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This study examines the relationship between family environment and children's language ability. Language is examined on the basis of a model which specifies that the following characteristics of family environments influence language development most: quality of language usage of the mother, opportunities for the enlargement and use of vocabulary and sentence patterns, and parents' keeness for correct and effective language usage. Twenty middle class and twenty lower class childien were administered the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. An interview was conducted with mothers. Results show that the middle SES group scored significantly higher than the lower SES. group on the language test, hnd ha & a greater_press for language;development-in the home. However, it was fouled that social status variables were as effective as the environiental process, is suggeste