Table 7.10 Children’s responses in the multiple choice task across testing
|
_____________________Pre-test |
Post test 1 |
Post test 2_____ |
Post test 3 | |||||
|
θ/ |
n |
O/ |
n |
O/ |
n______ |
% |
n_____ | |
|
Don’t know |
^^25 |
130 |
1.9 |
6 |
^^OT |
3 |
1.9 |
10 |
|
Irrelevant foil |
2.1 |
11 |
3.8 |
12 |
1.6 |
5 |
1.3 |
7 |
|
Phonological foil |
3.5 |
18 |
1.0 |
3 |
1.0 |
3 |
- |
- |
|
Semantic foil |
19.4 |
101 |
2.6 |
8 |
2.2 |
7 |
4.4 |
23 |
|
Target__________ |
50 |
260 |
90.7 |
283 |
94,2 |
294 |
92.3 |
480 |
|
N of responses |
520 |
312 |
312 |
520 | ||||
Table 7.10 shows that the majority of the children were successful on the multiple choice
task. More than 90% of the children (during the post test measurements) correctly identified
the target words. Only a small percentage ranging from 0.1 % to 1.9% said they did not know.
Thus, a ceiling effect was observed. The same analysis was carried out for each one of the
groups (see Table in Appendix 7.6). The table in Appendix 7.6 demonstrates the same
pattern.
Key findings from the multiple choice task
Is there a differential impact of the type of exposure to new lexical items that the children
receive on their performance on the multiple choice task?
• The Definition group performed significantly better than the Ostensive definition
group during post test 2 and 3. Moreover, during post test 3 the Definition group
performed significantly better than the Control group.
Does children ,s performance on the Multiple choice improve with increased exposure to the
lexical items ?
• No significant differences were found over time.
Does the children ,s prior knowledge of the lexical items influence performance on the
multiple choice task?
• No significant differences on children’s performance on the multiple choice task
were found by the children’s prior knowledge of the lexical items.