Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

In this paper the author argues that issues of construct validity should be given more prominence in the validation of lexical test items. One way of determining the construct validity of vocabulary items is to interview subjects directly after taking the items to ascertain what is actually known about the target words in question. This approach was combined with the framework of lexical competency proposed by Nation (1990) in an exploratory study which investigated the behaviour of lexical items on TOEFL. In individual interviews, six TOEFL vocabulary items were given to 30 pre-university international students who were then questioned about their knowledge of the target words’ associations, grammatical properties, collocations and various meaning senses. The results suggest that the type of item currently employed in TOEFL does not adequately reflect association, grammatical and collocational knowledge, and that even meaning knowledge is not captured as well as might be hoped. This indicates that the field could benefit from deeper exploration of what vocabulary test items are actually measuring.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alderson, J. C. , Clapham, C. M. and Steel, D. 1997: Metalinguistic knowledge, language aptitude, and language proficiency . Language Teaching Research 1, 93-121 .

Alexander, R. 1982: What’s in a four-letter word? Word meaning in English and second language learning . Die Neueren Sprachen 81, 219-224 .

Bachman, L. F. 1990: Fundamental considerations in language testing. New York: Oxford University Press .

Blum-Kulka, S. 1981: Learning to use words: acquiring semantic competence in a second language. In Nahir, M. , editor, Hebrew Teaching and Applied Linguistics. Washington DC: University Press of America .

Chapelle, C. A. 1994: Are C-tests valid measures for L2 vocabulary research? Second Language Research 10, 157-187 .

COBUILD English Learner’s Dictionary 1989: London: Collins .

Henning, G. 1991: A study of the effects of contextualization and familiarization on responses to the TOEFL vocabulary test items. TOEFL Research Reports, 35. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service .

Huckin, T. , Haynes, M. and Coady, J. 1993: Second Language Reading and Vocabulary Learning. Norwood, NJ: Ablex .

Laufer, B. 1992: Reading in a foreign language: how does L2 lexical knowledge interact with the reader’s general academic ability? Journal of Research in Reading 15, 95-103 .

10.

Laufer, B. and Nation, P. 1995: Vocabulary size and use: lexical richness in L2 written production . Applied Linguistics 16, 307-322 .

11.

Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture 1992: Harlow: Longman .

12.

Meara, P. 1992: EFL Vocabulary Tests. Swansea: Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Wales .

13.

Meara, P. 1996: The dimensions of lexical competence. In Brown, G. , Malmkjær, K. and Williams, J. , editors, Competence and performance in language learning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .

14.

Meara, P. and Buxton, B. 1987: An alternative to multiple choice vocabulary tests . Language Testing 4, 142-151 .

15.

Meara, P. and Jones, G. 1990: The Eurocentres Vocabulary Size Test. 10K. Zurich: Eurocentres .

16.

Messick, S. A. 1989: Validity. In Linn, R. L. , editor, Educational measurement, 3rd edn, New York: American Council on Education/Macmillan Publishing Company .

17.

Nation, I. S. P. 1990: Teaching and learning vocabulary. New York: Newbury House .

18.

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 1995: Oxford: Oxford University Press .

19.

Perkins, K. , Brutten, S. R. and Gass, S. M. 1996: An investigation of patterns of discontinuous learning: implications for ESL measurement . Language Testing 13, 63-82 .

20.

Perkins, K. and Linnville, S. E. 1987: A construct definition study of a standardized ESL vocabulary test . Language Testing 4, 125-141 .

21.

Pike, L. W. 1979: An evaluation of alternative item formats for testing English as a foreign language. TOEFL Research Reports, 2. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service .

22.

Postman, L. and Keppel, G. 1970: Norms of word association. New York: Academic Press .

23.

Read, J. 1993: The development of a new measure of L2 vocabulary knowledgeg . Language Testing 10, 355-371 .

24.

Read, J. 1997: Vocabulary and testing. In Schmitt, N. and McCarthy, M. , editors, Vocabulary: description, acquisition, and pedagogy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .

25.

Richards, J. C. 1976: The role of vocabulary teaching . TESOL Quarterly 10, 77-89 .

26.

Schedl, M. , Thomas, N. and Way, W. 1995: An investigation of proposed revisions to Section 3 of the TOEFL test. TOEFL Research Reports, 47. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service .

27.

Schmitt, N. 1995: A fresh approach to vocabulary using a word knowledge framework . RELC Journal 26, 86-94 .

28.

Schmitt, N. 1998a: Tracking the incremental acquisition of second language vocabulary: a longitudinal study . Language Learning 48, 281-317 .

29.

Schmitt, N. 1998b: Quantifying word association responses: what is nativelike? System 26, 389-401 .

30.

Schmitt, N. 1998c: Measuring collocational knowledge: key issues and an experimental assessment procedure . ITL Review of Applied Linguistics 27-47, 119-120 .

31.

Schmitt, N. and Meara, P. 1997: Research vocabulary through a word knowledge framework: word associations and verbal suffixes . Studies in Second Language Acquisition 19, 17-36 .

32.

Schmitt, N. and Schmitt, D. in preparation: Validating multiple versions of the Vocabulary Levels Test.

33.

Spolsky, B. 1985: What does it mean to know how to use a language? an essay on the theoretical basis of language testing . Language Testing 2, 180-191 .

34.

Spolsky, B. 1995: Measured Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press .

35.

Stubbs, M. 1995: Collocations and semantic profiles: on the cause of the trouble with quantitative studies . Functions of Language 2, 1-33 .

36.

TOEFL Practice Tests 1995: Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service .

37.

TOEFL Test and Score Manual 1997: Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service .

38.

Wesche, M. and Paribakht, T. S. 1996: Assessing second language vocabulary knowledge: depth versus breadth . The Canadian Modern Language Review 53, 13-40 .

39.

Xue, G. and Nation, I. S. P. 1984: A university word list . Language Learning and Communication 3, 215-229 .

The relationship between TOEFL vocabulary items and meaning,association,collocation and word-class knowledge

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References