Measurement of the size of general English vocabulary through the elementary grades and high school

N o r th w e ster n
U n i v e r s i t y L ib r a r y
M a n u s c r ip t T h e s e s
U n p u b lis h e d t h e s e s s u b m it t e d f o r t h e M a s t e r ' s and
D o c t o r ' s d e g r e e s and d e p o s i t e d i n t h e N o r t h w e s t e r n U n i v e r s i t y
L ib r a r y a r e o p en f o r i n s p e c t i o n , b u t a r e to be u s e d o n l y w it h
d ue r e g a r d t o t h e r i g h t s o f t h e a u t h o r s .
B ib lio g r a p h ic a l
r e f e r e n c e s may be n o t e d , b u t p a s s a g e s may be c o p i e d o n l y w ith
t h e p e r m i s s i o n o f t h e a u t h o r s , and p r o p e r c r e d i t m u st be g i v e n
i n s u b s e q u e n t w r i t t e n o r p u b l i s h e d w o rk .
E x t e n s i v e c o p y in g
o r p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h e t h e s i s in w h o le o r i n p a r t r e q u i r e s
a l s o t h e c o n s e n t o f t h e Dean o f t h e G r a d u a te S c h o o l o f
N o rth w estern U n iv e r s it y .
T h is t h e s i s by
h a s b e e n u s e d by t h e f o l lo w in g p e r s o n s , w h ose s i g n a t u r e s
a t t e s t t h e i r a c c e p t a n c e o f th e a b o v e r e s t r i c t i o n s .
its
A l i b r a r y w h ic h b o r r o w s t h i s t h e s i s f o r u s e by
p a t r o n s i s e x p a c t e d t o s e c u r e t h e s i g n a t u r e o f ea c h u s e r .
NAME AND ADDRESS
DATE
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
MEASUREMENT OF THE SIZE OF GENERAL ENGLISH VOCABULARY
THROUGH THE ELEMENTARY GRADES AND HIGH SCHOOL
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
fo r th e degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
BY
MARY KATHERINE SMITH
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS
JUNE 1940
P roQ uest Num ber: 10101980
All rights re serv ed
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uest,
P roQ uest 10101980
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Such a study as t h is in v o lv e s th e e ffo r t o f many more people
than th e author.
Dr. Robert H. Seashore has been most generous with h is tim e and
cou n sel in d ir e c tin g t h i s study and in providing th e m a teria ls for
th e t e s t i n g .
The su p erin ten d en ts, p r in c ip a ls , and tea ch ers in th e
d iff e r e n t sc h o o ls accorded hearty cooperation t o t h i s work.
In
p a r tic u la r I wish to thank Dean J, G. Lowery, superintendent o f th e
New Concord-Union Rural Sch ools; Mr. H. A. S t e e le , p r in c ip a l o f the
New Concord High School; Mr. C. D. McDonald, p r in c ip a l o f th e New
Concord Elementary School; Mr. M ilton W. Bollman, a s s is t a n t county
superintendent o f Lake County, I l l i n o i s ; Mr. Norman Watson, super­
intend en t of th e Northbrook Elementary and High School; Mr. W. J, 3 .
Strange, p r in c ip a l o f th e Cleveland School, N ile s Center, I l l i n o i s .
My h earty thanks are due a ls o t o th e tea ch ers who in terru p ted t h e ir
work fo r th e sake of th e t e s t in g and who cooperated in p resen tin g
th e t e s t to th e c h ild r e n .
Measurement o f th e S iz e o f General E nglish Vocabulary
Through th e Elementary Grades and High School
I
In trod u ction
1 . B r ie f h is to r y of th e measurement o f vocabulary s iz e
2. A n alysis o f major v a r ia b le s of th e problem
a . D e fin itio n o f a word
b . C r ite r io n o f knowledge
c . R e la tiv e v s . a b so lu te measurement
3 . Statement o f purposes o f present study
II
III
Procedure in present study
R e su lts and d isc u ssio n
1 . A bsolute s iz e o f vocabulary throughout elem entary and high
sch o o l
a . Scores analyzed in to b a sic and t o t a l vo ca b u la ries
b . Overlapping o f grades
c . Variance o f sc o re s w ith in a grade
d. Percentage o f t o t a l vocabulary made up o f derived terms
2 . S iz e o f vocabulary by ch ro n o lo g ica l groupings
3 . Methods of measuring a b so lu te s iz e o f vocabulary
a . U sefu ln ess fo r other workers
b. Comparison o f sch o o ls used in present study
c . R e l ia b il it y o f r e s u lt s
IV
Summary
V B ibliography
VI
Appendices
a . Manual fo r Use o f E n glish R ecognition Vocabulary T est by
Seashore and Eckerson in Grades One, Two, and Three
b . Manual fo r Use o f E n glish R ecognition Vocabulary T est by
Seashore and Eckerson in Grade Four through High School
c . D e fin itio n s fo r A lte r n a tiv e Responses
d. Data Sheet Used in Grades Seven to Twelve of th e New Concord
School for Gathering Inform ation on th e S tu d en t's Educational
H istory
e . Supplementary L ist o f B asic Words fo r Use in Grades One, Two,
Three
f . E nglish R ecognition Vocabulary T est by Seashore and Eckerson
Tables and Graphs
1 . Figure I , S iz e o f b a s ic vocabulary through elem entary and high
sch ool grades
2. Figure I I , S iz e o f t o t a l vocabulary through elem entary and high
sch ool grades
3. Figure I I I , S iz e o f b a s ic vocabulary fo r ch ro n o lo g ic a l-a g e groups
from s ix to n in eteen years o f age
4 . Figure IV, S iz e o f t o t a l vocabulary fo r ch r o n o lo g ic a l-a g e groups
from s ix to n in e te e n years o f age
5 . Table 1, Percent o f t o t a l vocabulary made up o f derived terms
6. Table 2, Percent o f v arian ce in vocabulary sco res w ith in a sch ool
grade
7 . Figure V, Obtained and smoothed q u a r tile s and means in b a sic
vocabulary
8 . F igure VI, Obtained and smoothed q u a r tile s and means in t o t a l
vocabulary
9 . Figure V II, Smoothed curve for reading t e n t a t iv e grade norms in
b a sic vocabulary
10. Figure V III, Smoothed curve for reading t e n t a t iv e grade norms
in t o t a l vocabulary
MEASUREMENT OF THE SIZE OF GENERAL ENGLISH VOCABULARY
THROUGH THE ELEMENTARY GRADES AND HIGH SCHOOL
Measurement o f vocabulary has long in te r e s te d p sy c h o lo g ists
because in a d d itio n to i t s own importance i t i s c lo s e ly r e la te d to
other p sy c h o lo g ic a l a b i l i t i e s .
P a r tic u la r ly in th e measurement o f
gen eral i n t e l l e c t u a l a b i l i t y vocabulary has played a u s e fu l r o le .
Terman found th a t th e vocabulary l i s t o f th e Stanford B inet co r re la te d
more h ig h ly w ith th e r e s u lt s o f th e t o t a l t e s t than did any th r e e other
item s combined.
Moreover, a l i s t o f th e vocabulary t e s t s a v a ila b le
would be to a la rg e exten t a l i s t o f in t e l li g e n c e t e s t s o f which th e
vocabulary t e s t i s a p a r t.
We have a ls o assumed th a t vocabulary bears
a c lo s e r e la t io n s h ip to th e reading s k i l l s and Seashore, S tockford,
and Swartz in a study on c o lle g e stu d en ts (5) have shown th a t although
s iz e o f vocabulary shows no c o r r e la tio n w ith speed o f read in g, th e
number o f words a person knows does c o r r e la te h ig h ly w ith reading
comprehension.
Measurement o f th e s iz e o f vocabulary i s not new; many estim a tes
fo r d iff e r e n t age l e v e l s have been made.
disagreem ent among th e s e s t u d ie s .
However, th e re has been wide
The work o f previous in v e s tig a to r s
has been summarized by Seashore and Eckerson (4) in a ta b le of th e
s iz e o f th e vocabulary from f i r s t grade through c o lle g e and adult
y e a r s.
Some work has a ls o been done on th e p r e -sc h o o l l e v e l .
Smith
(6) con stru cted a vocabulary t e s t from a sampling o f Thorndike's l i s t
o f 10,000 most freq u en tly used words and from recorded vo ca b u la ries
o f c h ild r e n .
She t e s t e d ch ild ren between th e ages of eig h t months
2
and s i x y e a r s , u s in g p i c t u r e s and q u e s tio n s t o e l i c i t th e u se o f th e
word i t s e l f by th e c h il d o r a d e f i n i t i o n o f th e word*
She found a
ran g e i n v o c a b u la ry s i z e from no words f o r th e e ig h t months o ld c h ild
t o 2 ,5 6 2 words i n th e v o c a b u la ry o f th e av erag e s i x y e a r o ld , th e
c h ild r e n showing an av erage g a in o f 572,5 words a y e a r .
McCarthy (3) re c o rd e d a sam pling of f i f t y c o n s e c u tiv e re sp o n se s
f o r c h ild r e n from e ig h te e n t o f i f t y - f o u r months o f ag e.
She found
th e t o t a l number o f words used a t e ig h te e n months was 2 0.3 which
number in c re a s e d t o 230*5 a t f i f t y - f o u r months o f a g e .
S m ith ’s work i s t o be c r i t i c i z e d upon th e b a s is o f th e inadequacy
of h e r t e s t i n g sam ple, which by th e n a tu r e o f th e t e s t imposes an
u p p er l i m i t t o th e p o s s ib le s c o r e s .
A ls o , th e c r i t e r i a o f knowledge
which she u sed w ere to o i n f l e x i b l e to m easure th e c h i l d ’s knowledge
of th e words p r e s e n te d .
McCarthy was i n t e r e s t e d c h ie f ly in th e n a tu re o f th e words and
s e n te n c e s used by th e c h ild r a t h e r th a n th e e x te n t o f v o c a b u la ry and
a c t u a ll y m easured o n ly u se v o c a b u la ry .
Thus h e r r e s u l t s a re n o t t o
be ta k e n as a m easure o f th e com plete e x te n t o f th e c h i l d ’ s v o c a b u la ry
Among th e p r i n c i p a l f a c t o r s w hich have bro u g h t about m ajor v a r i a ­
tio n s in th e e s tim a te d s iz e o f v o c a b u la ry a r e , f i r s t , th e c o n tin u a l
grow th of th e E n g lis h lan g u a g e ; seco n d , th e d e f i n i t i o n o f th e u n i t o f
m easurem ent, a w ord; t h i r d , th e c r i t e r i a o f laiowledge employed; f o u r th
and by f a r th e most im p o rta n t, th e b a s is f o r sam p lin g , e .g . th e s iz e
of th e d ic tio n a r y o r th e n a tu r e o f th e u se s i t u a t i o n from which th e
sam pling f o r th e t e s t has been ta k e n .
C o n seq u en tly , e s tim a te s o f th e
3
s i z e o f vocabulary made on th e b a s is o f counts o f words employed in
some w r it e r 's works or counts o f words used in con versation s are in ­
adequate as estim a tes o f t o t a l vocabulary.
L ikew ise a vocabulary t e s t
which i s based on to o sm all a sampling o f words in th e E nglish lan ­
guage i s inad eq u ate.
