The Rationale, Development, and Standardization of a Basic Word Vocabulary Test

摘要

The rationale and development of the Basic Word Vocabulary Test are described in this report. The test was developed to provide a measurement instrument of word knowledge acquisition with two additional properties that are not extant in any other standardized vocabulary test. These two properties are reflected in its content representation (content validity) of a carefully specified population of words and in its range of application from about the third grade level of literacy to the highest level of word knowledge acquisition. These two properties permit assessment of a wide range of vocabulary development in terms of absolute level (as estimates of the word population) and relative standing in reference to various normative groups, i.e., age-education standing, on one continuous scale.