Key findings from the multiple choice task

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

• The older children performed better than the younger ones. Significant Conelations
were found between age and performance on the multiple choice task. The pattern
was the same even when children’s vocabulary and memory scores were controlled
for.

• Significant differences by age were found for the immediate post test. Post hoc
analysis of the immediate post test revealed that the 5- and the 6- year-olds performed
significantly better than the 4 year-olds. Analysis of the delayed post test revealed
that the 6 year-olds performed significantly better than the 5 year-olds.

• The same pattern was evident within all the linguistic conditions, however,
significant differences were found only for the Lexical contrast group for both post
tests. Post hoc analysis revealed that the 5- and 6- year-olds performed significantly
better than the 4 year-olds in the immediate post test. During the delayed post test the
6 year-olds performed significantly better than the 5 year-olds. No significant
differences between the age groups were found for the other linguistic conditions.

To what extent does children ^,s performance on the multiple choice task differ by linguistic
condition?

• No significant differences were found for any of the post tests. Linguistic condition
differences within each age group were also investigated, however no significant
differences were found.

To what extent does children ^,s success on the multiple choice task change between the
immediate and delayed post test ?

• Children performed significantly better during the immediate than the delayed post
test. Comparison of children’s performance between the two post tests within each
age group revealed the same pattern for all the age groups.

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