An Overview: Testing Vocabulary

OVERVIEW: TESTING VOCABULARY

Hesti Wahyuni Anggraini (20102506077)

A.      Introduction

Learning a language, especially English, means that learners are required to master either language skills or language aspects. Here, vocabulary that is viewed as an essential aspect of language as it makes any sense of how to communicate without vocabulary mastery. On other hand, language emerges first as words. Even in our first language, we are continually learning new words, and learning new meanings for old words.

At first, the roles of a word in language learning are highly recommended due to the fact that words have different functions in a variety of forms. Words can be added to, or combined, to form new words. As it is a unique part of language, words may look and/or sound the same but have quite different meanings; then, it is used in different situations for different effects.

Besides, knowing a word means effective communication, either in spoken or written communication. Here, it requires the learners to figure out of how to use appropriate word in appropriate meaning, how to pronounce a word properly in a certain context, and also to recognize different types of English between American and british version (Jonathan, 2011).

Vocabulary development is crucial from a theoretical and practical standpoint. Experts agree that vocabulary is central to the language learning process.  Generally, it is recognized that a solid vocabulary is necessary at every stage of a learner’s language development.  Folse (2003) points out that you can get by without the correct syntax or grammar, but not vocabulary, without syntax, meaning is hindered; but without vocabulary meaning is impossible (p. 1). 

From a practical standpoint, educators cite that lexical knowledge is important in the development of other language skills. The lack of needed vocabulary is the most common cause of students’ inability to say what they want to say during communication activities (Charlisle & Katz, 2006: 669-693).  Then related to language skill, tests of vocabulary often provide a good guide to reading ability (Hiebert, 1990).

Besides, a good knowledge of English vocabulary is important for everyone who wants to use language, so that it is viewed that it is often to test vocabulary. At first, it can be said that vocabulary testing is necessary and even reasonable. It is due to that words are basic term in language learning, the units of meaning from larger units, such as sentence. In learners’ viewpoints, vocabulary acquisition can be seen as a more conscious language learning process. Even for those who are in the advanced level of language learning, they are still aware of the problems of words limitation. Here, teachers of language should recognize how much the importance of vocabulary learning, instead of grammatical competence. So, it can be said that vocabulary as a priority area of language learning, so that it requires vocabulary testing to see learners’ progress and to see how far it fits with communication needs.

To say, it is important that the test maker must be aware of what he/she is doing when testing vocabulary. In this paper, it comes up with of why to test vocabulary, what to test vocabulary, and how to test vocabulary.

B.       Body

1.      Reasons to Test Vocabulary

There are possible reasons of why to give vocabulary test. The most important consideration is that to find out it the students have learned the words which were taught, or which they were expected to learn in order that they would like to know their vocabulary learning achievement. Besides, the teachers are eager to know or to find where their students’ vocabularies gaps are in order to prevent misuse of words, so that there will be given specific attention to the area of vocabulary learning. Next, it is essential to recognize that vocabulary testing is reasonably straightforward to place students in the proper class level. In line with this, vocabulary testing, as in TOEFL testing (Test of English as a Foreign Language) implies that direct or indirectly describes students’ vocabulary competence.

In some cases, it can be said that vocabulary testing attempts to give clear description of a measure of learner’s vocabulary, along with the proportion of overall indication toward students’ proficiency. Other reasons of the importance of testing vocabulary is that as a utilizing test as a motivational aspect fro students to learn, to show students their progress in learning some new words, and also to make selected words more necessarily important by doing vocabulary testing.

Then, the reasons why to test vocabulary are obviously from the urgency of feedback, backwash effect, and recycling process (Jonathan, 2011). In terms of feedback viewpoint, testing vocabulary gives such kind of clear following up actions toward students’ vocabulary achievement. Here, feedback is given in order that to diagnose in which students are making errors and even building gaps in using a certain words. Next, in terms of backwash effect, testing vocabulary might give unpleasant result due to the students’ learning knowledge. Last, during the testing vocabulary, the will be recycling processes in the way of what should be learnt and what should be gained by students.

So, having a clear description of this, it is expected to lead teachers of language to the existence of testing vocabulary in terms of teaching and learning process quality.

