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Grade Vks

The Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) is a self-report assessment that measures a learner's incremental knowledge of new words according to five categories of word knowledge. It was developed based on Dale's theory of stages of word learning. Researchers found the VKS accurately reflected growth in English language learners' vocabulary knowledge over time. It combines self-assessment of knowledge with constructed responses to demonstrate understanding of targeted words.

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416 views

Grade Vks

The Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) is a self-report assessment that measures a learner's incremental knowledge of new words according to five categories of word knowledge. It was developed based on Dale's theory of stages of word learning. Researchers found the VKS accurately reflected growth in English language learners' vocabulary knowledge over time. It combines self-assessment of knowledge with constructed responses to demonstrate understanding of targeted words.

Uploaded by

Elpida Tzimou
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Vocabulary Knowledge Scale The Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) is a

selfreport assessment that is consistent with Dales (1965) incremental


stages of word learning. Wesche and Paribakht (1996) applied the VKS
with ELL students in a university course. They found that the instrument
was useful in reflecting shifts on a self-report scale and sensitive enough
to quantify incremental word knowledge gains. The VKS is not designed to
tap sophisticated knowledge or lexical nuances of a word in multiple
contexts. It combines students self-reported knowledge of a word in
combination with a constructed response demonstrating knowledge of
each target word. Students identify their level of knowledge about each
teacher-selected word.
The VKS format and scoring guide fall into the following five categories:
1. I dont remember having seen this word before. (1 point)
2. I have seen this word before, but I dont think I know what it means. (2
points)
3. I have seen this word before, and I think it means __________. (Synonym
or translation; 3 points) if wrong=2
4. I know this word. It means _______. (Synonym or translation; 4 points)
5. I can use this word in a sentence: ___________. (If you do this section,
please also do category 4; 5 points). If the sentence in category 5
demonstrates the correct meaning but the word is not used appropriately
in the sentence context, a score of 3 is given. A score of 4 is given if the
wrong grammatical form of the target word is used in the correct context.
Any incorrect response in category 3 yields a score of 2 points for the total
item even if the student attempted category 4 and category 5
unsuccessfully. If the sentence in category 5 demonstrates the correct
meaning but the word is not used appropriately in the sentence context, a
score of 3 is given. A score of 4 is given if the wrong grammatical form of
the target word is used in the correct context. A score of 5 reflects
semantically and grammatically correct use of the target word. The VKS is
administered as a pretest before the text or unit is taught and then after
instruction to assess growth. One important finding of Wesche and
Paribakhts (1996) study of the VKS was the high correlation between the
students self-report of word knowledge and the actual score for
demonstrated knowledge of the word. Correlations of perceived knowledge
and attained scores for four content area themes were all above .95. This
should help alleviate concerns about incorporating measures of selfreported vocabulary knowledge. In addition, Wesche and Paribakht (1996)
tested reliability for the VKS in their study of ELLs with wide-ranging levels
of proficiency using a test retest format. Although we cannot generalize
to other vocabulary knowledge rating scales, Wesche and Paribakht
obtained a high testretest correlation above .8. Such a tool can

potentially account for the confounding factors of many vocabulary


measures, including literacy dependency and cultural bias. It is possible to
modify the VKS to assess the key vocabulary in content area units in
elementary classrooms for even the youngest students. Blachowicz and
Fisher (2006) applied the principles of the VKS in a table formatmaking it
possible to assess a larger number of words. Kay (first author) used the
Native American Home VKS (see Figure 1) as a pretest with her secondgrade class. As a posttest, she used the VKS in conjunction with Figure 2,
which required students to specify the tribe and resource materials used
to build the home and to compose an illustration of the home.
Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) developed by Wesche and Paribakht
(1996).

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