Can an extended-matching second-language vocabulary test format bridge the gap between meaning-recognition and meaning-recall?

Abstract

Meaning-recognition and meaning-recall vocabulary tests are commonly used to assess knowledge of the form-meaning link as it relates to the receptive skills. Although meaning-recognition is generally more convenient, think-aloud protocols have revealed that in comparison to meaning-recall, meaning-recognition is more susceptible to blind guessing and the use of construct-irrelevant test strategies. Perhaps because of this, meaning-recall tends to be a stronger predictor of reading ability. Following Budescu (1988), this article reports on three studies that investigated an extended-matching test (EMT) format that was designed to address these limitations of meaning-recognition while retaining its convenience. An EMT with 90 target words was developed. It contained three clusters, each with a 30:130 ratio of target words to Vietnamese L2 response options. In comparison to meaning-recall criterion measures, the EMT did not meaningfully differ in terms of internal reliability, mean scores, and, importantly, the strength of the correlation with reading comprehension scores. The consistency of correct/incorrect response classifications ranged from 83 % to 86 %. These initial findings suggest that the EMT format may be used interchangeably with meaning-recall for many research purposes.