CPM: Why is the vocabulary measure timed?
- Thao.Yoder
Answer
The rapid vocabulary naming task evaluates a child’s ability to name common objects as pictured on the screen. This assessment is a combination of verbal fluency and expressive vocabulary. This task measures how many pictures a child identifies in one minute as a gauge of his or her vocabulary. The task is timed because measuring fluency has been found through research to be a sensitive, and therefore reliable, way to measure vocabulary knowledge that also has the benefit of being time efficient for teachers.
The rapid vocabulary naming task utilizes procedures that are very similar to those of the rapid letter naming task, in that the child’s knowledge is evaluated within a timed format (i.e., 60 seconds of stimulus time). The images that children are asked to name were derived from an evaluation of vocabulary words within multiple Pre-Kindergarten curricula. While some of the words might be considered to be more difficult for 4-year-old children to identify, items were included that mapped onto content presented in commercially available curricula. Unlike the rapid letter naming sub-measure, there are three separate sets of vocabulary items with 55 pictures in each. Pictures are randomly shown and are in ranges of easy, medium, and harder difficulty.