Development of an Innovative Assessment of Vocabulary Depth

• In Event: Vocabulary Development

Abstract

This presentation reports the development and pilot test of an innovative vocabulary assessment that is sensitive to students’ level of understanding of a word. The test was developed as part of a larger study of a vocabulary intervention to teach academics words to middle school students. The assessment, Clo-e, or Cloze-Evaluation, presents four cloze sentences for each word. Students must attend to and make a decision about each of the sentences provided, as one, two, or three of the choices may represent correct uses of the word. A preliminary version of the Clo-e was administered to the 16 students who had participated in the pilot implementation of the intervention. Performance on the Clo-e suggested patterns of partial knowledge.

Authors

• Amy C. Crosson, University of Pittsburgh

• Margaret G. McKeown, University of Pittsburgh

• Isabel L. Beck, University of Pittsburgh