A t e s t which i s based on a p o c k e t-d ic tio n a r y
a u to m a tica lly lim it s i t s sampling t o only a p ortion o f th e t o t a l num­
ber o f words a v a ila b le .
Seashore and Eckerson*s ta b le shows c le a r ly
th a t th e la rg e r th e d ic tio n a r y used as a b a s is fo r a sam pling, th e
la rg e r th e estim ated vocabulary w i l l b e .
Hence we can surmise th a t
p ast estim a tes of th e s iz e of vocabulary, based on d ic tio n a r ie s sm aller
than th e unabridged volumes now in u se , have been to o sm a ll.
Seashore
and Eckerson ( 4 ) , in f a c t , have shown th a t th e number o f words which
th e average u n iv e r s ity student knows i s much g re a te r than previous
s tu d ie s have in d ic a te d , averaging about 156,000 words fo r undergraduate
s tu d e n ts .
In th e lig h t o f th e v a r ie t y o f methods used and th e r e s u lt s
obtained i t i s w e ll to con sid er th e major v a r ia b le s o f the measurement
o f vocabulary.
Major V ariables
1 . D e fin itio n o f a word as a u n it o f measurement
F i r s t , we need to d e fin e th e u n it w ith which we work, th e word.
We may d e fin e a word as a d ic tio n a r y item as Seashore and Eckerson (4-)
have d efin ed i t in th e c o n str u c tio n o f t h e ir vocabulary t e s t .
make th e d is t in c t io n between " b a sic” and "derived” term s.
They
B asic words
are th o se which in th e d ic tio n a r y are printed in heavy typ e as separate
4
e n tr ie s along th e margin.
Derived terms are compound terms or words
formed from th e b a sic word, "u su ally l i s t e d in medium typ e and indented
under th e b a s ic term ."
(4)
For example, "mid" i s a b a sic word, "mid­
sea" and "mid-noon" are d erived term s.
N either a d d itio n a l meanings
fo r a word nor varian t s p e llin g s are counted as sep arate words, but
th e same stem used in d iffe r e n t parts o f sp eech , when l i s t e d s e p a r a te ly ,
and compound terms are counted as sep arate words under such a d e f in it io n .
The d ic tio n a r y seems t o fo llo w th e p r a c tic e o f l i s t i n g se p a r a te ly d i f ­
fe r e n t forms o f th e same word when in th a t part o f speech i t has a mean­
ing not c le a r ly in d ica te d by th e ending added t o th e word, e . g . ,
"fixin g" in th e meaning o f a dye chem ical i s l i s t e d se p a r a te ly from
th e verb " fix ."
On th e other hand, Thorndike would c l a s s i f y as v a r ia tio n s o f the
main word a l l words which are:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
p lu r a ls , _s or changing Y to ie s
adverbs, _l£
com paratives and s u p e r la tiv e s , er and est
verb form s, s_, _d, ed, ing
p ast p a r t ic ip le s adding n^
a d j e c t iv e s , adding n_ to proper nouns
This d e f in it io n o f Thorndike’s would g iv e fewer "words" in the lan­
guage than Seashore and Eckerson’s d e f in it io n , but many more ty p es o f
v a r ia tio n s could a lso have been included which would decrease th e num­
ber o f sep arate words s t i l l more.
I t w i l l make no d iffe r e n c e which of th e se two d e f in it io n s o f a
word i s used as long as th e one working w ith th a t u n it makes h is
d e f in it io n e x p lic it and uses i t c o n s is t e n t ly .
The r e la tio n s h ip between
th e two t o t a l number o f words in th e language as recognized by one or
5
th e other d e f in it io n i s assumed to be c o n s is te n t and to be capable
o f exp ression in some c o n sta n t.
Such work as th a t reported by Lorge
(2) may form th e b a s is for d e r iv in g th a t c o n sta n t.
They are l i s t i n g
for a l l th e words in th e Oxford D ic tio n a r y , according to a c a r e fu lly
planned system , a l l th e meanings and v a r ia n ts in parts o f speech and
stem form o f each word entered in th e d ic tio n a r y .
2 . C r ite r ia o f knowledge
C r ite r ia o f knowledge which may be ap p lied to vocabulary are*
a) R ecogn ition o f th e commonest meaning o f a word
b) D e fin itio n in th e s u b j e c t ’ s own words
c) Use o f th e word in a sen ten ce or c it i n g an i ll u s t r a t io n
3 . R e la tiv e v s . a b so lu te s iz e o f vocabulary
We may make th e d is t in c t io n between a b so lu te and r e la t iv e measure­
ments o f th e s iz e o f vocab u lary.
By "absolute" we mean d esig n a tio n
o f th e number o f words in th e vocabulary in terms o f fix e d u n it s .
By
" r e la tiv e " we mean measurement in terms o f u n its o f s iz e which are not
eq ual, such as q u a r t ile s , d e c il e s , or c e n t i l e s .
I t i s p o s s ib le to measure s iz e o f vocabulary in terms o f how many
words an in d iv id u a l knows in comparison w ith th e number of words other
in d iv id u a ls know.
Gansl (1) preferred to use such a r e la t iv e score
rath er than to t r y to measure th e a b so lu te s iz e o f vocabulary in thou­
sands o f words s in c e so many d iff e r e n t r e s u lt s had been obtained in
a b so lu te measurements prior to th e p u b lic a tio n o f Seashore and Eckerso n 's a n a ly s is o f th e fa c to r s involved in such measurements.
She was
in te r e s te d in th e growth o f vocabulary through elem entary sch ool and
6
a r e la t iv e score served her purposes f a i r l y w e l l, although short
sam plings from lim ite d sources may impose an a r t i f i c i a l upper lim it
in s c o r e s .
Secondly, we may g et an a b so lu te s c o r e , an estim a te of th e a ctu a l
number o f words in th e vocabulary.
For t h is purpose the t e s t used
must not only be r e l i a b l e , but must be made from a la rg e enough sam­
p lin g o f th e words in th e E n glish language to g iv e th e b est person
t e s t e d a chance to show a l l he knows.
There i s need for having some id ea o f a b so lu te s iz e o f vocabulary
at th e elem entary and high sch ool l e v e l s .
Knowing th e number o f words
which an in d iv id u a l can use c o r r e c tly g iv e s some id ea o f th e breadth
o f h is inform ation and o f h is i n t e l le c t u a l t o o l s .
S ince c h ild r e n ’s books fo r th e lower grades e s p e c ia lly are being
b u ilt around c a r e fu lly c o n tr o lle d reading vo ca b u la ries and introduce
only a lim ite d number o f words per book, i t w i l l be s ig n if ic a n t to
know how many words th e beginning p u p il may be expected to know and
how many words he norm ally w i l l add to h is sto r e in a y e a r 's tim e.
To
be su re, t h i s lim itin g o f th e number o f words introduced to th e c h ild
as he i s beginning to learn to read i s a good tea ch in g d evice from the
point o f view o f m astering a tec h n iq u e.
There i s a great discrepancy
at th e f i r s t grade l e v e l between th e number o f words which th e c h ild
can read and th e t o t a l number he can recogn ize when spoken.
There
probably are se v e r a l d iffe r e n t vocab u laries such as reading and pro­
nouncing, or reading and comprehending, as w e ll as general comprehen­
s io n vocabulary.
In la t e r grad es, even when reading vocabulary has
in crea sed s p e llin g vocabulary i s s t i l l rath er lim ite d .
7
I t i s a problem fo r fu tu re research as to when and how th e se
d isc r e p a n c ie s disap p ear, fo r Seashore and Eckerson (4) have shown th a t
at th e u n iv e r s ity l e v e l th e r e i s l i t t l e d iffe r e n c e in th e s iz e o f
v o c a b u la r ie s as measured by any o f th e th r ee c r i t e r i a o f knowledge.
In d iv id u a ls were
a b le to use and i l l u s t r a t e about 92/£ o f a l l th e words
th e y could r e c o g n iz e .
We are in te r e s te d not only in th e nature o f th e growth of the
s iz e o f vocabulary through th e sch ool y e a r s, but a lso in an estim ation
o f th e a c tu a l number o f words which c h ild r e n o f th ose ages can u se .
An a b so lu te measurement in terms o f th e t o t a l number o f words known
can a lso be tr a n s la te d in to r e la t iv e terms such as c e n t i l e s , d e c ile s ,
and q u a r t il e s .
The t e s t used in t h i s study was th e English R ecognition Vocabulary
T est by Seashore and Eckerson ( 4 ) .
purpose o f secu rin g a b so lu te s c o r e s .
It has se v e r a l advantages fo r our
F i r s t , i t was constructed from
a sampling o f Funk and W agnalls' New Standard D ictionary o f th e Eng­
l i s h Language, two volume e d itio n of 1937, one o f th e la r g e s t a v a il­
a b le a t th a t tim e .
Second, th e item s in th e main part o f th e t e s t
are presen ted in a m u ltip le -c h o ic e form which meets th e c r it e r io n o f
knowledge as r e c o g n itio n o f th e commonest meaning o f th e words.
Third,
words in th e t e s t are arranged in order of d i f f i c u l t y which allow s for
t e s t in g on only th e f i r s t part o f th e t e s t w ith younger c h ild r e n .
The
sco rin g formula o f th e t e s t permits an estim ate o f vocabulary s iz e
from whatever number o f words an in d iv id u a l has attem pted to g iv e th e
c o rrect meaning.
8
PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY
The purposes o f th is study were as fo llo w s :
1 . To determ ine th e c r i t e r i a o f knowledge and th e procedures
n ecessa ry for measuring th e a b so lu te s i z e o f vocabulary among su b je cts
below c o lle g e l e v e l and p a r tic u la r ly a t th e lower a g e s.
2 . To employ th e se procedures in determ ining th e in d iv id u a l d i f ­
feren ces in s i z e o f vocabulary over th e range from f i r s t to tw e lfth
grades in c lu s iv e .
3 . To determ ine th e c e n tr a l ten d e n c ie s and v a r i a b i l i t i e s of
th e se measurements for a d e s c r ip tio n o f th e growth o f vocabulary dur­
ing t h is p erio d .
4 . To provide t e n t a t iv e norms in th e a b so lu te s iz e of vocabulary
for t h i s range o f age and grade l e v e l s .
PROCEDURE IN THIS STUDY
The E nglish R ecognition Vocabulary Test by Seashore and Eckerson
(4) was g iven t o p u p ils from f i r s t grade through high sch ool in two
schools^ and through th e f i r s t eigh t grades in a th ir d sc h o o l.g
There are th r ee p arts t o t h is t e s t .
The f i r s t part c o n s is ts
o f 173 m u ltip le ch oice item s made up o f b a sic general term s, arranged
in approximate order o f d i f f i c u l t y .
The second part con tain s 158
1 . New Concord-Union Rural School, New Concord, Ohio, t e s te d Dec. 10,
1939 to Jan. 5, 1940 and Northbrook Public S ch ools, Northbrook,
I l l i n o i s , te s t e d Feb. 5 , 1940 to March 5, 1940
2. Cleveland Public School, N ile s Center, I l l i n o i s , t e s te d March 6,
1940 to A pril 3, 1940
9
words which are e ith e r proper nouns or rare words.
These words are
compactly p rin ted in four columns and from t h is number the student is
expected to choose th o se few words which he knows and to w rite d e f in i­
t io n s fo r them.