2.      Kinds of Words to Test

In this part, if the teachers want to test students’ achievement in vocabulary, the vocabulary being tested in evaluation proportion is covered in the classroom activities. 

Deciding which kind of vocabulary to test is another important decision. In this stage, it must be away from the standardized test due to the fact that teachers might teach in single book that can not be generalized toward a certain evaluation process (Hiebert, 1990). In this condition, teachers are the best test-taker toward the known of students’ progress during language classroom activities or in the angle of known of what must be mastered by students.

            Next, if vocabulary is tested in the form of placement test or diagnose test, it is better to come across with the evaluation of what being covered in the course subject. Here, the result of the test can be used to measure how many words are known by the students and to know at what frequency level the students are.

            Then, in terms of proficiency test, it is required to give broadest level of vocabulary level. Thus, it is believed that in this level, vocabulary testing should include a fair a range of words which will provide fair evaluation in any differences, such as, education level and background, students’ level of intelligence, and even the term of proficiency level.

Here, teachers are asked to recognize which words teachers expect the students to recognize (i.e., passive or receptive vocabulary) and also which words teachers expect students to use (i.e. active or productive vocabulary) (Hiebert, 1990: 79). 

The mind seems to store words neither randomly or in the form of a list, but in a highly organized and interconnected fashion — in what is often called the mental lexicon. Here is the description of how vocabularies are organized.

Figure 1. How Words Are Organized

Research shows that learners can recognize more words than they can actually use.  There is a place for both in foreign or second language assessment. Another dichotomy is whether to test high frequency words or more specialized technical vocabulary.  It is clear that high frequency words are so important that anything teachers and learners can do to make sure they are learned is worth doing.  Then, the 2000 most frequent words of English as high frequency words is extremely useful particularly for Ss who want to go on to academic study (Nation & Hwang, 1995).

Another thing to focus on is that most vocabulary tests that are based on the component model just focus on one part: comprehension of meaning, production of meaning and also word association (Read, 1993).

When one just component of vocabulary is being tested, it is possible to use large sample of vocabulary testing items, and the best it can represent students’ vocabulary mastery.

To say, it can be seen that different vocabulary test are dependent on the vocabulary knowledge, the preference of particular knowledge, and the interest toward the vocabulary itself. In this case, kinds of vocabulary testing are also influencing students’ quality in reading, writing, speaking, general language proficiency as well toward students’ academic achievements (Laufer, 1978).

To sum up, the testing vocabulary comes on the purpose of more material needs to be covered. Then, it is in the form of testing different levels of learning and scoring.

3.      Ways to Test Vocabulary

After that, what comes in the next part is that how to construct the testing vocabulary items. Here, the test-taker should determine the term of (1) separated from skills?; (2) discrete point or integrative items?; or (3) focus on lexis or contextualized meaning? These three parts might influence the test items should be give later on. Then, these three considerations dependently focus on the students’ needs toward what should be tested. Moreover, these three terms reflect what kind of good formats during the vocabulary testing. In other words, instructional approaches can be the things that should be covered.

Then, how to test the vocabulary achievement are as in he following explanation:

¡  Deciding how we test vocabulary is related to how we teach it. 

l  Students should not simply memorize long lists

l  Instead present vocabulary in context 

l  When testing vocabulary, avoid testing words in isolation.

¡  Another decision teachers have to make is whether to test it discretely or embedded in other skill areas.  Discrete vocabulary testing assesses a word as an independent construct (Read, 1993) in which looks at assessing a student’s knowledge at the word level. Here, embedded vocabulary testing looks at vocabulary as part of a larger construct. In this condition, teachers look at the students’ use of vocabulary as it pertains to a text that the student has produced such as a written essay or spoken text.

Next, the terms of item numbers are as the following explanations:

¡  When deciding on the number of items to include, it is important to understand the concept of test reliability.  Reliability refers to the degree of consistency of test scores.  In general, the more items on a test, the more reliable it is considered to be.

¡  As far as vocabulary tests are concerned, Nation (2001) recommends a minimum of 30 items for a reliable vocabulary test. The number of items will depend on the format you choose.

