Word Knowledge Test Research Articles

Developing a Word Family-Based Depth of Academic Word Knowledge Test

<p style="text-align:justify">Despite the continued widespread use of the academic word list, there is a paucity of comprehensive and easily replicable tests which measure learners’ depth of knowledge of academic word list items. This paper outlines the development and initial validation of a test which measures multiple aspects of learners’ knowledge of academic vocabulary. The test comprises four sections – one productive knowledge section (sentence writing), and three receptive knowledge sections (collocations, synonyms, and L1 meaning). Each section includes 30 items selected from the academic word list, 10 of which are derived forms containing one or more affixes. The test was administered to 193 Japanese students studying at a public medical university in Japan. All four sections of the test showed a high level of internal consistency. In addition, the inter-rater reliability between the two different markers for the productive use (sentence writing) section was also moderately high. Furthermore, Rasch item analysis showed that the test items were well fitted to comprehensively measure learners’ knowledge of academic vocabulary. These encouraging initial results suggest that there may be merit in the test being used, evaluated, and possibly adapted in other EAP teaching and learning contexts.</p>

The Effect of TPR Tasks on Word Knowledge of Thai Primary School Learners

Vocabulary acquisition is a fundamental element of mastering the English language, necessitating a comprehensive lexicon that evolves through experiential learning to facilitate accurate comprehension and production of language. The current study examined the impact of Total Physical Response (TPR) tasks on the vocabulary acquisition of Thai primary school students, with a particular focus on the definition of words. It also explored the students’ attitudes towards using TPR tasks for vocabulary learning. The TPR tasks were designed to engage three of the human senses—visual, auditory, and tactile—by incorporating multisensory tasks. Employing a mixed-methods research design, the study involved 27 second graders from a primary school in northeastern Thailand. The research methodology utilized three instruments. From a quantitative perspective, the Receptive Word Knowledge Test (RWKT) and the Productive Word Knowledge Test (PWKT) were administered to assess the students’ vocabulary knowledge before and after the intervention within a single-group pretest-posttest framework. Qualitatively, a focus group interview was conducted to gain deeper insight into the students’ attitudes towards participation in TPR activities. The quantitative data indicated a significant enhancement in both receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge among the participants. Furthermore, the qualitative findings highlighted the advantages of TPR tasks, with students expressing increased enthusiasm and competitive spirit and a shared willingness and pleasure in vocabulary learning through interactive tasks and peer interaction. In conclusion, this study corroborates the efficacy of TPR tasks in significantly advancing Thai primary school students’ receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge.

I don’t believe what you said before: Preschoolers retrospectively discount information from inaccurate speakers

Children use speakers’ past accuracy to make inferences about novel word meanings those individuals provide in the future. An open question is whether children can retrospectively reevaluate information after learning that the source was inaccurate. We addressed this question in two experiments where a speaker first introduced labels for novel objects and then revealed that she is either accurate or inaccurate in naming familiar objects. Experiment 1 showed that 3.5- to 6.5-year-olds displayed enhanced performance on a word knowledge test when they had learned novel words from a speaker who then showed herself to be an accurate labeler as opposed to an inaccurate labeler. Experiment 2 replicated this procedure but had a different speaker provide inaccurate label information. This manipulation did not affect learning, suggesting that children discount speakers and are not simply influenced by the demands of processing inaccurate information. Together, these results indicate that 3.5- to 6.5-year-olds continue to monitor the speakers’ accuracy after learning new words from them, update their beliefs as accuracy data become available, and selectively retain words learned from speakers who they deem to be epistemically competent.

Language impairment and comorbid vulnerabilities among young people in custody.

While the prevalence of language and communication difficulties among young people in custody is well established, holistic understanding of the complexity and co-occurrence of additional vulnerabilities among this population are rare. Ninety-three young people in a young offenders institution in England were assessed using the Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool, the Test of Word Knowledge, and a range of additional assessments of communication, cognition, and neurodevelopmental difficulties. Forty-seven percent of the young people demonstrated an aspect of language skills significantly below the population average, with more than one in four identified as having impairment. Only one in four of those with an impairment had previously accessed speech and language services. Language needs were associated with difficulties with social communication and nonverbal cognition, as well as higher risk of self-harm and substance misuse. Earlier identification of language difficulties requires routine assessment of young people at risk of engagement in offending behavior. Where language difficulties are identified, holistic assessments of needs should be undertaken. There is a need for speech and language therapy provision within youth justice services, as well as in other services accessed by young people at risk of engagement in offending.

