Association task
Twenty choice items were placed on the table in front of the child. The child was told “We ’re
going to play a game with the puppet”. The puppet will show you a picture and then you will
choose which of those pictures go together with the picture the puppet showed you". Each
time the child was presented with the target picture and then s/he was asked to play the game.
As soon as the child had categorised the pictures, the puppet asked the child to justify
her/his choice. For example, the child was asked “why did you put them together ?” (see
Appendix 7.4 for the recording sheet).
Short questions task
The puppet invited each child to play another game. The child had to answer some questions
with yes/по or don’t know responses. No feedback was given for any of the questions (see
Appendix 7.4 for the recording sheet).
Contrast task
In this task the child had to answer four questions, one question per target word. The child
was again invited to play a game with the puppet. S/he was asked “Tell the puppet something
which is different from the x (target word)?” (see Appendix 7.4 for the recording sheet).
Definition task
The child in this task had to answer four questions. S/he was introduced to the puppet who
had no idea what certain items (target words) were. The child then was asked “Couldyou tell
the puppet what an x is, so the puppet knows as well T, The child could offer an answer or
say don’t know (see Appendix 7.4 for the recording sheet).
Story generation task
Each child was invited to play a last game with the puppet. S/he had to make up for the
puppet, four different stories about the target words. The experimenter invited the child to
tell the puppet these stories. S/he was told “Now, make up a story about the x (item) and tell
it to the puppet ?” (see Appendix 7.4 for the recording sheet).