words ” (Delayed: Z=4.2, p<.0000). Also they provided more “target words ” than “irrelevant
responses” (Immediate: Wilcoxon: Z=9.6, p<.0000; Delayed: Z=4.8, p<.0000) “making
phonological errors” (Immediate: Wilcoxon: Z=9.7, p<.0000; Delayed: Z=6.1, p<.0000)
“providing functional properties” (Immediate: Wilcoxon: Z=9.5, p<.0000; Delayed: Z=5.1,
p<.0000), “using a basic level word” (Immediate: Wilcoxon: Z=7.7, p<.0000; Delayed:
Z=2.1, p<.0000) or “superordinate level” word (Immediate: Wilcoxon: Z=9.4, p<.0000;
Delayed: Z=6.04, p<.0000).

Use of a “basic level word' was the more frequent error after the “don ^,t know” responses
across testing. Statistical analysis indicated that the children provided significantly more a
“basic level word^, than “irrelevant responses” (Immediate: Wilcoxon: Z=4.3, p<.0000;
Delayed: Z=3.5, p<.0005) “phonological errors” (Immediate: Wilcoxon: Z=4.6, p<.0000;
Del: Z=5.04, p<.0000) “functional proper/ze.s”(Immediate: Wilcoxon: Z=4.06, p<.0000;
Delayed: Z=3.6, p<.0000) “a superordinate level word" (Immediate: Wilcoxon: Z=3.6,
p<.0005; Delayed: Z=4.6, p<.0000).

Whether the same pattern was evident within each age group and each linguistic condition
was also investigated. The distribution of responses separately by age and linguistic condition
is presented in Appendices 5.11 and 5.12. The same pattern was evident for both types of
analyses.

Key findings from the naming task

To what extent does children ^,s performance on the naming task differ by age ?

• During the immediate post test the 6 year olds performed significantly better than the
two youngest age groups. No significant differences were found during the delayed
post test.

• Significant differences by age were found for the Inference condition for both post
tests. Particularly, the 6 year olds performed significantly better than the 4 year olds.
The same pattern was found for the Lexical contrast and Definition conditions during
the immediate post test. No significant differences were found for the Analogy
condition.

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