Comprehension of Japanese oral care-related terms among caregivers and nurses, as assessed using a newly developed instrument.

(i) To assess comprehension of oral care-related terms among caregivers and nurses working at long-term care facilities, using a newly developed test; (ii) to analyse the effect of participant characteristics on their comprehension. Effective mutual communication between dental professionals and caregivers/nurses is essential for providing information on daily oral care for institutionalised elders. A 36-item word-knowledge test in Japanese was developed to assess comprehension of oral care-related terms. The test was administered to a convenience sample of 236 nursing staff (198 caregivers and 38 nurses) at six long-term care facilities in Niigata City, Japan, and its reliability and validity were verified. Associations of participant characteristics with their responses were investigated by multiple regression analysis. Mean percentage of correct responses (accuracy rate) for nursing staff was approximately 62% (highest for oral care products and lowest for prosthodontic terms). Test internal reliability was high (Cronbach's alpha >0.8). Concurrent validity (test ability to distinguish between characteristically different groups) was confirmed. Mean accuracy rate was significantly higher among nurses (78.5 ± 19.3%) than among caregivers (58.7 ± 22.8%), and among respondents with interest in oral care (64.2 ± 21.1%) than among those with no such interest (51.5 ± 28.9%). The word-knowledge test was valid and reliable for nursing staff of six long-term care facilities in Niigata City. Their comprehension was low for perioral and intraoral structures, related symptom and disease names, and prosthodontics terms related to oral care. Understanding of oral care-related terms among the nursing staff was related to their occupation and interest in oral care.

Adults with poor reading skills: How lexical knowledge interacts with scores on standardized reading comprehension tests

Millions of adults in the United States lack the necessary literacy skills for most living wage jobs. For students from adult learning classes, we used a lexical decision task to measure their knowledge of words and we used a decision-making model (Ratcliff’s, 1978, diffusion model) to abstract the mechanisms underlying their performance from their RTs and accuracy. We also collected scores for each participant on standardized IQ tests and standardized reading tests used commonly in the education literature. We found significant correlations between the model’s estimates of the strengths with which words are represented in memory and scores for some of the standardized tests but not others. The findings point to the feasibility and utility of combining a test of word knowledge, lexical decision, that is well-established in psycholinguistic research, a decision-making model that supplies information about underlying mechanisms, and standardized tests. The goal for future research is to use this combination of approaches to understand better how basic processes relate to standardized tests with the eventual aim of understanding what these tests are measuring and what the specific difficulties are for individual, low-literacy adults.

Word knowledge as predictive of linguistic creative behaviors

The aim of this study was to explore the predictive validity of word knowledge as one of the hypothesized domain-relevant components for linguistic creativity. The study included 99 students of university teacher studies in their fourth and fifth (final) year of study, aged 22 to 24, from one city in the Republic of Croatia. The instruments used in this study included a word knowledge test (VerT) and a questionnaire on general creativity self-assessments, as well as specific, behaviorally operationalized linguistic creativity focusing on productivity (Linguistic creativity scale, LCS-15 ; α = .84), and other reading and writing related measures. The results showed that the broad factors of self-assessed Artistic and Everyday creativity combined with the corresponding tested verbal domain specific knowledge of the infrequent words descriptive of social statuses and processes, significantly predicted the behaviorally operationalized linguistic creativity score (LCS-15). This suggests that not only what one generally believed of oneself and one's creativity, but also what one objectively and specifically knew, significantly predicted the linguistic creative productivity. This study adds to the currently lacking knowledge on the role of domain-relevant processes, such as domain-specific verbal knowledge, in linguistic creative work.

Performance of Younger and Older Adults on Tests of Word Knowledge and Word Retrieval: Independence or Interdependence of Skills?

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between vocabulary knowledge and word retrieval in younger and older adults. Three tests of word retrieval and 2 tests of word knowledge were administered to 140 Hebrew-speaking adults, half of whom were younger (M(age) = 24.20 years) and half of whom were older (M(age) = 74.83 years). Younger adults outperformed older adults on tests of retrieval, whereas older adults outperformed younger adults on tests of vocabulary, and no association was found between the 2 skills across the entire sample. Once age and education were taken into account, both skills contributed to the prediction of each other and were similarly related within each group. Older adults performed equally well when required to produce and recognize word meanings, whereas younger adults were better at recognition than at production. Older age is associated with better knowledge and with retrieval difficulties, yet individual differences in vocabulary within each age group affect level of retrieval, and variability in search skills affects performance on vocabulary tests. Although the assessment of vocabulary is not free of retrieval demands, older adults as a group are more successful than are younger adults at producing word definitions, most likely because their knowledge is more complete.