The th ir d part has 46 "derived term s", th at i s , v a r i­
a tio n s in p arts o f speech as w e ll as compound and te c h n ic a l term s, a lso
arranged in order o f d i f f i c u l t y .
For part th r ee as w e ll as in part
two th e su b ject must w r ite out th e meaning o f th e words.
Since r e la ­
t i v e l y few words are o r d in a r ily known in parts two and th ree o f th e
t e s t , t h is w r itte n p ortion o f th e t e s t i s r e la t iv e l y b r i e f .
For a d u lts th e t e s t may be used as e ith e r a speed t e s t or a power
test.
For work w ith ch ild ren and e s p e c ia lly in in v e s tig a tin g the abso­
lu te s i z e ' o f vocabulary, i t i s n ecessary to use th e t e s t w ithout tim e
l i m i t s , as a power t e s t .
In order to measure a b so lu te s iz e of vocabulary th e method o f
t e s t in g must be adapted to th e purpose a t hand which i s to a s c e r ta in
for how many o f th e words in th e t e s t - sampling th e c h ild knows some
correct meaning.
I t would be r e la t iv e l y easy to adopt one c r ite r io n
o f knowledge and to measure the c h ild r e n 's performance upon th e vocab­
ulary t e s t in accordance w ith th a t c r it e r io n and thus secure rankings
in vocabulary a b i l i t y .
However, in measuring a b so lu te s iz e of vocab­
u lary we do not want mere ra n k in g s; we d e sir e an adaptable measuring
method which w i l l a llow th e c h ild to show what he does know about th e
words in th e t e s t .
This means th e elim in a tin g as far as p o s s ib le of
th e in flu e n c e o f such fa c to r s as th e c h i l d ’s a b i l i t y to read and to
s p e ll because we are in te r e s te d only in measuring th e number o f words
10
fo r which th e c h ild has some e f f e c t i v e knowledge and not in h is
exp ression o f th a t meaning.
Prelim inary t e s t in g in d ic a te d th a t a combination o f se v e r a l
c r it e r i a o f knowledge would b e st accom plish t h is purpose, e s p e c ia lly
in t e s t in g a t th e lower elem entary l e v e l s .
In fa c t th e re i s an
in c r e a sin g strin g en cy of th e c r it e r i a o f knowledge o f a word w ith
in c r e a se in th e c h r o n o lo g ic a l age o f th e s u b je c t.
This d iffe r e n c e
in c r it e r i a at th e two age le v e ls cannot be equated or le g itim a te ly
ruled out because ch ild ren sim ply do improve in both th e q u a lity and
th e q u a n tity o f words known.
I t was our purpose to d isco v er th o se
methods o f t e s t in g a t th e d iff e r e n t grade le v e l s which would g iv e th e
most accu rate p ic tu r e o f th e growth o f vocabulary.
Prelim inary tr y o u ts showed th a t th e re were th r ee main adm inis­
t r a t i v e groups in to which th e su b je cts f e l l :
1) Early elem entary, grades one, two, and th r ee ; req u irin g
in d iv id u a l, o r a l t e s t in g
2) Middle elem entary, grades fo u r, f i v e , and s ix ; req u irin g aid
in reading
3) Late elem entary and high sc h o o l; req u irin g only opening
d ir e c tio n s and o c c a sio n a l su p erv isio n and aid in reading
However, th e change from one method to another in t e s t in g d iffe r e n t
grade le v e l s i s gradual and adap tation s for e x c ep tio n a l in d iv id u a ls
must be made a t a l l l e v e l s .
In l a t e elem entary and high sc h o o ls th e t e s t was adm inistered to
groups o f from 25 to 40 s tu d e n ts.
The examiner always introduced the
11
work by t e l l i n g the stu d en ts th a t th e t e s t was part o f a study wnich
was fo r th e purpose o f fin d in g out how many words high sch ool and grade
sch o o l people knew.
They were assured th a t th e r e s u lt s of th e t e s t
would have no bearing on t h e ir sch ool g ra d es.
was done mainly through E n glish c l a s s e s .
The high sch ool t e s t in g
They were t o ld th e t e s t was
one which could be used from f i r s t grade through c o lle g e ; th a t, accord­
in g ly , i t began w ith easy words and grad u ally became harder.
They
were cautioned a g a in st c a r e le s s n e s s on th e easy words and encouraged
to gu ess on any words which seemed a t a l l fa m ilia r .
A fter th e stu d en ts had f i l l e d in th e data on th e fron t o f th e
t e s t , they were asked to open th e b o o k le ts; were shown th e example at
th e to p o f th e page, and perm itted to 6 ta rt work.
aged them
to g u e ss.
The examiner encour­
to attem pt a l l wordsthey kne?/, by sa y in g , "It i s a good idea
I f you don't know aword a t a l l , lea v e i t o u t, but i f you
can make a good g u e s s , be sure to tr y th e word."
The examiner a lso
o ffe r e d to d e fin e any o f th e words used in th e m u ltip le ch oice re­
sponses and to pronounce any o f th e words.
The stu d en ts were t o ld ,
" If you don't know what one o f th e se words in lig h t ty p e means, ask
and I w i l l t e l l you.
I f you want any word pronounced, ask and I w i l l
pronounce any o f th e words fo r you."
The examiner then made i t a point to move among th e se a ts and to
make sure th a t each student was fo llo w in g
o f th e numbers.
d ir e c tio n s as to th e placing
This a lso afforded th e stu dents an opportunity to
ask any q u estio n s they might have.
"Then th e f i r s t se v e r a l p u p ils had completed part one, th e examiner
asked for th e a tte n tio n o f a l l of th e group.
The words on part th ree
12
were p oin ted o u t, t h e ir nature ex p la in ed , and d ir e c tio n s for w r itin g
out th e d e f in it io n s g iv e n .
The examiner s a id , "The words in part th ree
are compound and te c h n ic a l words.
You are to w r ite out what they mean.
Be sure to w r ite a f u l l exp lan ation or d e s c r ip tio n ; t e l l enough so
someone e ls e could t e l l ju s t what you mean.
i s 'fo r m ercy's ss.k e '.
m ercy's sake*.
For example, number one
Just e x p la in what you mean when you say, 'fo r
Write th e meanings for as many o f th e words as you can."
A l i t t l e l a t e r the group as a whole was shown part two and given
th e se in s t r u c t io n s :
"Part two has words which are rare or which are
th e names o f p la c es and p eo p le.
You are to w r ite out what the words
mean for as many words as you can.
Since th ere are so many words you
might n o tic e p a r tic u la r ly th e se words.
Check th e ones you know and
then w r ite out th e meanings when you are ready."
(Here th e examiner
read th e number and pronounced th e word for 27 o f the w o r d s . " Y o u
may w r ite out any other words you know, t o o .
F in ish part one and part
t h r e e , and then do part two."
In th e sch ool a t New Concord, Ohio th e stu d en ts were given another
sheet on which were mimeographed th e 27 words^ from part two w ith in ­
s tr u c tio n s to d e fin e as many as they co u ld .
This l i s t was made up by
th e judgment o f the examiner as to which words might be known and from
th e words attem pted by th e se n io r s in th e New Concord High School.
Not
only th e words c o r r e c tly d efin ed by th o se stu d e n ts, but any which th ey
attem pted were in clu d ed .
This secondary sheet was employed as a means
o f saving tim e .
1 . See appendix b for l i s t o f th e 27 words used
13
The t e s t was adm inistered in c la s s e s which had 50 to 45 minute
p e r io d s.
At New Concord, Ohio, th e stu d en ts were a ls o given a data
sheet-^ o f some len gth to f i l l o u t.
At the c lo s e o f th e period s tu ­
dents who were not through were asked to place t h e ir papers in a
sep arate p i l e .
These stu d en ts were given an opportunity at th e f i r s t
of th e next m eeting o f th e c la s s to complete t h e ir papers.
In th e middle elem entary grades, fou r, f i v e , and s i x , th e c h i l ­
dren were g iven th e same in trod u ctory remarks.
in e r s a id , " . . .
you.
We w i l l work to g e th e r .
In a d d itio n th e exam­
I w i l l read th e words fo r
Now th e f i r s t word in dark typ e i s ’a d h e s iv e .'
•s lip p e r y ' put a 1 in fron t o f i t .
in fron t o f a d h e siv e.
th e s is .
I f adhesive i s
I f adh esive i s
'rou gh ,' put a 2
I f ad h esive i s ' f a t t y ' put a 3 in th e paren­
Or, i f adh esive i s
's t ic k y ' put a 4 in front o f a d h esiv e.
Now don't say anything about th e words; ju s t mark i t . "
A fter making
sure th a t each c h ild was marking t h is word c o r r e c tly , th e examiner
continu ed .
"The second word i s 'q u ic k .'
th in g as 'dead'?
Does quick mean the same
Does quick mean 'f a s t '?
Or does quick mean 'slo w '?
Does quick mean 'good'?
Put th e number o f th e word th a t means
th e same th in g as quick in fron t o f quick."
Then w ith le s s elab orate
q u e stio n s, the examiner continued to read each t e s t word, rep eatin g
i t to be sure each p u p il heard c o r r e c tly and then read, in order, th e
four p o s s ib le answ ers, avoiding cues from ta e v o ic e .
Whenever th e
c h ild r e n req u ested , d e f in it io n s fo r th e ch oice words were g iv e n .
1 . See appendix d
14
Standard d efin ition s-^ had been w r itte n out b efore th e work o f t e s t in g
began, so th a t th e examiner fu rnished th e same answers whenever re­
quested for a d e f in it io n .
On c e r ta in ite m s, th e examiner did not wait
fo r th e c h ild r e n to request d e f in it io n s , but incorporated them in to
her o r ig in a l q u e stio n , as "Number 14, takedown.
What do we mean by
takedown? Does takedown mean r e p u ta tio n , th a t i s what people say about
you?
Or does takedown mean lowering?
Is takedown, c eleb ra tio n ?
Is
takedown, honors?"
The range in d i f f i c u l t y o f th e words in t h is t e s t i s so great
th a t th e l a s t page con tain s words which are almost a l l too d i f f i c u l t
fo r p u p ils o f th e fo u r th , f i f t h , and s ix th grad es.
In a d d itio n , sin ce
th e a lte r n a t iv e resp onses for th e more d i f f i c u l t item s were so chosen
as t o t e s t a c o lle g e stu d e n t’s a b i l i t y to d is tin g u is h th e co rrect
meaning from th o se which were f a lla c io u s ly sim ila r in sound, s p e llin g ,
e t c . , younger stu d en ts may ob tain somewhat l e s s than chance scores on
t h i s p ortion o f th e t e s t when item s on th e la s t pages are marked b lin d ly .
T his i s an in sta n c e o f a fu rth er q u a lit a t iv e d iffe r e n c e in th e nature
o f vocabulary knowledge at d iffe r e n t a g e s.
Consequently i t i s w ise to suggest to th e ch ild ren th e t th ey lea v e
out any words on pages t h r e e , fo u r, and f iv e which they have never seen
nor heard b e fo r e .
In g e n e r a l, fourth and f i f t h graders should attempt
at le a s t one hundred words, s ix t h , seven th , and eigh th graders at le a s t
one hundred te n words.