Then, it discusses about the decision of the test used. Many issues come into play. First, it deals with the test validity.  Here, content validity is that we test what we teach, how we teach it.  In this stage, select only those that students have had experience with. Teachers are not allowed to introduce new format in a testing situation because it impacts on a serious violation of test validity.  Second, it impacts on practicality & washback should be considered when choosing a format.  Here, teachers are expected to select formats that are easy to mark and interpret results. Besides, the format used during the test should also have a positive washback effect on teaching and learning. As Nation (2001) puts it “answering the item should provide useful repetition of the vocabulary and perhaps even extend learners’ knowledge” (p. 373).

Moreover, an important dimension of vocabulary testing is concerned with the role of context.  Some formats are context-independent as they present Ss with words in isolation and require them to select meanings for the words without reference to any linguistic context (Read, 1993: 5).  In context-dependent vocabulary tests students need to make use of contextual clues. 

Although it is generally accepted that context can provide Ss with much needed information about a word to help them understand it, noted scholars in the field of vocabulary (Folse, 2003; Laufer,  1978) point out the limitations involved with contextual clues. In EF/SL texts, we provide rich clues to facilitate language comprehension but in the real world they are rarely if ever present to the same degree. 

There are common vocabulary testing format. They are:

a.        Vocabulary Testing: Recognition

Here, the vocabulary testing for recognition purpose happens if (1) more material needs to be covered: (2) different levels of learning; (3) little time for scoring; (4) not interested in evaluating how well a test taker can formulate a correct answer; and (5) a large number of test takers.

n  Multiple choice items (Liu, 121)

For example:

The flight attendant asked the passengers to ______ attention to the safety demonstration.

a. give     b. devote     c. pay     d. lend

From this format, there would be weaknesses, like (a) tricky or too picky; (b) difficult to test attitudes towards learning: (c) limited knowledge toward the options only; (d) difficult to construct at higher levels; (e)  more than on possible answer; and (f) possible grammatically.

n  Error-recognition items (Liu, 129)

For example:

Directions:
In this part of the test, each sentence has four words or phrases underlined. The four underlined parts of the sentence are marked (A), (B), (C), and (D). You are to identify the ONE underlined word or phrase that should be corrected or rewritten.

Tennis is such interesting game that people all like to play it.

n  Pairing and matching items

For example:

Tangle means…

a.       A type of dance

b.      A tropical forest

c.       A confused mass

d.      A kind of fruit

The weaknesses of this item are: (1) not communicative; (2) difficult to test attitudes towards learning; (3) diverse connotations; (4) guessing (25% chance); and (5) one word class at a time.

n  Gap-filling items

For example”

Fill in the blanks by using the appropriate word!

The _____ is the room in a house where we prepare meals. (answer: kitchen)

n  Cloze/Modified Cloze (Hughes, 144)

For example:

John ______ works ______Monday ______Friday

The weaknesses are:

1.                  To tests student’s understanding of the whole language.

2.                  To chance all word types to be tested.

3.                  To be crucial in understanding the context.

4.                  To be difficult to test attitudes towards learning.

5.                  To be impossible to guess for some words.

6.                  To be able to test student’s IQ rather than language proficiency.

7.                  To bias or difficult for some students.

n  Guessing meaning from context

For example:

Please ____ the window. It is hot.

Another example is:

Unlike the guitar, the fiddle has four strings on a fingerboard without frets.

The characteristics of this item are:

1.        To test contextualized knowledge.

2.        To be crucial context.

3.        To be communicative and authentic.

4.        To be positive backwash.

5.        To be difficult for some students (bias).

6.        To test various types of word relationships

b.        Vocabulary Testing: Production

n  Completion items (Hughes, 143)

For example:

Fill in the blanks by using the appropriate word!

The _____ is the room in a house where we prepare meals. (answer: kitchen)

n  Transformation items (Liu, 131)

For example:

Fill in the blanks by using appropriate form.

I (use) _________ skirt now. But, yesterday I (use) ___________ trouser.

