1. Assessing Vocabulary and Writing

2. Assessing Vocabulary

3. Dimensions of Word Knowledge
Accessibility
Morphophonology
Syntax
Semantics
Collocation
Association
Conceptualization
Frequency
Formality
Register

4. Each dimension represents a continuum
No knowledge
Complete knowledge

5. Commonly used vocabulary tests
Which dimensions of word knowledge do they usually assess?
Do they take into consideration the scalar (continuum) qualities of word knowledge?

6. Dimensions of Word Knowledge
Accessibility
Morphophonology
Syntax
Semantics
Collocation
Association
Conceptualization
Frequency
Formality
Register

7. Vocabulary Size versus Vocabulary Strength
Size: the number of words a learner knows
Strength (or Depth): how well the learner knows certain words

8. Popular tests of vocabulary size
Nation’s Vocabulary Levels Test
The Eurocentres Vocabulary Size Test
TOEFL
Peabody

9. Popular tests of vocabulary size and strength
The Vocabulary Knowledge Scale
The Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge Test
Computer Adaptive Test of Size and Strength

10. Comprehensive Assessment of Vocabulary Knowledge (Based on samples of learners’ speech and writing)
Holistic measures
Primary trait measures
Rubrics
Analytical measures

11. Comprehensive Analytical Assessment of Vocabulary Knowledge and Use
Tokens
Types
Lexical Density
Lexical Sophistication
Lexical Frequency Profile
Lexical Diversity
Lexical Error Indices
Lexical Choice Analysis
Lexical Style/Lexical Signatures

12. Assessing Writing

13. Popular approaches to assessing writing abilities
Holistic assessment
Primary trait assessment
Rubric assessment
Analytical assessment
Portfolio assessment
Showcase portfolios
Collections portfolios
Assessment portfolios

14. Which approaches have these advantages?
A. Indicates to what extent students are benefiting from instruction.
B. Even with minimal rater training can produce high reliability.
C. Gives a very direct measure of writing effectiveness, using a simple protocol.
D. Provides the most detailed feedback to writers.
E. Is the most learner-centered.
F. Is best for diagnosing grammatical and mechanical needs.
G. Is best for diagnosing discourse-level, content, and organizational needs.
H. Is the most practical for proficiency-rating and placement-level purposes.
I. Most directly links assessment with instruction.
J. Encourages students to reflect on their work, analyze progress, and set improvement goals.
K. Encourages students to produce writing that is worth sharing and retaining for review.

15. Which approaches have these disadvantages?
A. Provides the writer with little or no feedback.
B. Can make the teacher feel that she is giving up control of the assessment process.
C. Provides feedback that may steer the writer’s attention to areas of writing that are least important to the overall effectiveness of her text.
D. Relies on teacher-selected criteria that may be either over-representative or under-representative of the components of good writing.
E. Requires multiple trained raters in order to achieve adequate reliability.
F. Can be extremely time-consuming.
G. Requires raters to evaluate writing in a way that real-world readers do not do.
H. Relies on several rating criteria that should presumably be weighted differently, but weighting criteria is difficult and subjective.
I. Is least likely to lead directly to improvements in writing.
J. Provides the least useful assessment information to teachers.
K. Provides the least useful assessment information to writers.
L. Is the most subjective.
M. Provides the most confusing assessment results.
N. Is the least pedagogically sound.
O. Is the least criterion-referenced.

16. Principles of Testing Writing
Set writing tasks that are properly representative of the tasks that learners should be able to perform.
The tasks should truly represent learners’ writing ability.
Use as many tasks as you can.
Test only writing ability.
Restrict options.

17. Principles of Testing Writing (cont.)
The tasks must be scored reliably.
Elicit sufficiently long samples.
Establish a clear set of criteria for scoring
Whether holistic, primary-trait, rubric, or analytic
Use 2-4 raters.
Train the raters.
Monitor raters’ performance.

18. Some new directions in assessing writing
Self evaluation
Peer evaluation
Picture and film stimuli
Writing for authentic purposes
Process evaluation and progress profiles

19. Some realistic day-to-day writing tasks
Writing checks
Paying bills
Taking notes and phone messages
Writing reminder notes to oneself
Writing a shopping list
Writing a schedule/itinerary for oneself
Writing letters/ messages to friends and relatives
Writing letters to people/companies you do business with
-inquiries
-complaints
-appreciation
Filling out forms
-credit card applications and the like
-medical background forms for healthcare providers
-personal background forms for potential employers
Writing a classified ad for a newspaper
Writing a letter to the editor
Writing a curriculum vitae or resume
Writing a cover letter for a job application

20. How do you assess the writing abilities of low-level learners?
realistic tasks (tasks they are truly likely to encounter)
structured/discrete-point test items