5.4.1.3 Comparison between children’s performance on the control and the
target words

Children’s performance on the control and the target words was compared using the multiple
choice test. Table in the Appendix 5.7 presents children’s performance for both types of
words across testing in the Multiple choice task by age and linguistic condition.

As the Table (in the Appendix 5.7) illustrates children performed better on the target than the
control words. Statistical analysis during the pre-test revealed no significant differences in
children’s performance for the control and target words. On the other hand, the children
performed significantly better on the target than the control words during the Immediate
(Wilcoxon: Z=I 1.9, p<.0000) and the Delayed post test (Wilcoxon: Z=I 1.2, p<.0000).

Whether the same pattern was evident within each age group was also investigated (see Table
in the Appendix 5.7). No significant differences were found for children’s performance in the
pre-test. On the other hand, each age group during the Immediate post test performed
significantly better on the target than the control words [4 year olds: Wilcoxon: Z=6.9,
p<.0000; 5 year olds: Wilcoxon: Z=6.9, p<.0000; 6 year olds: Wilcoxon: Z=6.9, p<.0000).
Furthermore, the same pattern was found during the Delayed post test [4 year olds:
Wilcoxon: Z=6.5, p<.0000; 5 year olds: Wilcoxon: Z=6.3, p<.0000; 6 year olds: Wilcoxon:
Z=6.6, p<.0000].

To what extent the same pattern was evident within each linguistic condition was also
investigated (See Table in the Appendix 5.7). No significant differences were found between
children’s performance on the pre-test. On the other hand, children from each linguistic
condition performed significantly better on the target than the control words both in the
Immediate (Inference: Wilcoxon: Z=5.9, p<.0000; Definition; Wilcoxon: Z=6.03, p<.0000;
Analogy: Wilcoxon: Z=6.03, p<.0000; Contrast: Z=6.03, p<.0000) and the Delayed post test
(Inference: Wilcoxon: Z=5.7, p<.0000; Definition; Wilcoxon: Z=5.5, p<.0000; Analogy:
Wilcoxon: Z=5.7, p<.0000; Contrast: Z=5.5, p<.0000). Based on the previous analysis, the
results which follow refer on children’s performance to the target words only.

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