The s p e c if ic words which th e examiner should
urge th e ch ild ren t o attem pt are l i s t e d in th e manual fo r upper e l e ­
mentary g ra d es .2
1. See appendix c
2 . See appendix b
15
There w i l l be ch ild ren who w i l l mark a l l th e item s in th e t e s t
r e g a r d le ss o f in s t r u c t io n s .
Any c h ild who wants to should be allow ed
to mark th e item s in order to avoid p e n a liz in g th e b est stu d e n ts.
However, in th e sco rin g only th e d esign ated one hundred or one hun­
dred and t e n words should be considered u n less i t i s found th a t th e
sc o re based on th e e n tir e t e s t i s h igh er; in t h is case th e higher score
i s taken as th e one r e p r e se n ta tiv e o f th e c h i l d ’s knowledge.
For parts two and th r e e th e c h ild r e n in grades f iv e and s ix were
requested to w r ite th e meanings o f th e words as in th e upper grad es.
In grade four a d d itio n a l p recautions were tak en .
Only four to
s ix ch ild r e n were t e s t e d at a tim e on part one, in th e manner des­
c r ib e d .
And fo r p arts two and t h r e e , each c h ild was taken in d iv id u a lly .
The examiner gave th e c h ild an unmarked t e s t booklet and then asked
th e c h ild to d e fin e th e
wordson parts th r e e and tw o.
The examiner
wrote th e c h ild 's rep ly
as hegave i t , encouraged him to attempt a l l
th e item s he c o u ld , and
asked whatever q u estio n s were necessary to
c le a r up ambiguous r e p li e s .
In a d d itio n , th e ch ild ren were t o ld th a t some o f th e words in
part one had two meanings and th a t for some o f them th e examiner
wanted exam ples.
The examiner then asked th e c h ild to g iv e examples,
to use in s e n te n c e s, and to d e fin e in h is own words, and in some cases
to g iv e a d d itio n a l meanings fo r th o se words which th e c h ild had marked
in c o r r e c t ly , but which most th ir d grade p u p ils could d e fin e .
S im ilar
fo llo w -u p q u estion in g was used w ith c e r ta in f i f t h and s ix th graders
who had m issed words which c h ild r e n in th e f i r s t th ree grades answered
c o r r e c tly .
16
In grades one, two and th r ee th e c h ild r e n were t e s t e d in d iv id u a lly .
The examiner asked th e c h ild t o d e fin e th e word.
I f th e c h ild could
not r e p ly at once or i f he did not make h is meaning c le a r , th e examiner
read th e ch o ice words.
Prelim inary t r y -o u ts showed th a t th e se four
a lt e r n a t iv e resp onses i f read in a s e r ie s made too great an amount of
m a te r ia l fo r th e c h i ld ’s memory span.
comprehend such a com plicated q u e stio n .
The younger c h ild could not
For t h is reason th e a l t e r ­
n a tiv e resp onses were phrased in sep arate short q u estion s which re­
peated th e t e s t word w ith each a lte r n a t iv e resp on se.
These could be
read one r ig h t a f t e r th e other w ithout exceeding th e c h i ld ’ s memory
span.
The q u estio n s which were used by th e examiner were prepared
in a manual and kept standard for each c h ild .^
In some in sta n c e s th e c h i ld ’s i n i t i a l response to th e word alone
was in c o r r e c t, but when th e a lte r n a t iv e responses were presented he
corrected h is f i r s t response and chose th e correct answ er.In t h is
case he was g iv en f u l l c r e d it fo r th e word.
The c h ild sometimes gave stereotyp ed answers to th e a lte r n a tiv e
resp onses on th e b a s is o f p o s itio n cues; th a t i s , he would always
choose th e l a s t of th e four a lte r n a t iv e responses or th e f i r s t , w ith­
out regard to t h e ir meaning.
In such a case or i f th e c h ild did not
respond to th e m u ltip le -c h o ic e q u estion at a l l , he was asked to de­
s c r ib e th e o b ject in h is own way or to t e l l something about i t , or
to use th e word in a sen ten ce and then to exp lain h is se n ten ce.
If
h is rep ly to such q u estio n s were correct th e ch oice o f an in co rrect
a lte r n a t iv e response was disregarded and he was g iv en c r e d it fo r th at
word.
1 . See appendix a
17
In c e r ta in in sta n c e s lea d in g q u estio n s were asked when a l l other
q u e stio n s f a il e d and only h a lf - c r e d it was given for co rrect r e p lie s
t o such q u e stio n s.
For a l l o f th e words, any correct meaning which th e c h ild could
g iv e was c r e d ite d .
por some words th e c h ild might choose th e wrong
a lt e r n a t iv e responses or say th a t he did not know th e word and yet
be a b le to d e fin e th e word c o r r e c tly in term s o f another meaning, in
which case he was g iven f u l l c r e d it .
For example, th e c h ild might
not know "poker" as a game, but know i t as a f i r e - t o o l .
In th e New Concord sch o o l th e ch ild r e n in th e f i r s t and th ir d
grades were t e s t e d on a supplementary l i s t o f b a sic words^ as w e ll
as on th e l i s t prin ted in th e t e s t .
I t was thought a t f i r s t th a t
th e number o f words in th e p rinted t e s t which th e c h ild in f i r s t ,
second, or th ir d grade could d e fin e would be so sm all th a t th e sam­
p lin g would be inadequate.
In an e ff o r t to provide a la rg e r sampling
o f th e e a s ie r words on part one, th e supplementary l i s t was constructed
from a sampling p a r a lle l to th a t from which th e p rinted t e s t was b u i l t .
The words in th e supplementary l i s t were arranged t e n t a t iv e ly in order
o f d i f f i c u l t y according to Thorndike's word-frequency l i s t ( 7 ) .
It
was found, however, in th e New Concord t e s t in g th a t such a supple­
mentary l i s t was unnecessary as in n early every case th e ch ild ren
attem pted a t le a s t th e f i r s t eig h ty words o f the t e s t .
The supple­
mentary l i s t made th e t e s t in g period too long for th e c h ild and was
not w e ll enough graded in order o f d i f f i c u l t y .
abandoned.
1 . See appendix e
It was accord in gly
18
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Since th e re are two common conceptions o f words, the scorin g of
th e vocabulary t e s t i s arranged to a llow fo r an alyzing th e r e s u lt s
in to terms both of b a s ic words and o f t o t a l vocabulary which in clu d es
both b a sic and derived term s.
The r e s u lt s then may be quoted in th ose
terms which f i t th e r e a d e r 's preferen ce in th e d e f in it io n o f a word.
Before examining q u a n tita tiv e d iffe r e n c e s i t i s w e ll to remember
th a t th e q u a lit a t iv e c r it e r i a o f knowledge becomes in c r e a s in g ly s t r in ­
gent w ith progress through th e grades and th a t to t h is extent th e
sco res are not s t r i c t l y comparable.
However, one would sc a r c e ly ex­
pect th e q u a lity o f meanings t o be th e same at w idely d iffe r e n t ages
and no s t a t i s t i c a l allow ances would seem to be c a lle d f o r .
It is
sim ply an observed fa c t th a t vocabulary grows both q u a lita t iv e ly and
quant i t at iv e l y .
Figures I and I I show th e means, q u a r t ile s , and range of th e
b a sic and t o t a l vocabulary sco res fo r grades one to tw elve in c lu s iv e .
It w i l l be noted th a t th e average s iz e o f vocabulary whether
analyzed for b a sic words a lon e or by a t o t a l score in clu d in g derived
words i s numbered in th e ten s o f thousands.
When we g iv e th e c h ild
an opportunity to show what he knows about an adequate sampling of
words and avoid r e s t r ic t in g h is performance by inadequate t e s t in g
methods or by a sampling which imposes an a r t i f i c i a l c e ilin g th e c h ild
g iv e s evidence o f knowing a great many more words than we have h ith e r to
estim ated th a t he knew.
A bsolute s iz e o f vocabulary throughout th e
grade d is tr ib u tio n g r e a tly exceeds past e stim a te s.
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One o f th e s t r i k i n g c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f th e s e d is t r ib u t io n s i s th e
v a r i a b i l i t y i n sc o re s w ith in one grade*
The ran g e o f in d iv id u a l d i f f e r ­
ences in raw s d o re s , e s p e c ia lly f o r th e t o t a l vocabulary, i s v e ry g reat*
T ab le one g iv e s th e p e rc en ta g e o f v a ria n c e (o n e -h a lf th e i n t e r - q u a r t i l e
ra n g e , o r Q,, d iv id e d by th e mean)
o f th e sc o re s w ith in each g ra d e .
W ith
th e e x c e p tio n of th e f i f t h g ra d e , th e p ercen tag e o f v a ria n c e i s g r e a te r
f o r th e t o t a l v o cab u lary s c o re s th a n f o r b a s ic v o c ab u la ry .
I t T r i l l be n o te d , to o , t h a t th e r e i s g re a t o v e r-la p p in g o f sc o re s
from one grade to a n o th e r.
The o v e r-la p p in g o f b a s ic v o cabulary sco res
i s so g re a t th a t only grades one and two a re com pletely o u ts id e th e
t o t a l range o f in d iv id u a l d iff e r e n c e s in grade tw e lv e .
T his i s tr u e
only i f th e grades a re compared w ith in any one sch o o l system .
Comparing
a l l th e sch o o ls to g e th e r th e re i s o v e r-la p p in g o f even grades one and
tw elve*
W ith in any one sch o o l system th e h ig h e s t f i r s t and second
g ra d e rs knew more b a s ic words th a n d id th e p o o re st s tu d e n t in every o th e r
grade le v e l up to and in c lu d in g th e e le v e n th g ra d e .
t o t a l v o cab u lary th e o v e r-la p p in g i s as g r e a t.
In th e sc o re s f o r
The tw e lfth grade»s low­
e s t sc o re exceeds th e h ig h e s t sc o re s in o n ly f i r s t and second grades
in th e N orthbrook sc h o o l, w h ile f i r s t and tw e lf th grades o v erlap in th e
New Concord school*
However, in th e C leveland sch o o l th e h ig h e s t f i r s t
g ra d e r does n o t equal th e low est e ig h th g ra d e r in t o t a l v o cabulary sco res
although th e two grades o v e rla p in b a sic s c o re s ; such f lu c tu a tio n s a r e ,
o f c o u rs e , g r e a tly in flu e n c e d by a few extrem e s c o r e s .
T his extrem e ov erlap p in g i s reduced somewhat when we compare
q u a r t i l e s r a t h e r th a n t o t a l ra n g e s .
In sc o re s on b a s ic v o c ab u la ry ,
T ab le 1
Percent o f Derived Words in T otal Vocabulary
at th e D iffe r e n t Grade L evels
i. Grade
Percent
1
2
Sch* Grade
29
33
36
44
34
36
3
4
5
6
Percent
7
37
35
37
38
40
41
8
9
10
11
12
Table 2
Percent o f Variance ( q/ m) o f Scores in Each Grade
for B asic and T otal Vocabulary Scores
New Concord
1
Basic
T otal
26
27
Northbrook
N
(13)
2
3
4
5
20
29
23
26
7
27
29
19
23
8
12
31
24
9
17
20
10
11
12
10
38
14
16
20
20
6
21
(17)
(18)
( 21)
( 22)
(29)
(29)
(70)
(64)
(61)
(42)
B asic
T otal
21
28
36
15
24
16
15
26
13
12
24
11
15
19
17
10
11
8
20
17
20
17
14
12
C leveland,
N ile s Center
N
(19)
(18)
(25)
(25)
( 22)
(25)
( 21)
( 22)
(44)
(47)
(34)
( 22)
B asic
20
11
16
12
25
13
16
13
T otal
N
20
( 12)
( 20)
(16)
(30)
(18)
(19)
(19)
( 20)
15
23
16
15
18
19
16
20
o f th e high sch ool se n io r s exceeds Qg o f th e f i r s t s ix g rad es,
w h ile
o f th e eigh th grade exceeds Q3 o f th e f i r s t th r ee g rad es.