Once upon a time, there was a fabulous funambulist…: what children learn about the “high-level” vocabulary they encounter while listening to stories

Previous research has shown that listening to stories supports vocabulary growth in preschool and school-aged children and that lexical entries for even very difficult or rare words can be established if these are defined when they are first introduced. However, little is known about the nature of the lexical representations children form for the words they encounter while listening to stories, or whether these are sufficiently robust to support the child's own use of such “high-level” vocabulary. This study explored these questions by administering multiple assessments of children's knowledge about a set of newly-acquired vocabulary. Four- and six-year-old children were introduced to nine difficult new words (including nouns, verbs and adjectives) through three exposures to a story read by their class teacher. The story included a definition of each new word at its first encounter. Learning of the target vocabulary was assessed by means of two tests of semantic understanding—a forced choice picture-selection task and a definition production task—and a grammaticality judgment task, which asked children to choose between a syntactically-appropriate and syntactically-inappropriate usage of the word. Children in both age groups selected the correct pictorial representation and provided an appropriate definition for the target words in all three word classes significantly more often than they did for a matched set of non-exposed control words. However, only the older group was able to identify the syntactically-appropriate sentence frames in the grammaticality judgment task. Further analyses elucidate some of the components of the lexical representations children lay down when they hear difficult new vocabulary in stories and how different tests of word knowledge might overlap in their assessment of these components.

Recovery of Cognitive Function After Traumatic Brain Injury: A Multilevel Modeling Analysis of Canadian Outcomes

Christensen B, Colella B, Inness E, Hebert D, Monette G, Bayley M, Green RE. Recovery of cognitive function after traumatic brain injury: a multilevel modeling analysis of Canadian outcomes. Objective To ascertain patterns of cognitive recovery during the first year after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Specifically, differential recovery across cognitive domains was investigated. Design Prospective, longitudinal, naturalistic, 1-year follow-up study. Setting Large, urban inpatient neurorehabilitation program. Participants Patients (N=75) with moderate to severe TBI. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Patients with TBI were followed over the course of 1 year, during which participants' neuropsychological status was repeatedly evaluated at 3 time points (2, 5, and 12 months postinjury). Results Multilevel modeling results were consistent with previous research, demonstrating that recovery in the first year postinjury is asymptotic in nature, with more accelerated recovery occurring during the first 5 to 6 months. Importantly, results also suggest that recovery is not uniform across cognitive domains. From 2 to 5 months postinjury, steeper recovery curves were revealed for indices of memory, speeded executive function, verbal abstraction, and manual dexterity relative to untimed tests of executive function and word knowledge. Recovery trajectories did not significantly vary as a function of cognitive domain over the course of the last 5 to 12 months. Conclusions These results are the first to explore trajectories of recovery directly as a function of multiple cognitive domains. They are expected to have implications for rehabilitative efforts as well as our understanding of the architecture of natural recovery after TBI.

Reasons for the growth of traditional memory span across age

Three studies, covering together the age range from 3 to 16 years, show the relationships between age, short-term memory span, and language abilities. The growth of the traditional memory span in childhood is systematically related to a concomitant growth of language abilities as tested with CELF-3 Screening, two tests of word knowledge, a test of reception of grammar (TROG-2), and the British Picture Vocabulary Test (BPVS). Linear regression and ANCOVA analyses show that the growth of memory span is fully explained by the growth of language abilities in the three studies that covered different subsamples of children. In a confirmatory factor analysis a two-factor model fits the data well and shows that a “crystallised” language factor is strongly related to age, whereas a “fluid” short-term memory factor is unrelated to age. The two-factor model gives support to Baddeley's multicomponent model of working memory, and the current data suggest that the capacity of the phonological store is fully developed in children younger than 4 years old. The authors hold that chunking capacity, highly dependent on language abilities, is a major source of memory span growth with age. Rather than an increase in the number of chunks, or episodes retained in short-term memory (=chunk span), it is argued that childhood memory span development reflects an increase in the size of each chunk (=chunking capacity).

