Description

The Receptive Vocabulary Test for Preschool-Aged Children [RVTPAC-465] is an assessment tool designed to evaluate vocabulary comprehension in preschool children. It specifically focuses on receptive vocabulary, that is, the number of words a child is able to understand, regardless of whether the child can spontaneously use those words in spoken language.

Assessment of receptive vocabulary is particularly important during the preschool years because vocabulary comprehension represents a fundamental component of language development and can provide useful information about children’s developing linguistic abilities.

Aim

The main aim of the test is to estimate the size of the receptive vocabulary of children aged 5.5 to 6.5 years, both overall and according to grammatical category.

The instrument therefore provides a way to quantify the number of words understood by a child and to examine vocabulary development during the transition from preschool to school age.

Structure of the Instrument

The instrument was developed using 465 words from Modern Greek. These words were statistically selected as representative items from the Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek of the Triantafyllidis Foundation and were arranged in increasing order of difficulty according to their comprehension by preschool-aged children.

For the first 236 words, comprehension was examined in the pilot studies using three criteria:

  1. The child was asked to provide a definition of the word.
  2. The child was asked to use the word in a sentence.
  3. The child responded to a multiple-choice question concerning the proposed definition of the word.

This approach allows vocabulary comprehension to be assessed through more than one type of response rather than relying on a single verbal task.

Scoring

Children’s responses are recorded, and each correct response demonstrating comprehension of a target word is awarded 1 point, regardless of which assessment criterion was used.

The total score therefore represents the number of words understood by the child. Higher scores indicate a larger receptive vocabulary, whereas lower scores correspond to a smaller number of words understood.

Performance may also be examined according to grammatical category, allowing a more detailed description of the child’s receptive vocabulary profile.

Statistical Analysis

According to the available material, the instrument does not produce standardized scores. The research sample consisted of 270 children aged 5.5 to 6.5 years who attended public kindergartens in the prefectures of Rethymno and Chania during the 2000–2001 school year.

Consequently, interpretation is primarily based on the raw number of words understood by the child rather than on conversion into standardized or norm-referenced scores.

Applications

The RVTPAC-465 may be used in research investigating language and vocabulary development in preschool-aged children. It can also support comparisons between different groups of children and the examination of relationships between receptive vocabulary and other developmental or educational variables.

The instrument may therefore provide useful information for researchers and professionals interested in preschool language development, early education, and the assessment of vocabulary comprehension before the beginning of formal schooling.

References

Okalidou, A., Syrika, A., Beckman, M. E., & Edwards, J. R. (2011). Adapting a Receptive Vocabulary Test for Preschool-Aged Greek-Speaking Children. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 46(1), 95–107.
Simos, P. G., Sideridis, G. D., Protopapas, A., & Mouzaki, A. (2011). Psychometric Evaluation of a Receptive Vocabulary Test for Greek Elementary Students. Assessment for Effective Intervention, published online.
Tafiadis, D., Tafiadis, M., & Karagianni, E. (2010). The Expressive and the Receptive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT & ROWPVT) in Greek. Annals of General Psychiatry, 9(Suppl 1): S105.
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, L. M. (1981, 2007). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). 3rd/4th ed.