I t i s much th e same fo r t o t a l vocabulary; Q-j_ 0 ? th e eigh th grade
exceeds Qg o f only th e f i r s t two grad es, w h ile
of th e high sch ool
se n io r s i s higher than Qg o f th e seventh grade in th e New Concord
and of th e s ix t h grade in th e Northbrook S c h o o l.
I t seems we have
underestim ated th e a b i l i t y of our b e tte r stu d en ts and overestim ated
th e a b i l i t y o f th e poorer stu d en ts a l l through th e sc h o o l.
There i s a p r o g ressiv e growth in th e average s iz e o f vocabulary
from grade to grade although th e r a te of in c re a se i s not very r e g u la r .
Gansl (1) who measured r e la t iv e s iz e o f vocabulary from grade th ree
to e ig h t in c lu s iv e found t h a t , "the age-p rogress curve for vocabulary
in t h i s age range i s b est described
as a s tr a ig h t l i n e , w ith a s lig h t
tendency toward n e g a tiv e a c c e le r a tio n between th e ages of tw elve and
t h ir t e e n ."
This d e s c r ip tio n does not f i t our r e s u lt s very w e ll.
The
nature o f her sampling o f t e s t words was such th a t th e n e g a tiv e a c c e l­
e r a tio n a t grades seven and eig h t may be due to an a r t i f i c i a l c e ilin g
in th e t e s t .
A lso , her t e s t was g iv en as a w r itte n group t e s t at a l l
ages which would in trod u ce other fa c to r s in to th e r e s u lt s in a d d itio n
to vocabulary knowledge.
In fig u r e s I and I I i t can be seen th a t in th e two sch o o ls New
Concord and C leveland , the mean for th e f i f t h grade f e l l below th e
mean fo r th e fou rth grade.
This i s not tru e o f th e fourth and f i f t h
grade sco res in th e Northbrook sc h o o l, although th e re to o , th e d i f f e r ­
ence in th e two means i s not as great as th e d iffe r e n c e in th e means
T able 1
P e r c e p t o f D e r iv e d Words i n T o t a l V o c a b u la ry
a t t h e D i f f e r e n t Grade L e v e ls
l.
G rade
P ercen t
S c h , Grade
29
33
36
44
34
36
1
2
3
4
5
6
P ercen t
7
37
35
37
38
40
41
8
9
10
1 1
1 2
T a b le 2
P e r c e n t o f V a r ia n c e ( q/
m)
o f S c o r e s i n Each Grade
f o r B a s ic and T o t a l V o c a b u la r y S c o r e s
G rade
1
New C oncord
B a s ic
T o ta l
26
27
N orth b rook
N
(1 3 )
2
3
4
5
20
29
23
26
7
27
29
19
23
8
1 2
31
24
9
6
21
17
2 0
10
10
38
1 1
14
16
20
1 2
20
(1 7 )
(1 8 )
(2 1 )
(2 2 )
(2 9 )
(2 9 )
(7 0 )
(6 4 )
(6 1 )
(4 2 )
B a s ic
21
26
13
1 2
24
1 1
15
19
17
10
11
8
T o ta l
28
36
15
24
16
15
20
17
20
17
14
1 2
C le v e la n d ,
N i l e s C e n te r
N
(1 9 )
(1 8 )
(2 5 )
(2 5 )
(2 2 )
(2 5 )
(2 1 )
(2 2 )
(4 4 )
(4 7 )
(3 4 )
(2 2 )
B a s ic
T o ta l
20
20
1 1
15
23
16
15
18
19
16
16
1 2
25
13
16
13
N
(1 2 )
(2 0 )
(1 6 )
(3 0 )
(1 8 )
(1 9 )
(1 9 )
(20 )
20
Q! o f t h e h ig h s c h o o l s e n i o r s e x c e e d s Q3 o f t h e f i r s t
s ix g ra d es,
w h i l e Q]_ o f t h e e i g h t h g r a d e e x c e e d s Q3 o f t h e f i r s t t h r e e g r a d e s .
I t i s much t h e sam e f o r t o t a l v o c a b u la r y ;
o f th e e ig h th grad e
e x c e e d s Q3 o f o n ly t h e f i r s t tw o g r a d e s , w h i l e Qj,
* ^ 6
h ig h s c h o o l
s e n i o r s i s h ig h e r th a n Q3 o f t h e s e v e n t h g r a d e i n t h e New C oncord
and o f t h e s i x t h g r a d e i n t h e N orth b rook S c h o o l .
I t seem s we h ave
u n d e r e s tim a t e d t h e a b i l i t y o f o u r b e t t e r s t u d e n t s and o v e r e s t im a t e d
t h e a b i l i t y o f t h e p o o r e r s t u d e n t s a l l th r o u g h t h e s c h o o l .
T h e r e i s a p r o g r e s s i v e g ro w th in t h e a v e r a g e s i z e o f v o c a b u la r y
from g r a d e t o g r a d e a lt h o u g h t h e r a t e o f i n c r e a s e i s n o t v e r y r e g u l a r .
G a n sl ( 1 ) who m easu red r e l a t i v e s i z e o f v o c a b u la r y from g r a d e t h r e e
t o e i g h t i n c l u s i v e fo u n d t h a t ,
" th e a g e - p r o g r e s s c u r v e f o r v o c a b u la r y
i n t h i s a g e r a n g e i s b e s t d e s c r ib e d
a s a s t r a i g h t l i n e , w it h a s l i g h t
t e n d e n c y to w a r d n e g a t i v e a c c e l e r a t i o n b e tw e e n t h e a g e s o f t w e l v e and
t h ir t e e n ."
T h is d e s c r i p t i o n d o e s n o t f i t
our r e s u l t s v er y w e ll .
The
n a t u r e o f h e r sa m p lin g o f t e s t w ords was su ch t h a t t h e n e g a t i v e a c c e l ­
e r a t i o n a t g r a d e s s e v e n and e i g h t may b e due t o an a r t i f i c i a l c e i l i n g
in th e t e s t .
A l s o , h e r t e s t w as g i v e n a s a w r i t t e n g ro u p t e s t a t a l l
\
a g e s w h ich w ou ld in t r o d u c e o t h e r f a c t o r s i n t o t h e r e s u l t s i n a d d i t i o n
t o v o c a b u la r y k n o w le d g e .
In f i g u r e s I and I I i t c a n b e s e e n t h a t i n t h e tw o s c h o o l s New
Concord and C le v e la n d , t h e mean f o r t h e f i f t h
mean f o r t h e f o u r t h g r a d e .
g r a d e f e l l b e lo w t h e
T h is i s n o t t r u e o f t h e f o u r t h and f i f t h
g r a d e s c o r e s i n t h e N orth b rook s c h o o l , a lt h o u g h t h e r e t o o , t h e d i f f e r ­
e n c e in t h e tw o means i s n o t a s g r e a t a s t h e d i f f e r e n c e i n t h e means
JX
C
I 10
BAS I C
VOCABULARY
SCORES
CHRONOLOGICAL
AGE
BY
GROUPS
90
80
in hH
100
TOTAL
RANGE
INTERQUARTILE
RANGE
MEDIAN
70
60
50
4 0-
3 0-
20
10
6
7
8
9
10
II
12
13
CHRONOLOGICAL
14-
15
AGE
16
17
18
19
F,y J3L
TOTAL
VOCABULARY
AGE
SC O R ES
BY
C H R O N O L O G I C AL
GROUPS
14 0 "
~r
TOTAL
130
RANGE
_L
[
|
INTERQUARTILE
RANGE
MEDIAN
120
100-
9 0"
80”
70”
L_J
£ 60f
O
L>
50"
4 0-
30-
20
-
10
6
7
8
9
10
II
12
13
CHRONOLOGICAL
14
AGE
I5
16
17
18
19
23
The apparent r i s e in th e curve again a t th e n in eteen -y ea r l e v e l i s
ap p aren tly a chance flu c tu a tio n in th a t in t h is sampling th e re were
on ly n in e su b je c ts who were th a t o ld .
Table 2 p r e sen ts th e proportion o f derived terms in th e t o t a l
vocabulary*
There i s a gradual in crea se in t h is proportion from f i r s t
grade to t w e lf t h .
The old er c h ild r e n not only know more words, but
th ey are b e tte r a b le to handle words in g e n e r a l.
Seashore and Ecker-
so n 's (4) study o f u n iv e r s ity stu d en ts showed th at a t th a t l e v e l th ere
was a s t i l l g r e a te r d iffe r e n c e in th e number o f words in th e mean b asic
vocabulary and th e mean t o t a l vocabulary.
This q u a lita t iv e growth in
th e vocabulary should be made th e to p ic o f further research .
S cores on part tw o, t h e r a r e words, a r e uniform ly very low .
The i n d i v i d u a l ' s environment and p a r t i c u l a r e x p e r ie n c e are determ in in g
f a c t o r s in h i s knowledge o f such words.
I t was n o t a o l e t h a t most o f
t h e o ld e r c h i l d r e n and many o f even t h e e a r l y elem entary s tu d e n ts in
t h e Northbrook s c h o o l knew where and what F t . Sheridan i s as i t happens
t o be an army t r a i n i n g post on th e la k e f r o n t n orth o f Chicago and
w i t h i n t e n m i l e s o f t h e town.
Only a few o f th e younger p u p i l s in
t h e C levelan d s c h o o l knew F t . Sheridan; N i l e s Center i s f a r t h e r in la n d
than Northbrook and i s about f i f t e e n m i l e s from F t . S h erid an .
However,
at New Concord none o f th e c h i l d r e n , in e i t h e r t h e elem entary or th e
h ig h s c h o o l , cou ld l o c a t e F t . S h erid a n .
Also an example from t h e de­
r i v e d words, t h e c h i l d r e n a t Mew Concord in t h e h igh s c h o o l , many o f
whom come from farm homes, could e x p la in "green manuring", which i s
24
a method o f e n r ic h in g th e s o i l by plowing under leguminous cro p s;
whereas t h e Northbrook h ig h sc h o o l s tu d e n ts did not know th e term .
The r e s u l t s o f t h i s t e s t i n g a l s o have m e th o d o lo g ica l s i g n i f i c a n c e .
I t i s e v id e n t from t h e g r e a t ov er la p p in g o f s c o r e s a t t h e d i f f e r e n t
grade l e v e l s t h a t t h e r e i s no sharp break in th e g e n e r a l a b i l i t y o f
t h e c h i l d r e n a t any p o in t in t h e elem entary s c h o o l .
In g e n e r a l, how­
e v e r , f o r a s a t i s f a c t o r y measurement o f a b s o lu t e s i z e o f vocab u lary
it
i s b e s t t o t e s t c h i l d r e n in th e f i r s t th r e e grades i n d i v i d u a l l y ,
a l l o w i n g t h e c h i l d t o answer t h e q u e s tio n s o r a l l y .