Developmental Screening/Testing Coding Fact Sheet for Primary Care Pediatricians

Developmental Screening/Testing Coding Fact Sheet for Primary Care Pediatricians

Expressive and receptive vocabulary in children with Williams and Down syndromes

Williams (WS) and Down syndromes (DS) are two genetic disorders that involve intellectual disability (ID) and have been extensively studied over the past decades because of the unique linguistic profiles they exhibit. Recent investigations seek to explore the fractionation of linguistic components within the cognitive system using genetically based neurodevelopmental disorders such as WS and DS and to identify different profiles of linguistic function in these two groups of individuals. The 'expressive vocabulary', 'receptive vocabulary', 'word opposites' and 'word definitions' subtests (Level 1) of the Test of Word Knowledge (TOWK) were used to assess lexical skills in six children with WS and five children with DS. Our findings indicate that the two syndromes exhibit substantial differences on linguistic tasks with individuals with WS performing at a higher level compared to those with DS and producing atypical responses in word definitions. The pattern of errors for each syndrome is qualitatively different suggesting that their underlying linguistic mechanisms are distinctive even though ID is similar. This study supports the differential outcome of two chromosomal disorders with similar ID. It also argues in favour of the large within group variability of the two syndromes that is not related to mental age but rather to different underlying mechanisms supporting language. These findings are discussed in the light of the current evidence concerning linguistic knowledge of neurodevelopmental and genetic disorders.

Complex language functions and subcortical mechanisms: evidence from Huntington's disease and patients with non-thalamic subcortical lesions.

The neuropathological changes associated with Huntington's disease (HD) are most marked in the head of the caudate nucleus and, to a lesser extent, in the putamen and globus pallidus, suggesting that at least part of the language impairments found in patients with HD may result from non-thalamic subcortical (NTS) pathology. The present study aimed to test the hypothesis that a signature profile of impaired language functions is found in patients who have sustained damage to the non-thalamic subcortex, either focally induced or resulting from neurodegenerative pathology. The language abilities of a group of patients with Huntington's disease (n=13) were compared with those of an age- and education-matched group of patients with chronic NTS lesions following stroke (n=13) and a non-neurologically impaired control group (n=13). The three groups were compared on language tasks that assessed both primary and more complex language abilities. The primary language battery consisted of The Western Aphasia Battery and The Boston Naming Test, whilst the more complex cognitive-linguistic battery employed selected subtests from The Test of Language Competence - Expanded, The Test of Word Knowledge and The Word Test - Revised. On many of the tests of primary language function from the Western Aphasia Battery, both the HD and NTS participants performed in a similar manner to the control participants. The language performances of the HD participants were significantly more impaired (p<0.05 using modified Bonferroni adjustments) than the control group, however, on various lexico-semantic tasks (e.g. the Boston Naming Test and providing definitions), on both single-word and sentence-level generative tasks (e.g. category fluency and formulating sentences), and on tasks which required interpretation of ambiguous, figurative and inferential meaning. The difficulties that patients with HD experienced with tasks assessing complex language abilities were strikingly similar, both qualitatively and quantitatively, to the language profile produced by NTS participants. The results provide evidence to suggest that a signature language profile is associated with damage to the non-thalamic subcortex resulting from either focal neurological insult or a degenerative disease.

Receptive and expressive language skills of children with five years of experience using a cochlear implant.

The language of 7 children who had used a cochlear implant for 5 years was evaluated by means of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-3, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, and the Expressive Vocabulary Subtest of the Test of Word Knowledge. All subjects demonstrated impaired skills relative to normal-hearing children on 1 or more subtests. Variability in performance occurred between subjects and within subjects across subtests. Strengths in semantic skills were evident compared to weaker syntactic and morphological abilities. The nature of the subjects' language impairments is considered with reference to language delay and specific language impairment. The findings support the need for further evaluation of the rate and course of development of language subskills. Investigation of the influences of information processing, and learning styles and strategies, on children's outcomes is also warranted. These findings have implications for implementation of optimal habilitation and education programs for children with cochlear implants.

Diepe Woordkennis als Maat Voor Algemene Taalvaardigheid?

