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 children 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, and had a greater press for language development in the home. However, it was found that social status variables were as effective as the environmental process characteristics in predicting language ability. An alternative model is suggested for future research which specifies that family environments should be analyzed according to the stimuli parents provide, the nature of the reinforcement for appropriate performance, and parents' expectations for a child's performance. (Author/JM)