In th e fou rth and
f i f t h grades i t i s w e l l to t e s t t h e c h ild r e n in groups o f not more
than four or f i v e on part one, and i n d i v i d u a l l y on p arts two and t h r e e .
From grade s i x up t h e c h ild r e n may be t e s t e d in groups o f tw enty or
t h i r t y fo r part one; t h e s i x t h grade being t e s t e d o r a l l y on p a rts
two and t h r e e , sev e n th and eig h th w r i t i n g out th e d e f i n i t i o n s .
Through
g rad es s i x , s e v e n , and e ig h t t h e examiner should read t h e words fo r
t h e c h i l d r e n and may s u g g e s t which words t h e y should attem p t.
At a l l grade l e v e l s t h e r e w i l l be e x c e p t i o n a l c h i l d r e n .
Some
t h i r d g rad ers could w r i t e t h e i r answers to p a rts two and th r e e very
w e l l , but on t h e whole t h a t age l e v e l i s not a b le t o s p e l l and w r it e
w e l l enough t o do t h e i r b e s t a t such a t a s k .
There are a l s o c h ild r e n
in f o u r t h , f i f t h , s i x t h and even sev e n th and e ig h th grades who should
be q u e s tio n e d o r a l l y and i n d i v i d u a l l y on th e words on p a rts two and
t h r e e , and even fo r t h e words on part one in order t o s e c u r e a t r u l y
r e p r e s e n t a t i v e measurement o f t h e a b s o lu t e number o f words which th e y
know.
More d e t a i l e d d i r e c t i o n s f o r t h e g i v i n g o f t h e t e s t at th e
25
d i f f e r e n t grade l e v e l s have been worked out and a re in c lu d ed in th e
ap p en d ices.
I t was ea sy t o s e c u r e t h e c o o p e r a tio n o f t h e s u b j e c t s in t h e
vo c a b u la r y t e s t i n g *
C h ild ren i n th e f i r s t fou r grades were eager to
have t h e i r tu r n in t a k i n g t h e t e s t .
The o ld e r c h ild r e n were i n t e r e s t e d
i n t h e t e s t and in t h e i r s c o r e s .
I t i s apparent t h a t t h e t h r e e s c h o o ls t e s t e d i n t h i s s tu d y , on
th e elem en tary grade l e v e l a t l e a s t , a re not e q u a l.
The t h r e e com­
m u n it ie s a r e o f about equal s i z e , ranging from a p o p u la tio n o f a
l i t t l e over a thousand a t New Concord and Northbrook t o f i v e thousand
a t N i l e s C e n te r.
There are g r e a t e r d i f f e r e n c e s in t h e s i z e o f t h e
surrounding communities and in th e occu p a tio n s o f th e p aren ts than in
t h e s i z e o f t h e s c h o o l communities t h e m s e l v e s .
At New Concord th e r e
a re no g r e a t c i t i e s nearer th an C le v e la n d , Ohio, and w h e e lin g , West
V i r g i n i a , which a re r e s p e c t i v e l y one hundred m ile s and s i x t y m ile s
away.
C ity l i f e and even town l i f e does not a f f e c t many o f t h e s e c h i l ­
dren v e r y much.
C hildren a t Northbrook and N i l e s Center, on th e o th er
hand, l i v e on l i n e s o f d i r e c t t r a n s p o r t a t i o n t o t h e c i t y o f Chicago
and, a t N i l e s Center p a r t i c u l a r l y , are in conta.ct w ith t h e c i t y f r e ­
q u e n t ly .
The p a ren ts o f t h e c h i l d r e n in t h e New Concord s c h o o l i n ­
clu d e some p r o f e s s i o n a l men as th e town i s a c o l l e g e community, but
t h e g r e a t e r part o f t h e c h ild r e n in th e e a r ly elem entary grs,des come
from farm homes.
The p a ren ts o f t h e c h i l d r e n a t Northbrook are a l s o
fa r m er s, a r t i s a n s , and s u b - p r o f e s s i o n a l men t o a g r e a t e x t e n t .
N iles
Center i s more o f a r e s i d e n t i a l suburb fo r t h e c i t y and a good many
o f t h e p a ren ts commute t o Chicago for t h e i r work.
26
Thus th e d iffe r e n c e s in th e sc o re s o f th e th r ee sch o o ls may be
due to d iffe r e n c e s in th e c u ltu r a l background o f th e p u p ils,
it
w i l l be noted th a t th e se d iffe r e n c e s disappear at th e upper grade
le v e ls *
There th e two sc h o o ls involved sample about th e same type
o f p o p u la tio n , w ith th e Northbrook high sch o o l stu d en ts s t i l l having
an advantage in th e amount o f con tact w ith c it y l i f e .
I t i s not
claim ed th a t th e se th ree sc h o o ls represent a normal sampling o f Amer­
ican s c h o o ls , but th e r e i s nothing to in d ic a te th a t they are in any
way a t y p ic a l.
Consequently i t seems j u s t i f i a b l e to average th e score 8
at each grade l e v e l from a l l th ree s c h o o ls .
The mean and q u a r tile sco res from th e th ree sch o o ls combined
are p lo tte d in fig u r e s V and VI.
A longside th e se obtained means and
q u a r tile s are p lo tte d smoothed cu rves, rep resen tin g th e score for
each grade averaged w ith th e two adjacent grad es, e .g . the score at
grade two on t h i s curve rep resen ts th e average of scores for grades
one, tw o, and th ree*
Using th e se two curves as a g u id e, another set
o f curves has been drawn, f i t t e d by in s p e c tio n , and shown in Figures
VII and V III.
T en ta tiv e grade norms should be read from th e se f it t e d
c u r v e s.
T e n ta tiv e age norms may be read from fig u r e s I I I and IV.
A high degree o f r e l i a b i l i t y in th e t e s t in g at th e higner grade
l e v e l s i s shown by th e c o e f f ic ie n t s of r e l i a b i l i t y computed by cor­
r e la t in g an i n d i v id u a ls score on th e odd items w ith h is score on th e
even item s (cou nting as odd and even item s the a lte r n a te words attempted
in part one o f th e t e s t ) fo r grades seven to tw elv e in c lu s iv e .
t CM
(5
i
,.o
O)
GRADE
W
z
_
< a
UJ
BASI C
2
rn
■CO
a
m
■*ro
W
■' CM
o
<0
O
in
o
sa N v s n o m
N I
o
o
fO
CM
3UOOS
S CHOOL
VOCABULARY
'00
F , 3
.
TOTAL
90 T
OBTAINED
3 ZT
VOC A B U L ARY
SMOOTHED
MEAN
O-
80
o
0 ------
50
"
IN
THOUSANDS
70
SCORE,
40-
20
•
I0 -
3
5
6
4
SCHOOL
7
8
GRADE
9
10
II
12
F ia-
^
27
The uncorrected c o e f f ic i e n t s of r e l i a b i l i t y a r e , for seventh
grade, r^j = .90 - .02? eigh th grade, r j j = .9 2 ^ .0 1 ; n inth grade,
r ^ j - .91 - .0 1 ; te n th grade, r-^j = .8 7 - .0 2 ; eleven th grade, r ^ .8 7 i .0 2 ; tw e lfth grade, r ^ -
.7 7 - .0 3 .
The t e s t was given to th e p up ils o f the f i r s t four grades in a
fourth sch ool by another examiner, who was th e second-grade teach er
in the s c h o o l.
She used t h is same vocabulary t e s t and the manuals
vorked out for t h is stu d y.
Her r e s u lt s show nearly th e same average
sc o re s and th e same range o f sco res for ch ild ren of th a t school as
was found for th e Northbrook school in t h i s stu dy.
Apparently t h is
method of measuring t o t a l extent of vocabulary i s r e lia b le at th e early
ages and can be used by d iffe r e n t examiners w ith c o n siste n t r e s u lt s .
SUMMARY
In summary, th e Seashore-Eckerson E nglish R ecognition Vocabulary
T e s t, designed to measure in d iv id u a l d iffe r e n c e s in t o t a l E nglish
vocabulary was g iven to c h ild r e n from f i r s t grade through high sc h o o l.
The t e s t was given in two sch ools which had tw elve grades in th e
sch ool u n it and in a th ir d sch ool which had only th e f i r s t eigh t grad es.
The number o f ch ild ren te s t e d a t each grade l e v e l ranged from fo r ty
at th e second grade l e v e l t o one hundred fourteen in th e n inth grade.
I t was found th a t knowledge o f words in th e ea rly grades was
g r e a tly a f fe c te d by th e methodology of t e s t in g and th a t improvement
in vocabulary w ith age showed s ig n if ic a n t q u a lita tiv e as w e ll as
q u a n tita tiv e changes.
Since we were in te r e s te d in determ ining th e t o t a l number o f words
which had any s ig n if ic a n t meaning fo r th e c h ild , a broad se t o f c r i ­
t e r i a o f knowledge was adopted.
Thus th e c h ild was f i r s t given an
op p ortunity to d e fin e a word in h is own terms or to i l l u s t r a t e i t s
proper use in a se n te n c e .
I f he were unable to meet th e se c r it e r ia
he was th en g iven an opportunity to demonstrate h is a b i l i t y to recog­
n iz e th e c o rrect meaning on a fo u r-ch o ice m u ltip le response t e s t .
At
th e e a r lie r ages everything was read to th e c h ild to make sure th at
our r e s u lt s were not handicapped by in a b ilit y to read, pronounce, or
s p e ll words.
S im ila r ly , th e a lte r n a t iv e answers were defined according
to standard procedure i f c a lle d f o r , as had been encouraged by th e
in s tr u c t io n s .
Grades one, tw o, and th r ee were g iven in d iv id u a l t e s t s e x c lu s iv e ly ;
grade four was t e s t e d in sm all groups o f four to f iv e p up ils w ith th e
examiner reading each item ; w h ile grades f iv e and s ix were te s te d
in la r g e r groups by th e same method.
Grades seven to tw elve were
t e s t e d in la r g e r groups, w ithout th e reading of th e words by th e
examiner u n less asked fo r by in d iv id u a ls ; as was encouraged by th e
in s t r u c t io n s .
A f a ir l y stead y growth o f vocabulary w i l l be
th e
fo llo w in g
fig u r e s .
illu s t r a t e d by
For grade one, th e average number o f b asic
words known was 1 6 ,9 0 0 , w ith a range from 5,555 to 3 2 ,8 2 5 .
For
grade tw e lv e th e average number of b a sic words known was 4 7 ,3 3 9 ,
w ith a range from 28,280 t o 7 3 ,2 8 0 .
For grade one the average number
o f words in th e t o t a l vocabulary (b a sic plus d e r iv a tiv e words) was
2 3 ,7 6 0 , w ith a range from 6,060 to 4 8 ,8 1 0 .
For grade tw elve th e
average number o f words in th e t o t a l vocabulary was 80,318, with a
range from 36,770 to 1 3 6 ,535.
An apparent dip in th e curve fo r th e growth o f vocabulary at
th e f i f t h grade i s b e lie v e d to be due to th e change in methodology
brought about by t e s t in g in la rg e r groups above th e fourth grade,
a procedure which has now been remedied.
fo r
a genuine
There i s a lso some evidence
d iffe r e n c e in a b i l i t y at t h i s l e v e l in one of th e sc h o o ls.
