definition (Wilcoxon: Z=3.5, p<.0005) and Lexical contrast groups (Wilcoxon: Z-2.2,
p<.05).

During post test 3, the Definition group referred to the target words significantly more times
than the Control (Wilcoxon: Z=4.3, p<.0000) the Phonological Control (Wilcoxon: Z= 4.4,
p<.0000) and the Ostensive definition groups (Wilcoxon: Z=3.9, p<.0005). In addition, the
Lexical contrast group referred to the target words significantly more times than the Control
(Wilcoxon: Z=2.4, p<.05) and the Phonological control groups (Wilcoxon: Z=2.4, p<.05).
No significant differences were found between the Control groups, as well as between the
Control groups and the Ostensive definition group.

Types of reference to the target words

How children referred to the target words during their story-tellings was investigated. Four
different types of reference were identified: (a) Use of the target word', e.g “One day the
ostrich went to the forest....”; (b) Use of a synonym', e.g. “There was a long spoon and a little
lady makes a soup....”; (c) Use ofpronouns', e.g. “This is in the kitchen.....”; (d) Use of other

references', e.g. “The thing is in the kitchen....) Table 7.18 presents which types of references
children used.

Table 7.18 Distribution of children’s references to the target word during the story
task

Most of the children did not refer to the target words. However, when they did refer to the
target words they mostly used the target word across testing. Statistical analysis revealed that
across testing they referred to the target item by using the target word significantly more
frequently than the synonyms (Wilcoxon: Pl: Z= 4.1, p<.0000; P2: Z= 4.5, p<.0000; P3: Z

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