Development of Word Definition Skill in Persian-speaking 54-90-Month-Olds

Objectives: Word definition skill is a complex language ability in which meta-linguistic awareness and literacy skills play a critical role. The present study examined the development of word definition skills in Persian-speaking children aged 4.5 to 7.5 years, concerning content and form aspects. Methods: This was a cross-sectional and analytic-descriptive study. The study subjects were 107 children of three age groups, as follows: 54-65-month-olds, 66-77-month-olds, and 78-90-month-olds. The study participants were selected from kindergartens and schools in districts 1, 7, and 17 of Tehran City, Iran, by multi-stage sampling method. In the word definition task, children were requested to define the words. To analyze the obtained data, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used. Results: The obtained results indicated that the mean score of content (P=0.001) and form (P=.002) aspects of word definition significantly increased with age in the study participants. Discussion: A shift from functional and objective responses towards meta-linguistic definitions, i.e. further developed in terms of content and form, was observed with aging. At the age of 7 years, definitions reflect the hierarchical nature of nouns, and applying the class name begins at this age. The age of reaching a specific class seems to be affected by the lexical category.