This paper describes an investigation into the relation between the results of a newly developed test of deep word knowledge (DWK) and a series of other word knowledge tests as well as a writing task. The DWK consists of 63 items constructed along the following model: one stimulus plus 6 responses. Each stimulus belongs to one of five frequency classes. The responses are not less frequent than the stimulus word. Students are to pick out the responses which bear a relationship to the stimulus word. Dutch students studying French in their first, second and third year and 26 French 17-year-old high school pupils took the test. The result showed that it has a strong discriminatory power between the groups. The results of the DWK were compared to a broad word knowledge test administered to the first-year students and yielded a high and significant correlation. Comparison with another deep word knowledge test, based on the EURALEX French tests and administered to the third-year students, showed a smaller and non significant correlation. This lower correlation may be due to the greater homogeneity of the group of third-year students. The first- and third-year students did a written assignment, which was scored along a rough scoring model. A t-test showed that the third-year students performed significantly better than the first-year ones. Correlations between the scores of the deep word knowledge test and the writing task were found to be high and significant. This is mainly due to the correlation for the first-year students. The smaller correlation for the third-year group is possibly due to the greater homogeneity. Another explanation could be that the scores for writing for third-year students are more strongly influenced by factors other than word knowledge such as style, text structure and text markers, as well as more complex sentences. It could also be the case that the third-year students' texts show a lexical richness, including rare words, which is not covered by the DWK

Het Toetsen van Diepe Woordkennis in een Vreemde Taal

In this article, we report on the construction of a test of deep word knowledge in French as a second language that can be used at advanced levels of proficiency. By 'deep word knowledge' we mean the knowledge of the semantic network of L2-words; our test focuses on the knowledge of the relations between L2-words and the words semantically related to each of these words; part of this is the knowledge of different meanings of polysemous words. In our test, each item consists of an L2-word, i.e. the item word, accompanied by six other L2-words that have or do not have a semantic relation with the item word. The testee has to mark the semantically related words. These relations may be paradigmatic (i.e. cases of synonymy, antonymy, or hyponymy) or syntagmatic (i.e. collocations, ?art-whole relations, or defining terms). The test was pretested on students of different university levels, i.e. advanced and near native students, and also on several reference groups of real native students. The results of the pretest showed the fairly good discriminatingpower of the test: differences between the mean scores of the groups of advanced, near native and native students proved to be significant. The test even discriminates between different levels of native proficiency (the french equivalents of ??, ?A and highschool students). The reliability (Cronbachs a) was estimated separately for the groups of advanced and near native students and proved satisfactory: .84 and .88 respectively. The data of the pretest administration was used in an item analysis procedure to modify and improve the test and to give it its final form. In the near future we will investigate the relationship between the deep word knowledge our test measures and scores on tests of broad, quantitative word knowledge; furthermore we will investigate the power of these two kinds of vocabulary scores to predict integrated language skills, in particular writing ability.

English in Hong Kong: a preliminary study of the ACERWord Knowledge Test – Form F and the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices as indicators of verbal reasoning ability and abstract reasoning ability among Hong Kong university students

The standard of English of Hong Kong students is a matter of considerable debate. Academics, business people and others bemoan the deterioration of English-speaking skills and the declining quality of students. Explanations for this situation include the introduction of mass education, the lack of trained English teachers and an exam-centred curriculum. Yet, little research has been undertaken concerning student intellectual ability and English skills. This short report examines the English skills of 146 undergraduates using the ACER Word Knowledge Test - Form F , and their abstract reasoning ability using Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices. The results show that Hong Kong students, while low in English skills are superior in intelligence. Although exploratory and subject to qualification, the research has implications for the teaching and continued use of English in Hong Kong schools and universities.

Book Review: Test of Word Knowledge

Book Review: Test of Word Knowledge

Testing word knowledge by telephone to estimate general cognitive aptitude using an adaptive test

A computerized adaptive test of word knowledge was administered over the telephone by reading items and response alternatives to 144 individuals who had recently enlisted in the U.S. Army and had completed the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). The ASVAB was developed to assess the trainability of potential recruits and ASVAB data are used to compute Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) scores. Subject responses were entered into a computer by a telephone interviewer, thereby allowing the computerized adaptive test program to accurately estimate individual differences by presenting approximately 10 verbal items. The Telephone Test and the AFQT scores correlated .66 in this sample, and a population correlation of .81 was estimated based on the bivariate correction for range restriction. A confirmatory factor analysis supported a four factor solution with the Telephone Test loading at a very high level (.91) on a Verbal factor, which had a substantial loading (.72) on Psychometric g. The correlations, factor loadings and administration time (5 to 10 minutes) indicate that the procedure provides an excellent measure of crystallized verbal aptitude that could be incorporated into telephone interviews and used to estimate general cognitive aptitude.