The characteristics of the test item:

1.        It is not very communicative (without context)

2.        Clues will limit the answers

3.        It is difficult to test attitudes towards learning

4.        Some context may be added

5.        Instructions are essential

6.        Few aspects might be assessed (word classes, synonyms, antonyms…)

n  Paraphrase (Hughes, 143)

For example:

Say it in your own words.

Movement: __________________.

n  Table completion

For example:

Complete the table with positive, negative and neutral adjectives!

Positive	Negative	Neutral

The characteristics of this item are:

1.        To test language structure.

2.        To test word-building.

3.         To test all word types.

4.        To be not communicative at all.

5.        To use but not language usage.

6.        To be difficult to test attitudes towards learning.

n  Combination and addition items

For example:

Draw lines connecting the pairs of opposites.

A	B
brave	awake
female	expensive
cheap	succeed
asleep	cowardly
fail	male

n  Items involving the changing of words

For example:

Answer the blanks by using the appropriate words.

Her  _______ face reflects that she sings _____________. (beauty)

n  Single Selection

For example:

Someone was (playing/singing) the tune and for a moment you were happy to go (along/away) with what seemed a reasonable idea.

The types of this item are:

1.        They are authentic and communicative

2.        Words are part of a broader context

3.        Knowledge is limited to options provided

4.        It encourages guessing (50%)

5.        It is difficult to design but easy to mark

In addition, five characteristics to measure communicative vocabulary are:

1.        The test must provide more context than only a single sentence.

2.        The items must assess lexis within a limited number of semantic fields.

3.        The test taker should understand what the communicative purpose of the task is.

4.        He or she should also know who the intended audience is.

5.        He or she must have to focus on meaning and not form to answer correctly.

6.        Recognize is not sufficient.  The test taker must be able “to produce grammatical responses.”

Then, what should be considered after doing the test of vocabulary is the way of assessing vocabulary of the learners. Here, one of viewpoints of assessing vocabulary came from the perspective of whether students know the meaning and usage of a word based on the individual’s semantic units. Second, it refers to the vocabulary assessment are in the term of content of language-use task. Next, the other perspective is that to assess vocabulary mastery toward students’ vocabulary learning, while other see vocabulary assessment as proficiency and achievement test.

In this case, Read (2000) identified three continua for evaluating vocabulary assessments; they are (a) discrete—embedded; (b) selective—comprehensive, and (c) contextualized—decontextualized. They represent dimensions that are not only conceptually interesting but also derived from careful analyses of existing tests.

In the discrete-embedded, this addresses whether vocabulary is regarded as a separate construct with its own separate set of test items and its own score report, which is the discrete end of the continuum, or whether vocabulary is an embedded construct that contributes to, but is not regarded as separate from, the larger construct of text comprehension.

In the selective-comprehensive part, it is clear that it sees the relationship between the sample of items in a test and the hypothetical population of vocabulary items that the sample represents. In other words, generally, the smaller the set of words about which we wish to make a claim, the more selective the assessment.

The last, in the term of contextualized-decontextualized, vocabulary assessment to the degree that textual context is required to determine the meaning of a word. Any word can readily and easily be assessed in a decontextualized format. But simply assessing a word in a contextualized format does not necessarily mean that context is required to determine its meaning. In order to meet the standard of assessing students’ ability to use context to identify word meaning, context must actually be used in completing the item.

C.    Conclusion

Knowledge of vocabulary is important to use, and it is useful to be able to test from various point of view. They are knowledge of word meaning, knowledge of word form, and knowledge of how to guess the meaning of unknown words from the context.

Evidence shows that semantically related items are 'stored together'. Items are arranged in a series of associative networks, a large 'master file', and various information about spelling, phonology, syntax and meaning.

Knowing a word, then, is the sum total of all these connections — semantic, syntactic, phonological, morphological, cognitive, and cultural. It is unlikely, therefore, that any two speakers will 'know' a word in exactly the same way.

Although once viewed as an enabling skill of secondary importance to the four main language skills, vocabulary instruction has now come into its own. As such, it is crucial that this important language development skill is assessed validly and reliably.

To accomplish validity and reliability, several important issues need to be taken into account and decisions need to be made about how best to assess vocabulary in the classroom. Whatever decision is made, however, teachers must be responsible to make their vocabulary assessment varied and meaningful.