Although th e re were f a ir l y la rg e d iffe r e n c e s
between th e lower
grades in d iffe r e n t sch ool system s, for the present purposes i t seemed
b e s t to combine th e r e s u lt s in a ta b le of t e n ta t iv e norms, w ith quart i l e d iv is io n s , which may be in te r p r e te d e ith e r in terms o f v a r ia b ilit y
w ith in th e c h ild ’s sch ool grade or in terms o f th e averages of grades
above or below h is own.
c h r o n o lo g ic a l age.
The same th in g may be done in terms o f
Bibliography
G ansl, Irene 11Vocabulary: I ts Measurement and Growth", Archives
o f P sychology, No. 236, March 1939, p. 52
Lorge, Irvin g "The E n glish Semantic Count", The Teachers C ollege
Record, 39: 65-77
McCarthy, Dorothea The Language Development of th e Pre-school
C hild M inneapolis: Univ. o f Minnesota P r e ss, 1930
S ea s h o r e , Robert H. and Eckerson, L ois D. "The Measurement o f
I n d i v i d u a l D if f e r e n c e s in General E n g lish V o c a b u la r ie s ," Journal
o f E d u ca tio n a l P s y c h o lo g y , 31; 14-38
Seashore, R. H ., S tockford, L. B. 0 ., and Swartz, B. K.t "A
C o r r e la tio n a l A n alysis o f Factors in Speed o f Reading T ests" ,
School and S o c ie t y , 46: 187-192
Smith, Madorah E ., "An In v e s tig a tio n of th e Development o f th e
Sentence and th e Extent o f Vocabulary in Young Children", Univ. of
Iowa S tu d ies in Child W elfare, V. 3 , No. 5 , 1926, p. 92
Thorndike, Edward L. A Teachers Word Book o f t h e Twenty Thousand
Words Found Most F re q u en tly and Widely in General Reading f o r
C h ild ren and Young People New York: Bureau o f P u b l i c a t io n s ,
Teachers C o l l e g e , Columbia U n i v ., 1932
Appendix a
Manual fo r Use
E n g lis h R e c o g n it io n Vocabulary T est by
Seashore and Bckerson in Grades One, Two, and Three
Manual fo r th e Use o f the Seashore-Bkerson E nglish
R ecogn ition Vocabulary Test
in F i r s t , Second and Third Grades
The purpose o f th e t e s t i s t o fin d out how many words th e c h ild
knows.
By m easuring h is a b i l i t y to d e fin e a sampling o f th e words
in th e E n glish language, as represented by th e la r g e s t general d ic tio n ­
ary a v a ila b le , we can estim a te th e t o t a l number o f words in h is vocabu­
la r y .
Such a sampling i s th e b a s is o f th e E n glish R ecognition Vocabu­
la r y Test by Seashore and Eckerson.
Consequently, th e examiner’s aim
i s to fin d out for how many of th e words included in th e t e s t th e c h ild
has at l e a s t one co rrect meaning.
There are th r e e parts t o th e t e s t d ealin g w ith , f i r s t , general
term s; secon d, rare words and proper nouns; and, t h ir d , derived term s.
The g en era l terms c o n s tit u te the la r g e s t part of th e t e s t .
They are
presen ted in m u ltip le -c h o ic e form c a llin g fo r r e co g n itio n o f a synonym
or o f a word r e la te d to th e commonest meaning o f the t e s t word.
Parts
two and th r ee are not in m u ltip le -c h o ic e form, but rather c a l l for
d e f in it io n o f th e t e s t v/ord in th e c h i ld ’s own words.
We do not attem pt to s e t up an examination s it u a t io n in th e usual
sen se o f th e word.
It i s rath er an in terv iew using a standardized and
uniform procedure, for th e purpose o f d isco v erin g how many words th e
c h ild knows.
The q u estio n s which th e examiner asks in t e s t in g th e
c h ild are g iven in d e t a il in th e l a s t part o f t h is manual.
I t i s important th a t th e examiner e s ta b lis h good working r e la tio n s
w ith th e c h ild , making him f e e l in te r e s te d , confident o f h is a b i l i t y
t o meet th e requirem ents o f th e t a s k , and at ease in th e exam iner's
2
p r e sen ce .
The c h ild must f e e l fr e e to t a l k .
He must be e n t ir e ly fr e e
o f any s u s p ic io n as t o th e exam iner's m o tiv es, such as a fear th a t t h is
i s another t e s t which w i l l in flu e n c e h is sch o o l grad es.
This i s u su a lly
not a d i f f i c u l t ta sk when th e su b je c ts are f i r s t and second graders;
th e y o r d in a r ily enjoy th e t e s t .
As th e t e s t in c re a se s in d i f f i c u l t y
th e examiner should prevent any discouragement or sen se of f a ilu r e on
th e part o f th e c h ild and should encourage th e use of any p a r tia l know­
le d g e or sage g u e sses which th e c h ild may have,
u n certa in ty as to a
w ord's meaning causes h e s it a t io n or f a ilu r e to answer in some c h ild r e n .
The examiner should e l i c i t a c h ild 's meaning fo r a word no m atter how
vague or u n certain h is exp ression o f th a t meaning may b e.
I t i s th e
r e s p o n s ib ilit y o f th e examiner t o se e th a t th e c h ild does h is b est work.
The examiner may exp lain th e ta sk to th e c h ild by sa y in g , "I am
going t o t e l l you some words.
them are hard.
Some o f the words are easy and some of
When I say th e word, i f you know th e word, you t e l l
me r ig h t away what i t means or how you would use th e word.
not know a word, t e l l me you don't know i t .
I f you do
I f you cannot thin k of
what th e word means I w i l l t e l l you four other words.
You are to t e l l
me which one o f th e four words means th e same th in g as th e f i r s t word
or has something to do w ith th e f i r s t w ord.”
ceeds d ir e c t ly w ith th e t e s t .
Then th e examiner pro­
He pronounces th e word to be defined
and asks th e c h ild to g iv e him i t s meaning.
I f th e c h ild i s unable
t o r e p ly he con tin u es th e q u estio n s by asking him which o f th e four a l ­
t e r n a t iv e words b e st d e fin e s th e t e s t word and than fo llo w s by asking
more s p e c if ic q u e s tio n s , as w r itte n in th e manual for each t e s t word.
I f th e c h ild g iv e s a s a t is f a c t o r y d e f in it io n in answer to the
q u e s tio n , What does _____ mean?, no fu rth er q u estion need be asked and
3
th e examiner should proceed q u ick ly w ith th e next word.
In many
in s ta n c e s th e r e p ly th e c h ild makes w i l l need some fu rth er exp lan ation .
Then th e examiner should ask such q u estio n s as What do you mean? or
What does "
to me.
(re p e a tin g th e c h ild 's words) mean? or Explain th a t
For example, th e f i r s t grader when asked, What do we mean by
k i l l ? fr e q u e n tly r e p l i e s , " k i ll somebody".
To fo llo w up th a t answer
and assu re h im se lf th a t th e c h ild r e a lly understands the word c o r r e c tly ,
th e examiner should ask some such q u estion as What does i t mean to " k ill
somebody"? or What do you do i f you " k i ll somebody"? or What happens
when you " k i ll somebody"?
S im ila r ly for a l l th e c h ild 's d e f in it io n s
which are not c le a r , th e examiner should check th e c h ild 's meaning by
ask in g fu rth er q u e s tio n s .
I f th e se a d d itio n a l q u estion s do not e l i c i t
a c le a r resp onse th e a lte r n a t iv e words should be presen ted .
Sometimes
th e a lt e r n a t iv e words may be presented in ste a d o f further q u estion s
as a check on th e c h ild 's meaning.
For example, in ta lk in g about th e
word " c h illin g " , i f th e c h ild r e p lie s th a t i t means "cold", th e examiner
must ask some q u estio n which w i l l make c le a r whether th e c h ild means
c o o lin g or fr e e z in g .
th e a lte r n a t iv e words.
The examiner may e ith e r ask , "How cold?" or read
F requently, however, a c h ild w i l l choose th e
wrong one o f th e answer-words and y et g iv e a s a tis fa c t o r y d e f in it io n
o f th e word i f asked some fu rth er q u e stio n .
In such a c a s e , the
d e f in it io n o f th e word i s accepted rath er than th e ch oice o f answerword.
In recording th e answers g iven by th e c h ild , th e examiner seeks
t o put down in th e c h ild 's own words a l l he sa id ; or in case o f a t a lk ­
a t iv e c h ild , th e main p ortion o f h is answer.
E xtensive use o f abbre­
v ia t io n s w i l l a id th e examiner in t h is t a s k .
When th e examiner reads
th e answer-words to th e c h ild and he makes a c h o ic e , th e examiner may
sim ply record th e number o f th e answer in th e p a r e n th e sis.
E should
n o te th a t th e a lt e r n a t iv e words are always t o be read in th e order in
which th ey are p r in te d .
When fu rth er q u estio n in g fo llo w s th e reading
o f th e a lt e r n a t iv e answers th e c h ild 's rep ly should be n oted , fo llo w ­
ing th e ap p ropriate s ig n s ( s e e page on ab b reviation s for r e co r d in g ).
The examiner must lea r n to reco g n ize a le g itim a te f a ilu r e on the
part o f a c h ild and to accept h is statem ent o f "I don't know" in order
to avoid undue p r o tra c tio n o f th e t e s t by asking q u estion s on a word
which i s too hard for th e c h ild .
to t r y a word, to guess i f he can.
However, a c h ild should be encouraged
I f he at f i r s t s a y s , "I don't know",
i t i s w e ll t o sa y , W ell, see i f you thin k i t means one of th e se words*
I s a d h esive slip p e r y ?
Is adh esive rough? e t c .
The examiner should avoid asking q u estio n s which can be answered
by sim ply sayin g "yes" or "no", for th e c h ild w i l l take the easy way
o u t, g iv in g whichever answer comes f i r s t and not con sid erin g th e word
on which he i s being q u estion ed .
When th e c h ild begin s to m iss words i t i s w e ll to q u estion him
about e ig h t or te n more words, asking a t le a s t one or two q u estion s
on each word, but not p r e ssin g th e c h ild i f he says he does not know
th e word.
In sc o rin g th e t e s t , th e words which th e c h ild does not attempt
to d e f in e , but for which he merely s a y s, "I don't know", are not
counted among th e number o f words attem pted in th e t e s t .
The d ir e c tio n s for g iv in g th e vocabulary t e s t may be summarized
in th e fo llo w in g statem ent o f p r in c ip le s :
5
1 . E sta b lish rapport; put th e c h ild a t e a se , make him f e e l con­
fid e n t and fr ie n d ly .
2 . Arouse th e c h ild 's in t e r e s t and e n l i s t h is b est e f f o r t s .
3 . Keep th e c h i ld ’ s a tte n tio n during q u e stio n in g ; allow r e s t
pauses when needed.
4 . Make c e r ta in th e c h ild understands th e ta s k .
5 . Enunciate c le a r ly , make sure the c h ild hears th e word c le a r ly .
6 . Encourage th e c h ild t o use h is every resou rce; check h is answers
to be sure h is d e f in it io n rep resen ts h is meaning.
7 . Do not ev a lu a te th e c h ild ’s performance for him.
