Table 5 Mean scores and standard deviation scores of each item of the expressive part of the Arabic semantic test among the 4 participating age groups and comparison between them using the one-way ANOVA test
Items of the expressive semantic | Total scores | Test scores among the studied 4 age groups (mean ± SD) | t-score | p-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Group 1 (2–< 2.6 y) (n = 30) | Group 2 (2.6–< 3 y) (n = 30) | Group 3 (3–< 3.6 y) (n = 30) | Group 4 (3.6–< 4 y) (n = 30) | ||||
I. Identification of lexical semantic classes | 153 | 83.1 ± 30.4 | 112.9 ± 12.9 | 125.5 ± 15.2 | 132.6 ± 11.5 | 55.444 | 0.000** |
1) Nouns under different semantic classes | 131 | 73.2 ± 25.2 | 98.8 ± 11.6 | 107.7 ± 13.2 | 114.33 ± 9.7 | 32.660 | 0.000** |
2) Action verbs | 12 | 7.03 ± 3.5 | 9.4 ± 1.6 | 10.8 ± 1.4 | 11.00 ± 1.02 | 54.671 | 0.000** |
3) Adjectives | 10 | 2.9 ± 3.17 | 4.8 ± 2.2 | 7.0 ± 1.9 | 7.30 ± 2.12 | 42.655 | 0.000** |
II. Identify basic concepts | 8 | 1.2 ± 1.56 | 2.4 ± 1.5 | 3.3 ± 1.9 | 3.27 ± 1.62 | 23.594 | 0.000** |
1) Time concept | 4 | 0.6 ± 1.28 | 0.7 ± 0.8 | 1.3 ± 1.4 | 1.00 ± 1.34 | 5.772 | 0.123 |
2) Space concept | 4 | 0.6 ± 0.86 | 1.7 ± 1.1 | 2.0 ± 1.11 | 2.27 ± 0.69 | 37.352 | 0.000** |
III. Identify the name of a certain prototype | 3 | 0.3 ± 0.80 | 0.6 ± 0.7 | 1.6 ± 1.2 | 1.73 ± 1.11 | 35.328 | 0.000** |
IV. Categorization | 3 | 0.00 ± 0.00 | 0.3 ± 0.7 | 1.03 ± 1.1 | 1.27 ± 1.11 | 36.410 | 0.000** |
V. Word relations | 22 | 5.70 ± 5.94 | 11.1 ± 4.9 | 12.9 ± 3.7 | 14.10 ± 3.27 | 35.102 | 0.000** |
1) Antonyms | 11 | 2.60 ± 3.04 | 4.9 ± 2.8 | 5.3 ± 1.8 | 6.33 ± 1.97 | 33.584 | 0.000** |
2) Reverse verbs | 11 | 3.10 ± 3.08 | 6.2 ± 2.72 | 7.6 ± 2.4 | 7.77 ± 1.77 | 36.617 | 0.000** |
Test expressive scores | 189 | 90.33 ± 35.66 | 127.4 ± 17.4 | 144.3 ± 19.5 | 153.0 ± 14.5 | 58.119 | 0.000** |