The concurrent validity of the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test for Mexican-American children

Abstract

The Expressive One-Word, Picutre Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) were administered to 50 bilingual, Mexican-American children in grades 3-5. The students' relative performance on these two vocabulary tests, as well as their error patterns, was examied. The results revealed that the EOWPVT has adequate concurrent validity with the PPVT-R, and that on both tests the students' scores were almost two standard deviations below the normative mean. The outcome indicating that the expressive vocabulary score was higher than the receptive vocabulary score is explained in terms of differences of item content and in the composition of the norm samples for the two tests. Items that generated high error rates are identified to facilitate appropriate interpretation of the EOWPVT when used with Mexican-American children.