Vocabulary Knowledge Scale

I got to know the VKS in the article:

Chen, C. & Liu, Y. (2020). The role of vocabulary breath and depth in IELTS academic reading tests. Reading in a Foreign Language, 31 (1), 1-27.

It is used to examine participants’ vocabulary depth, particularly precision of meaning and comprehensive word knowledge (syntactic, morphological and semantic knowledge). Here is an example (Paribakht & Wesche, 1997, p. 180):

Edit

I I don’t remember having seen this word before.

II I have seen this word before, but I don’t know what it means.

III I have seen this word before, and I think it means___. (synonym or translation)

IV I know this word. It means___. (synonym or translation)

V I can use this word in a sentence:____. (Write a sentence.)(If you do this section, please also do Section IV.)

The scoring is that, category I and II are scored 1 and 2. Wrong answers for category 3 and 4 are also scored 2. Right ones receive 3 for category 3 and 4 for category 4. 5 points are for acceptable sentences in category 5 while 4 for unacceptable ones (Chen & Liu, 2000).

I find the scoring for category III and IV interesting. Imagine if student A and B are taking the same test, student A finishes category III correctly and B does IV also correctly. Whereas student A gets lower scores, because despite the same level of demonstrated knowledge, their self-assessment is different.

At the very beginning, I wondered why such a self-report matters in assessing vocabulary depth. Later on I read this article:

Wesche, M. & Paribakht T. S. (1996). Assessing second language vocabulary knowledge: depth versus breadth. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 53, 13-40.

The researchers noted that the purpose of VKS is to track stages in the initial development of core knowledge of certain words, like their most common meanings. After reading it, I started to understand the scoring system better. The difference between category III and IV now makes sense to me. “I think” and “I know” differ in levels of certainty and uncertainty. My own experience of learning vocabulary exactly involves shifts (progress) from III to IV. Sometimes I feel a word is so familiar yet in fact I am not completely sure about its meaning. Whereas it is likely that I can “guess” it right. That is a stage category III aims to depict. Then, if I come across and use the word more, I will probably come to category IV where I definitely know the precise meaning of it. As we can see, although I can get it right in both two categories, I am in different phases of acquiring this certain word. Improvement from III to IV reminds me of what my English teacher in high school often said in class. “You need to reinforce your knowledge of a word to learn it by heart.”

Nevertheless, I suppose personality will exert an influence on the scores. Some people are more confident and thus they tend to finish category IV more often even though they are not that certain about their answers. Apparently, this is merely my assumption whereas it is always necessary to verify and enhance validity of the test with more empirical research.

References

Chen, C. & Liu, Y. (2020). The role of vocabulary breath and depth in IELTS academic reading tests. Reading in a Foreign Language, 31 (1), 1-27.

Paribakht, T. S. & Wesche, M. (1997). Vocabulary enhancement activities and reading for meaning. In J. Coady & T. N. Huckin (Eds.), Second language vocabulary acquisition: A rationale for pedagogy (pp. 174-200). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wesche, M. & Paribakht T. S. (1996). Assessing second language vocabulary knowledge: depth versus breadth. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 53, 13-40.