Overall Findings

Table 4-7 shows that the overall scores for the IT Task and the MC Task achieved a significant difference (F (1, 119) = 203.767, p < .001), and the mean scores for the MC Task were higher (Mean = 0.9) than those of the IT Task (Mean = 0.68).

Table 4-7 Subjects’ Overall Performances on the IT and MC Tasks

Type M SD F p-value

IT Task 0.68 0.22 203.767 .000*

MC Task 0.9 0.12

As demonstrated in Figure 4-6, all the children did a better job on the MC task than the IT task. This is apparently shown in the performances of Grades 1 and 2 (G1: M = 0.79 > 0.44, G2: M = 0.84 > 0.56).

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Figure 4-6 Overall Performance of Each Group on the IT Task and the MC Task

Table 4-8 further indicates the within-group differences between the two task conditions.

Table 4-8 The p-values for the within-group Differences between the IT Task and the MC Task 39.741, p < .001), implying that to choose the correct meaning of lao implicitly from alternative answers was much easier than to interpret it explicitly. However, for the control group, no significant difference was found between the scores for the two task conditions (F (1, 28) = 5.63, p > .05).

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Regarding the between-group comparison on the IT Task, the older children (G4 and G5) performed significantly better than the younger children (G1 to G3) and the control group significantly outperformed the experimental groups (p < .001), showing that the ability to explicitly interpret the word meaning would increase with the growth of age. G4 and G5 performed on the MC Task similarly to the control group (p

> .05) and they significantly outperformed the younger children (G1 to G3).

In addition to the overall tendency, a closer look at the task effects on each issue are discussed below. Firstly, a comparison of the literal and non-literal meanings of lao in the two tasks are shown in Figures 4-7 and 4-8.

Figure 4-7 A Comparison of the Literal Meaning in the Two Task Conditions

Figure 4-8 A Comparison of the Non-literal Meaning in the Two Task Conditions

The results showed that the mean scores for the literal meaning of lao significantly higher than that for the non-literal meanings of lao (PT: p < .001, CT: p

G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 Control

IT Task-Mean 0.93 0.83 0.98 0.98 0.93 0.95

-SD 0.14 0.2 0.75 0.07 0.14 0.12

MC Task-Mean 0.92 0.95 0.95 0.97 0.92 1

-SD 0.15 0.12 0.16 0.11 0.15 0

0.20 0.40.6 0.81

G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 Control

IT Task-Mean 0.32 0.49 0.53 0.66 0.71 1

-SD 0.19 0.16 0.19 0.15 0.17 0.02

MC Task-Mean 0.76 0.82 0.86 0.98 0.97 0.97

-SD 0.17 0.16 0.12 0.03 0.05 0.05

0.20 0.40.6 0.81

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< .001). Regardless of the literal or non-literal meaning of lao, it was found that the children in our study could recognize the meanings of lao better than interpret them.

Figure 4-8 indicates that the IT Task was especially challenging for our subjects to accomplish whereas the MC Task was fairly easy.

Turning to the task effect on the transparent and opaque meaning, we found there was a significant difference between the two non-literal meanings of lao on the IT Task (F (1, 119) = 112.343, p < .001) while no difference in the two meanings was found in the MC Task (p > .05). Regardless of the subjects‟ performances on the transparent or opaque meaning of lao, the MC Task was found easier than the IT Task.

Specifically, the task effect was obvious when the subjects processed the opaque meaning of lao, showing that the MC Task was extremely easy to deal with, as shown in Figures 4-9 and 4-10.

Figure 4-9 A Comparison of the Transparent Meaning in the Two Task Conditions among Groups

G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 Control

IT Task-Mean 0.49 0.70 0.71 0.75 0.8 1

-SD 0.29 0.25 0.22 0.2 0.2 0

MC Task-Mean 0.77 0.83 0.85 0.97 1 0.98

-SD 0.2 0.24 0.15 0.07 0 0.05

0.20 0.40.6 0.81

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Figure 4-10 A Comparison of the Opaque Meaning in the Two Task Conditions among Groups

With regard to the task effect on lao with animate and inanimate NPs, a significant difference was found between the animate and inanimate NPs in the IT Task (F (1, 119) = 128.962, p < .001) as well as in the MC Task (F (1, 119) = 32.831, p < .001). As shown in Figures 4-12 and 4-13, the children‟s mean scores for the MC Task on the inanimate NPs were higher than those for the IT Task. The fairly low scores for the IT Task indicated that the meanings of lao-inanimate NPs were inherently difficult for the children in our study to interpret.

