To what extent does the child’s prior knowledge (Comprehension and Naming) influence the
provision of stories T^,

The children with high level baseline comprehension vocabulary provided more stories than
children with low level baseline comprehension vocabulary across testing. Significant
differences were found for post test 3 (Mann-Whitney U: Z=2.4, p<.05). Separate analysis
for each group demonstrated the same pattern. Significant differences were found for the
Definition group during post test 1 (Mann-Whitney U: Z=2.09, p<.05).

In addition children with high level of baseline naming vocabulary provided more stories
than children with low level baseline naming vocabulary across testing. Significant
differences were found for post test 2 (Mann-Whitney U: Z=2.5, p<.05) and post test 3
(Mann-Whitney U: Z=2.3, p<.05). Separate analysis for each group revealed the same
pattern. However, the differences were not significant.

Qualitative analysis

Children’s stories included a variety of properties mentioned about the target words’
meaning. In addition, during their story-tellings they referred to the target items in different
ways. First, the different types of properties mentioned are analysed and then the different
ways of reference to the target word follows. The different properties mentioned in
children’s stories are presented in the following table:

Table 7.17 Types of properties mentioned in children’s stories

Type__________________

__________Example__________________________

No/ irrelevant stories
Contextual properties
Functional properties
Semantic properties

Descriptive properties______

If no or irrelevant stories were provided

E.g. where the target item can be found

If they mentioned the function of the item

If they related the target word with others from the
same semantic domain

______If they described the target item_____________________

The distribution of the properties mentioned in children’s stories is presented on figure 7.34
below.