Development of a Vocabulary Test Battery Estimating English Skills and Proficiency : Integrating Vocabulary Size, Organization, and Access Speed

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This research investigated the relationship between vocabulary knowledge measured in three dimensions, size, organization, and recognition speed, and general language proficiency. To measure vocabulary size, J8VST was used, which sampled words from the most frequently used 5,000 words in the JACET 8000 Word List and challenged test-takers to choose the English word among four choices that represents a Japanese word stimulus. To measure vocabulary organization, LOT was used, which challenged test-takers to choose two words among three that form the strongest connection of three possible combinations of the three words. To measure recognition speed, LEXATT was employed. In Part 1 of LEXATT test-takers find a common word hidden in a string of letters and the reaction time is measured. In Part 2 of LEXATT, test-takers try to recognize a word as quickly as possible and choose the meaning of the recognized word. The participants of the study took all three vocabulary test and the TOEIC test … More and the relation among the test results was sought. The regression analysis found that a TOEIC score can be predicted by the scores of the three vocabulary tests but the confidence interval is too large to trust estimated scores. The Structural Equation Modelling analysis adopted a model that best explains TOEIC scores. The model does not include LOT scores because the reliability of the test was very low, .31. The model found a moderate correlation between size and access speed scores, which means that learners with a large vocabulary size have faster access speed. However, access speed did not have any relation with TOEIC reading or listening scores. It was found that only vocabulary size was responsible for TOEIC scores. This may be due to the validity and reliability of the lexical organization test and the lexical access test. Further studies should aim at improving the validity and reliability of these tests. The three tests developed can be accessed at: http://mochvocab.sakura.ne.jp/. Less