LEARNING EFFICIENCY AS A FUNCTION OF DEPICTION, VERBALIZATION, GRADE LEVEL, AND SOCIAL CLASS WAS EXPLORED BY ASKING 384 KINDERGARTEN, FIRST-, THIRD-, AND SIXTH-GRADE CHILDREN FROM BOTH MIDDLE-CLASS AND LOWER-CLASS AREAS TO LEARN A LIST OF 24 PAIRED ASSOCIATES. ALL PAIRS WERE PRESENTED PICTORIALLY BY A STUDY-TEST METHOD FOR TWO LEARNING TRIALS. THE FIRST MANIPULATED FACTOR, DEPICTION, HAD TWO LEVELS--"STILL," IN WHICH THE TWO OBJECTS IN EACH PAIR WERE STATIONARY WHEN RECORDED ON MOVIE FILM AND "ACTION," IN WHICH THE TWO OBJECTS IN EACH PAIR WERE MOVING WHEN PHOTOGRAPHED. TO TEST THE SECOND FACTOR, VERBALIZATION, THE EXPERIMENTER EITHER NAMED ALOUD THE TWO OBJECTS IN EACH OF THE PAIRS OR UTTERED A SENTENCE CONTAINING THE NAMES OF THE TWO OBJECTS IN EACH PAIR. AS PREDICTED, BOTH ACTION DEPICTION AND SENTENCE VERBALIZATION PRODUCED INCREASES IN LEARNING EFFICIENCY AND OLDER CHILDREN LEARNED MORE RAPIDLY THAN YOUNGER ONES. QUITE UNEXPECTEDLY, HOWEVER, CHILDREN FROM LOWER-CLASS AREAS LEARNED AS EFFICIENTLY AS THOSE FROM MIDDLE-CLASS AREAS DESPITE THE INFERIOR PERFORMANCE OF THE FORMER ON STANDARDIZED TESTS. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LEARNING CONDITIONS IN THE CLASSROOM AND THOSE IN THE LABORATORY COULD ACCOUNT FOR THE DISCREPANCY BETWEEN TEST AND LEARNING TASK PERFORMANCE. (AUTHOR)