Parental Ethnotheories about Learning and Cognitive Development during Early Childhood among the Bayangi Tribe in Cameroon
Keywords:
Parental ethnothories, Learning, cognitive development, early childhood
Abstract
Although a plausible link between parental ethnotheories and cognitive development have been suggested, studies addressing specifically parental ethnotheories about learning and early cognitive development in Sub-Saharan African is limited. This study aimed to investigate a direct relationship between parents’ cultural ideas about learning and children’s cognitive development. A mixed-method design (Case study and Correlational) was used for the study. Participants included 222 parents of children aged five to six years old selected using the purposive sampling technique. Questionnaires and interviews were used for data collection. Parental ethnotheories about learning was associated with individual cognitive development (p=0.00) but not associated with social cognition or cognition in service of social ends (p=0.169). Therefore, parental ethnotheories about learning may influence cognitive competence in intellectual tasks such as in school or an educational setting, but has no significant influence on social competence emphasizing social responsibilities and relatedness to the family and peers.
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3. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England.
4. Brooker, L. (2010). Learning how to learn: Parental ethnotheories and young children’s preparation for school. International Journal of Early Years Education. 11(2), 117-128. Doi: 10.1080/09669760304703
5. Byrnes, J. P., Wang, A. and Miller-Cotto, D. (2019). Children as mediators of their own cognitive development in kindergarten. Cognitive Development. 50, 80-97.
6. Coppens, A. D., Corwin, A. I. and Alcala, L. (2020). Beyond Behavior: Linguistic evidence of cultural variation in parental ethnotheories of children prosocial helping. Frontiers in Psychology. 11(306). Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00307
7. Dasen, P. R. (2011). Culture, cognition and learning. In Nsamenang, A. and Tchombe, T. (Eds), Handbook of African Educational Theories and Practices: A generative teacher education curriculum (1st ed., 207-216). Presses Universitaires d’Afrique.
8. Edwards, C. P. et al. (2005). Parental ethnotheories of child development: looking beyond independence and individualism in American Belief Systems. Faculty publications, Department of child, youth, and family studies.
9. Goodall, J. and Ghent, K. (2014). Parental belief and parental engagement in children’s learning. Journal of Religious Education. 63(3), 332-352. Doi: 10.1080/01416200.2013.820168
10. Harkness. S. et al. (2009). Parental ethnotheories of children’s learning lnhelder, B. and Piaget, J (1958). The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence. New York: Basic Books.
11. Klingberg, T. (2014). Childhood cognitive development as a skill. Trends in Cognitive Science. 18(11), 573-579.
12. Lehrer, E. L. (1999). “Religion as a Determinant of Educational Attainment: An Economic Perspective.” Social Science Research 28: 358–379.
13. Lehrer, E. L. (2005). Religious Affiliation and Participation as Determinants of Women’s Educational Attainment and Wages. IZA Discussion Papers No. 1725.
14. http://ssrn.com/abstract=799711
15. Maynard, A. E. and Greenfield, P. M. (2003). Implicit cognitive development in cultural tools and children: lessons from Maya Mexico. Cognitive Development. 18, 489-510. Doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2003.09.005
16. Mazrui, A. A. (1986). The Africans: A triple heritage. London: BBC publications.
17. McLeod, S. A. (2018, August 05). Lev Vygotsky. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
18. Nsamenang, A.B. (2000). Issues in indigenous approaches to developmental research in sub-Saharan Africa. International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development Newsletter, Number 1 Serial No. 38, 1–2.
19. Nsamenang, A. B. (2001). Indigenous view on human development: A West African perspective. In N. J. Smelser and P. B. Baltes (Ed.), International Encyclopaedia of the Social and Behavioural Sciences. London: Elsevier.
20. Nsamenang, A. B. (2003). Conceptualising human development and education in sub-Saharan Africa at the interface of indigenous and exogenous influences. In T. S. Saraswathi (Ed.), Cross-cultural perspectives in human development: Theory research and applications (pp. 213-235). New Delhi, India: SAGE.
21. Nsamenang, A. (2005). Developmental psychology: search for a diversity paradigm. Bamenda: Anoh’s printing services
22. Nsamenang, A. (2006). Human ontogenesis: An indigenous African view on development and intelligence. International Journal of Psychology, 41(4), 293-297.
23. Parmar, P., Harkness, S. and Super, C. M. (2004). Asian and Euro-American parents' ethnotheories of play and learning: Effects on Preschool children's home routines and school behaviour. International Journal of Behavioral Development. 28(2), 97-104. Doi: 10.1080/01650250344000307
24. Piaget, J. (1955). Perceptual and cognitive (or operational) structures in the development of the concept of space in the child. Evening addresses
25. Tchombe M. T. (2019). Psychological parameters in teaching: An Africentric perspective to learning as a process for cognitive enrichment. Limbe: Design House
26. Smith, A. (1981). Piaget’s model of child development: Implications for educators. The clearance House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 55(1), 24-27. Doi: 10.1080/00098655.1981.9958200
27. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
28. Wang, Q. and Kushnir, T. (2019). Cultural pathways in cognitive development: introduction to the special issue, Cognitive Development. 52, 1-4.
Published
2021-11-01
How to Cite
[1]
Tabe, T.K. and Ayuk, B.M. 2021. Parental Ethnotheories about Learning and Cognitive Development during Early Childhood among the Bayangi Tribe in Cameroon. International Journal on Integrated Education. 4, 10 (Nov. 2021), 236-246. DOI:https://doi.org/10.17605/ijie.v4i10.2339.
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Copyright (c) 2021 Takang, Kelly Tabe, Besong, Magdalene Ayuk
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