuy & Shmukler, 1987). The Ethiopian childrens improvement across two content domains and cognitive operations, as represented by the CATM and CITM tests (see Figures 1-2), support further our narrowing of the gap hypothesis. The CATM test taps analogical operation by way of manipulation of three-dimensional objects. The task requires labeling of information (attribution of meaning), systematic exploratory behavior, simultaneous consideration of several sources of information, and understanding of principles and rules for solving analogical problems. The CITM test, which is presented mainly through verbal and pictorial modalities, taps comparative behavior

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and inferential-hypothetical operations, and requires planning behavior, astrategic and analytic approach, and classification of meaningful categories. Although the tasks were novel to the children in both groups, the mental operations required to solve them are relatively familiar and to some degree are also practiced among the Israeli-born children. For the Ethiopian children, however, these mental activities are new and have no similarity to the type of activities practiced or transmitted in their culture. The lack of significant differences on the Transfer items indicates that the Ethiopian children could benefit from the mediation given to them, internalize the rules, and use them efficiently in the Transfer items. The large cognitive change among the Ethiopian children supports both Vygotskys (1978) (1978) ZPD and Feuerstein et al.s (1979) cognitive modifiability constructs. One of the methodological problems in interpreting the findings is related to the ceiling effect, that is, the Ethiopian children who scored lower initially had much more room for improvement than did the Israeli-born children. On the other hand, the lack of significant Group differences on the CITMTransfer might indicate that a large portion of the variance is due to the effects of mediation. The fact that the Ethiopian children have changed their performance after a relatively short mediation phase of 30 to 40 minutes also can be attributed to the previous cultural substrata of mediational processes that enable them to benefit from the mediation given within the DA context. One could speculate that with more extensive mediation given to the Ethiopian children, the gaps between the two groups would disappear totally. As expected, the difference between the two groups in the Free-Recall test was very small. The lack of inferiority of the Ethiopian children on this task probably reflects the Ethiopian culture of oral learning and rote learning strategies. The Free-Recall, however, was significantly correlated with the CPM score only in the Ethiopian group, Fishers Z = 2.89, p < .01. It seems that the Ethiopian children use similar cognitive processes to solve both tasks, whereas the Israeli-born children apply different processes. Analysis of the standard deviations of both groups revealed an intriguing pattern of higher standard deviations among the Israeli-born than among the Ethiopian children on static measures (CPM and CATM-Preteaching) but lower on DA measures (Postteaching scores of CATM and CITM). Although in both groups there was a tendency for lower variability on Postteaching than on Preteaching scores, this tendency was more articulated (significant Cochrans C) in the Israeli-born children. One explanation for this phenomenon is that whereas in the Israeli-born group the mediation given created a homogenizing effect, in the Ethiopian group it created an opposite trend for more differentiation. It seems that whereas some of the Ethiopian children

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benefited from the mediation given in the DA and changed their performance meaningfully, others showed a relatively low level of improvement. This might reflect a well-known phenomenon among the Ethiopian children: a combination of cultural difference and cultural deprivation. Some of the children have gone through personal trauma of losing one or both parents on their way to Israel. This loss has a deleterious effect on the mediational process within the family, an effect that brought about the cultural deprivation syndrome. In some intact families, the parents lost their roles as main providers of food or as principal mediational figures, relegating their traditional roles to other social agents in the new country. The parents ceased to be important in their own eyes and became irrelevant to their children in the new Western-oriented country. Thus, although some children were mediated, others grew up devoid of the cultural mediation, causing a high level of withingroup variability. This interpretation, however, should be taken up cautiously as a possible ad hoc explanation. This sample is too small and the type of data gathered is, unfortunately, too limited to study this specific aspect. This type of question is at the interface of psychological and sociocultural levels considered by some authors as inseparable (Rogoff & Chavajay, 1995). Future research should refer to the effects of cultural changes, personal life events, and social processes as distal factors (Feuerstein et al., 1979) that affect the proximal factors of natural MLE process and consequently childrens cognitive growth and modifiability. Another interesting finding is related to the group differences indicated by the parallelism tests (Winer, 1971) carried out on the Pre-Post regression lines (see Table 3). The only significant group difference was on the CITM Pre-Post regression lines: The Ethiopian children revealed a much steeper regression line than did the Israeli-born children. These findings might be explained by the interaction between group characteristics and the nature of the tasks given. Unlike the CATM problems, which tap a relatively familiar operation (analogy), the CITM problems depend on task-specific (hypothesis testing) and unfamiliar cognitive strategies; once the child learns these strategies, performance increases sharply. Similar high increases were reported in previous studies on kindergarten (n = 84) and Grade 1 (n = 94) children, which showed improvement rates of 39% and 26%, respectively (Tzuriel, 1989), and in the standardization study on kindergarten children (n = 219), which showed an improvement rate of 30% (Tzuriel, 1992b).. The high improvement of the Ethiopian children on the CITM (52%) in this study can be explained by the nature of the tasks. The Ethiopian children found the CITM tasks remote from any type of task they had experienced in the past. However, once they grasped the tasks principles and strategies, their