Figure 4-11 A Comparison of Animate Lao NPs in the Two Task Conditions among Groups

G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 Control

IT Task-Mean 0.14 0.28 0.34 0.58 0.63 0.99

-SD 0.11 0.15 0.23 0.19 0.22 0.37

MC Task-Mean 0.76 0.8 0.88 1 0.94 0.92

-SD 0.23 0.18 0.13 0 0.1 0.9

0.20 0.40.6 0.81

Mean Scores

G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 Control

IT Task-Mean 0.41 0.65 0.63 0.82 0.83 1

-SD 0.23 0.19 0.25 0.19 0.22 0

MC Task-Mean 0.87 0.89 0.88 1 0.99 0.99

-SD 0.23 0.19 0.18 0 0.04 0.04

0.20 0.40.6 0.81

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Figure 4-12 A Comparison of Inanimate lao NPs in the Two Task Conditions among Groups

4.4.2 General Discussion

Previous studies have claimed that a multiple-choice task is considerably easier to accomplish than an explanation task (Prinz 1983, Nippold 1989, Levorato and Cacciari 1995). In the present study, the subjects performed significantly better on the MC Task than on the IT Task, which is consistent with previous research. However, some studies considered using multiple-choice questions to measure whether children acquired the meanings of words to be “useless at best and dangerous at worst” since they may guess or use other non-linguistic strategies to choose the answer. As a matter of fact, the present study adopted an additional measure as a second assessment: an interpretation task. The IT Task in the present study focused on the interpretation of the meanings of the target item lao rather than elicited the production of lao-phrases.

Based on previous literature, the ability to recognize the correct meaning is acquired prior to the ability to explain the meaning, and to recognize the meaning is regarded as a prerequisite for the meaning interpretation (Levorato and Cacciari 1995).

Therefore, the present results support this claim in that the mean scores for the MC Task were significantly higher than those for the IT Task. It was predicted that the children might know what the meaning was by choosing from alternative answers

G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 Control

IT Task-Mean 0.23 0.33 0.42 0.51 0.59 0.99

-SD 0.2 0.18 0.2 0.17 0.18 0.37

MC Task-Mean 0.66 0.74 0.84 0.97 0.95 0.91

-SD 0.25 0.23 0.16 0.69 0.1 0.85

0.20 0.40.6 0.81

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whereas to explain how the meaning was required a higher level of cognitive process or so-called the meta-linguistic ability. Nippold (1989) stated that the interpretation task imposes enormous meta-linguistic demands on children. In addition, other linguistic skills beyond the knowledge of the word are required to interpret the word meanings (Dockrell and Messer 2004). Thus, it was more challenging for the young children in our study who still lacked the meta-linguistic awareness to interpret the meaning of lao (IT Task: G1: M = 0.44, G2: M = 0.56).

Overall speaking, it has been found that sharp difference of type effect occurred particularly when children comprehended (1) the non-literal meaning of lao, (2) the opaque meaning of lao, and (3) the inanimate NP with lao. First, the non-literal meaning of lao posed a great difficulty for children due to its abstract, hardly referential, and less frequent feature as a marked form in the Markedness Theory. Also, it was suggested that the historical origin as well as the remote distance from the human personal experience in the conceptualization scale presented challenges for children to acquire the opaque meaning. Moreover, the children failed to comprehend lao with the inanimate NPs due to the violation of the animacy constraint in which the inanimate nouns were semantically incompatible with the state of maturation denoted by lao. These types shared a common difficulty that they all required a heavy demand of cognitive process. The subjects would need to pay more attention and bear greater cognitive load in processing these difficult types of lao. As a result, even though both the IT Task and the MC Task assessed their comprehension ability, the type effect was still apparent since the difficulties were essentially arisen from aforementioned types of lao. Besides, the innate characteristic of the IT Task that the interpretation required a higher level of cognitive process also raised challenges for the children.

Regarding the adults‟ performances on two tasks, it was found that their scores

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on the IT Task were generally higher than that on the MC Task (Inanimate: IT Task:

M = 0.99; MC Task: M = 0.91), indicating that they possessed the meta-linguistic ability to interpret the meanings beyond the literal senses. The reason why their scores on the MC Task were lower than the IT Task might be attributed to the ambiguous nature of alternative answers. Some adults tended to choose the answers that were close but not entirely correct. For example, lao difang „a long-existing place‟ on the MC Task has three options: (1) laoren zhu de „a living place for elders,‟ (2) dajia zhidao de „a place that speakers know,‟ (3) henyou lishi de „a place with rich histories.‟

The correct answer is (2), and yet the adults in the study tended to choose (3).

With respect to the performances between different types on the two tasks, the results showed no significant difference in the MC Task between transparent and opaque non-literal meanings of lao, suggesting that the scores for the IT Task are more genuine and concrete as an indicator for the language acquisition. It was suggested that in addition to the depth of word knowledge and the ability to detect meanings of idioms, the full acquisition of the idioms was not found until the idioms could be explained (Karuppali and Bhat 2012). For example, although a significant level of the scores was achieved in the MC Task between literal and non-literal meanings of lao, the scores were not sharply different from those for the IT Task (as in Figure 4-7). To conclude, during the acquisition of figurative expressions lao in Chinese, the MC Task was found easier and prior to the IT Task.