Why do students and teachers like vocabulary tests?Is the popularity justified?

Arthur McNeill(lcamcneill@ust.hk)

Outline of presentation

1. Brief examination of three popular tests2. Some vocabulary assessment principles3. To what extent do the popular tests

contribute to vocabulary learning?4. New directions

Current situation

Three dominant tests

1. Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) (Nation 1990)2. Swansea Vocabulary Levels Test (X-Lex)

(Meara & Milton 2003)3. Lexical Frequency Profile (LFP) (Laufer &

Nation 1995)

TEST 1: VLT

TEST 2: X-LEX

TEST 3: LFP

Three dimensions of vocabulary assessment (Read 2000)

DiscreteA measure of vocabulary knowledge or use as an independent construct 

EmbeddedA measure of vocabulary which forms part of the assessment of some other, larger construct

SelectiveA measure in which specific vocabulary items are the focus of the assessment

ComprehensiveA measure which takes account of the whole vocabulary content of the material (reading/listening tasks) or the test-taker’s response (writing/speaking tasks) 

Context-independentA vocabulary measure in which the test-taker can produce the expected response without referring to any context

Context-dependentA vocabulary measure which assesses the test-taker’s ability to take account of contextual information in order to produce the expected response

A framework for vocabulary testing (Read & Chapelle 2001)

TEST PURPOSE Inferences Uses Intended impacts

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VALIDITY Construct Relevance Actual

CONSIDERATIONS validity and utility consequences

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MEDIATING Construct Performance Test

FACTORS definition summary and presentation

reporting

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TEST DESIGN Decisions about the dimensions

Discrete – Embedded

Selective – Comprehensive

Context-independent – Context-dependent

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VALIDATION Arguments based on theory, evidence and consequences

Criticism of vocabulary assessment

“…vocabulary assessment is grossly undernourished, both in its theoretical and practical aspects – it has been driven by tradition, convenience, psychometric standards, and a quest for economy of effort rather than a clear conceptualisation of its nature in relation to other aspects of reading expertise.”

Pearson, Hiebert & Kamil (2007)

Disagreement about vocabulary’s contribution to L2 proficiency

Is there a distinct vocabulary construct?

How can assessment reflect the “pervasiveness of lexical phenomena in language”?(Read & Chapelle 2001)

New Hong Kong Wordlists and Resource Pack

A CUSTOMIZED LFP?

WORD ASSOCIATIONAND ASSESSMENT?

EVERY ENCOUNTER COUNTS