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performance increased sharply. Support for these group characteristics by nature of task interaction might be found in the drastic gains on Classification. The Ethiopian children showed drastic improvements from .70 to 9.00, as compared to small improvement in the Israeli-born children from 10.20 to 12.00 (maximal score). These changes followed a simple mediation phase, which lasted 1 to 2 minutes in which the principle of classification was explained. Although these findings should be taken cautiously because of the differences in standard deviations and the ceiling effect, they nevertheless indicate very substantial differences between the two groups in their basic approach to the Classification task. It seems that the Ethiopian childrens initial performance was due to their lack of familiarity with classification tasks rather than with lack of ability. The fact that such a simple mediation with the task immediately changed their functioning raises serious questions about administration of unfamiliar tasks with culturally different children without looking carefully into the childrens cultural background. Sometimes simple attempts to clarify a rule or teach an unfamiliar strategy can change the childrens performance in a meaningful way. These results coincide with cross-cultural research findings indicating that individuals in many non-Western nations classify items into functional rather than into taxonomic categories (e.g., Greenfield, 1997; Scribner, 1984; Sharp, Cole, & Lave, 1979; Suzuki & Valencia, 1997). Sternberg (1997), who emphasized the role of environmental context on definition and assessment of intelligence, commented that what is learned in terms of both declarative and procedural knowledge may differ radically from one environment to another. Other writers have argued that one of the early schooling functions is to sort things according to taxonomic categories and to construct hierarchical organization; these skills can optimally develop in literate societies (Cole, 1990; Goody, 1977). These findings can be conceptualized in line with Feuersteins (1991) distinction between cultural difference and cultural deprivation. One of the practical problems, of course, is how to differentiate, on an individual level, between those who manifest low level of functioning as a result of cultural difference and those who, additionally, are culturally deprived. In this respect, the DA approach offers an alternative that is superior to the static approach not only for its differential diagnostic value but also for its potential prescriptive remediation of deficiencies and enhancement of learning processes. On a broader sociohistorical scale, it can open opportunities for investigating cognitive change processes as a function of specific mediational procedures, implementation of learning contexts, and use of mental operations across cultures.

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What is important is not so much what children know or do but rather how they learn, and how we can modify their cognitive structures as a function of mediational processes. It is most important in further cross-cultural research to look for childrens change and modifiability indexes as a function of specific cultural components that enhance mediation and change processes within families and, more extensively, in broader social circles.

NOTE
1. For a detailed explanation of the differences between the DA and the standard psychometric approaches, see Campione (1989), Feuerstein et al. (1979), Grigorenko and Sternberg (1998), Lidz (1995), and Tzuriel and Haywood (1992).

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David Tzuriel, Ph.D., is a clinical and educational psychologist and an expert on dynamic assessment of learning potential. He graduated from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in 1977 and is a professor at Bar Ilan University in Israel. He is currently the president-elect of the International Association for Cognitive Education, published many articles on dynamic assessment (DA), including three books: Interactive Assessment (edited with H. Carl Haywood), Cognitive Modifiability, and Mediated Learning Experience, as well as many studies related to mediated learning experience theory. Among his DA tests for preschool children are the Childrens Analogical Thinking Modifiability; the Frame Test of Cognitive Modifiability; the Complex Figure Test for Young Children; the Childrens Inferential Thinking Modifiability test; The Chidlrens Seriational Thinking Modifiability test; and the Childrens Cognitive Modifiability Battery: Assessment and Intervention. David Tzuriel has taught approximately 60 workshops on DA around the world during the past 10 years. His areas of interest include the role of mediated learning experience in mother-child interactions as a developmental determinant of cognitive modifiability and the use of DA as a substitute for static conventional tests. Ruth Kaufman, M.A., is an Instrumental Enrichment Program trainer in the International Center for Enhancement of Learning Potential and a lecturer at Oranim College, Tivaon. She is an expert in dynamic and psychodidactic assessment and treatment of learning potential. She is currently involved in a group-dynamic assessment and intervention project for the adjustment of Jewish Ethiopian immigrants to Israel.

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