Two-Questions Vocabulary Assessment: Developing a New Method for Group Testing in Kindergarten through Second Grade

Abstract

Methods of primary grades vocabulary assessment are inadequate for classroom teachers and researchers because they require one-on-one testing and much time. This study validates a new method of vocabulary assessment for use with a whole classroom at one time. With an individually-administered vocabulary test and a group-administered test created with the same words, we assessed 257 students in K-2 using both methods. Results showed that the group method yielded reasonable correlations with the one-on-one method (r=.69 to .75). This group method can now be used by primary grades teachers and researchers to quickly assess general vocabulary and instructed word meanings. This study describes an effort to validate a new and more practical method for assessing primary-grade vocabulary knowledge, which can be used with groups of students or with whole classes. The authors sought evidence that the method is reasonably accurate when compared with results obtained with a widely used individually administered vocabulary test for primarygrade children. If the new group method, called the “Two-Questions” method, could be shown to yield reasonably valid estimates of word meaning knowledge, it could be used to assess both general vocabulary knowledge and gains in vocabulary taught within the classroom. For this study, we selected word meaning items from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III, Form A (PPVT-III) (Dunn & Dunn, 1997) for use in the whole class assessment with the Two-Questions method. In each classroom our Two-Questions Vocabulary Measure (TQVM) was first administered to the whole class. The PPVT was then administered individually to those children for whom parental permission had been obtained. Group test results were not known prior to administering the PPVT-III. We assessed 259 students from 24 Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 classrooms in three New England elementary schools with both measures to provide validation for the new group assessment method. The students and the schools are described, as are the two measures and their use. The need for the new method of assessing vocabulary for students in grades K–2 and the process used to create the measure are explained. The results of the scores on the group test and their correlation with the scores on the individually administered test are presented. We also discuss how the new Two-Questions method may be used to assess general vocabulary on an occasional basis and vocabulary taught in the classroom on an ongoing basis. Suggestions are provided for improving the method and for using this new assessment method to increase student achievement in reading beyond the primary grades.