P raise appro­
p r ia te ly for e f f o r t , but avoid t e l l i n g th e c h ild whether h is
answer i s co r re c t or n o t.
Do not a llow th e c h ild to f e e l he i s
f a i l i n g or th a t th e ta sk i s unbearably lo n g .
A bbreviations for Recording
Answer recorded w ithout sig n w i l l mean what th e c h ild sa id in
answer to th e sayin g o f th e word or to th e q u e stio n , What does ______
mean?
Recording o f a number in th e p a ren th esis means th at th e c h ild
chose one o f th e answer words by naming th e word.
Further u n s o lic ite d
comments w i l l be w r itte n a f t e r a 2 ) .
3 t) w i l l in d ic a te th e q u e stio n , What i s ________ lik e ?
3d) w i l l in d ic a te th e q u e stio n , What does _________ do? or What
do we do w ith _______ ?
U) w i l l in d ic a te th e q u e stio n , T e ll me something about _________.
or Give me an example o f ____________.
w i l l in d ic a te th e s p e c if ic q u estion which c a r r ie s only h a lf ­
c r e d it has been asked.
( d e f . 3) w i l l in d ic a te th e c h ild asked for a d e f in it io n o f th e
t h ir d a lt e r n a t iv e word and was given one.
S u ggestion s fo r a b b rev ia tio n s for use in recording c h ild 's words
sb
somebody
d k
d on't know
R
sig n o f a r e fu s a l t o answer
sne
someone
s
something
t
th in g
ts
th in g s
D ir e ctio n s fo r G iving Part One o f th e E nglish R ecognition
Vocabulary Test
by Seashore and Eckerson
in F i r s t , Second, and Third Grades
The examiner should fo llo w th e s p e c if ic q u estio n s l i s t e d in th e
se p a r a te s e c tio n o f t h i s appendix.
In grades one and two th e ch ild ren
should be q u estion ed on item s 1 to 73 in c lu s iv e , and on 78, 79, 80,
81, p o s s ib ly 87 and 88 , on 89, 92, 93, 98, 99, 100, 105, 112, 119, 124,
and 133.
In th r e e th e c h ild r e n should be asked th e se words and in
a d d itio n , numbers 97, 102, 109, 116, 135, 138, 139, perhaps 118.
In
any in sta n c e in which th e c h ild g iv e s promise o f knowing more words
he should be asked more.
I f th e c h ild d e s ir e s to answer more o f the
words and has done w e ll h is d e sir e should be granted w ith in reason .
On th e sc o r in g , however, only th o se item s l i s t e d should be counted
u n le ss th e c h ild did w e ll enough on th e a d d itio n a l item s th a t th e
sco re fo r th e e n t ir e number attem pted i s higher than th e score on th e se
item s a lo n e; in th e l a t t e r c a s e , th e higher score i s taken as th e c h ild '
sc o r e .
D ir e ctio n s fo r Parts Two and Three fo r
F i r s t , Second, and Third Grades
On part th r e e th e c h ild should be questioned on th e f i r s t eleven
words and then on words 13, 20, 21, 24, and 32, and any other words
which E f e e l s th e c h ild w i l l know.
The th ir d grader may be given a
b ook let to se e th e words; t h i s i s o f no aid to a f i r s t grader nor to
th e m ajority o f second grad ers.
E must be sure to ask enough q u estion s to bring out th e c h ild 's
meaning c le a r ly .
The c h ild may req u ire some p ersu asion , t o o , b efore
he w i l l attem pt th e words.
For th e s p e c if ic q u estio n s to be used in part th r e e , se e second
part o f t h i s manual.
On part two, E should ask about numbers 38, 72, 82, and 85, and
any other words which th e c h ild might know, p a r tic u la r ly names of
p la c es which are nearby.
Q uestions to be Used w ith th e E n glish R ecognition Vocabulary Test
by Seashore and Eckerson
in F i r s t , Second, and Third Grades and in any In d ivid u al T esting
N ote: In most in sta n c e s E w i l l not make use o f a l l th e q u estion s
l i s t e d fo r any one word. When a q u estion e l i c i t s a s a tis fa c t o r y re­
sp on se, E om its th e remainder o f th e q u estio n s and proceeds to th e
next word. Q uestions which seek to e l i c i t from th e c h ild h is use o f
th e word in an i l l u s t r a t i o n should always be used fo r th e words when
other q u e stio n s f a i l t o bring a good r e p ly . A response i s s a t i s f a c ­
to r y when i t g iv e s E an understanding o f how much th e c h ild knows
about a word.
"I am going to t e l l you some words. Some are easy and some are
hard. When I say th e word, i f you know th e word, you t e l l me r ig h t
away what i t means or how you would use th e word. I f you do not know
a word, t e l l me you do not know i t . I f you can not think o f what the
word means I w i l l t e l l you four other words and then you t e l l me which
one o f th e four words means th e same th in g as th e f i r s t word or has
som ething to do w ith th e f i r s t w ord.”
1 . " ad h esive. What i s adhesive?" "Is adh esive slip p ery ? Is
rough? Is a d h esive fa tty ? Is ad h esive s tic k y ? ” "What i s
l ik e ? ” "What do we do w ith ad h esiv e? ” "What i s something
adhesive?"
c r . : "What i s ad h esive ta p e? ” "What do we
s.dhesive p la s te r ? ”
adhesive
adhesive
we c a ll
do w ith
2 . "quick.
What does quick mean?" "Does quick mean dead? Does quick
mean fa s t? Does quick mean good? Does quick mean slow ?” "T ell
me something th a t i s quick." "What are you l ik e when you are quick?
\ c r .:
"Does quick mean f a s t or slow?"
3 . " lo y a l What does lo y a l mean?" "Does lo y a l mean le g a l? Does lo y a l
mean im patien t? Does lo y a l mean fa it h f u l? Does lo y a l mean la w less?
"What i s somebody l ik e i f he i s lo y a l? What are you lik e when you
are loyal?" "Just t e l l me in your own words what we mean by lo y a l."
4 . " k ill What does k i l l mean?" "Does k i l l mean fig h t? Does k i l l
mean make? Does k i l l mean love? Does k i l l mean slay?" "What hap­
pens when you k i l l something?" -V c r .: " If you k i l l a f l y , what
happens to it? "
5 . "pulse What do we mean by pulse?" "Does p u lse have something to
to do w ith fever? Does p u lse mean sick n ess? Does p u lse have some­
th in g to do w ith beat? Does pu lse have something to do w ith health?
"What i s p u lse lik e? " " T ell me something about p u lse." \ c r . :
"Where do you f e e l your pulse?" "What makes your pulse?"
<5
6 . "cowardly What do we mean by cowardly?"
"Is cowardly th e same as
je a lo u s? I s cowardly th e same as courageous? Is cowardly th e same
as agreeab le? Is cowardly th e same as afraid?" "What i s cowardly
lik e ? " " T ell me something th a t i s cow ardly." or " T ell me a sto r y
about cowardly."
7 . "shout What do you do when you shout? What i s a shout?" "Does
shout mean to w h is tle ? Does shout mean to y e ll? Does shout mean
to weep? Does shout mean t o whisper?" "What do you do when you
shout?" ocr: "Is a shout loud or so ft? "
8 . " le g a l
What does le g a l mean?" "Is le g a l law ful? Is le g a l true?
I s l e g a l tr ic k y ? Is le g a l ad vertised?" "T ell me something th a t
i s le g a l." "T ell me something people might do th a t i s not le g a l."
9 . "pen What i s a pen?" ( i f c h ild 's answer in d ic a te s pen means an
e n c lo su r e , ask , What e ls e do we c a l l a pen?) "Is a pen the same as
a lea d p e n c il? Is a pen a penny? Is a pen th e same as paper? Is
a pen a w r itin g to o l? " "Y/hat do you do w ith a pen?" "Have you
ever seen a pen? What i s a pen lik e? " "Where have you seen a pen?"
10. " clear What i s c le a r lik e ? What do we mean by clear?" "Does
c le a r mean cut in two? Does c le a r mean s o lid ? Does c le a r mean
seen through? Does c le a r mean cloudy?" " If something i s c le a r
what i s i t lik e ? " "T ell me something th a t i s c le a r . ¥/hat i s ____
________( c h i l d ’s example)
lik e?"
11. "cocoon What i s a cocoon?" "Does a cocoon have something to do
w ith a crazy person? Does cocoon have something to do w ith a coco­
nut? Does cocoon have something to do w ith a silkworm? Does cocoon
have something to do w ith a fly?" "Have you ever seen a cocoon?
What does a cocoon look lik e ? " ?- cr: "What l i v e s in a cocoon?
What comes out o f a cocoon?"
12. " c h illin g What does c h i ll in g mean?" "Is c h i ll in g cooling? Is
c h illin g s t i f l i n g ? Does c h illin g mean smoking? Does c h illin g mean
freezin g?" "What i s c h i ll in g lik e? " Note: I f c h ild answers, to
any o f th e s e q u e stio n s, "cold", E should ask "How cold?" "T ell
me something th a t i s c h illin g ." | c r , & check: "Is c h illin g c o o l­
ing or freezin g?"
13. "mouse What i s a mouse? Is a mouse a bird? Is a mouse a sq u irrel?
Is a mouse a worm? Is a mouse an animal?" Note: On t h is question
i t i s an advantage to both th e c h ild and E to presen t th e a lte r n a ­
t i v e answers im m ediately a f te r th e f i r s t q u estio n , rath er than w ait­
ing fo r an answer as in th e other q u e stio n s.
14. "takedown What do we mean by takedown?" "Does takedown mean repu­
t a t i o n , th at means what people say about you? Does takedown mean
low ering? Does takedown mean c e le b r a tio n ? Does takedown mean
honors?" "What i s a takedown lik e? "
15. "Ovened
What do we mean by evened?"
" If something i s ovened i s
"3"
i s i t stewed? Does ovened mean fr ie d ? Does ovened mean b oiled ?
Does ovened mean baked?" "What i s something l ik e i f i t i s ovened?"
" T ell me something th a t i s ovened."
1 6 . " p ercolator What i s a percolator?" "Is a p erco la to r a sauce pan?
Is a p e r c o la to r a ro a ste r ? Is a p e r c o la to r a c o ffe e -p o t? Is a
p e r c o la to r a fr y in g pan?" "What do we do w ith a percolator?"
"7/hat i s a p e r c o la to r lik e? "
17. "assure What does i t mean t o assure?" "If you assu re someone do
you make him m iss h is way? Does assu re mean to question? Does
a ssu re mean to make c erta in ? Does assu re mean t o make unhappy?"
"What do you do when you a ssu re somebody?"
1 8 . " c o n str u c tiv e ’That i s c o n str u c tiv e lik e? " "Does c o n str u c tiv e mean
upbuilding? Does c o n s tr u c tiv e mean c o n s titu tio n a l? Does construc­
t i v e mean r e la x in g ? Does c o n s tr u c tiv e mean th reaten in g?" "T ell
me something th a t i s c o n s tr u c tiv e ." "What do we mean when we say
’th a t i s c o n s tr u c t iv e ’ ?"
19. "devotion What i s devotion?" "Is d evotion th e same as jealou sy?
Is d evotion th e same as fa ith fu ln e s s ? Is devotion th e same as f l a t ­
ter y ? Is devotion th e same as d is lik e ? " "What i s devotion lik e?"
"Is d evotion shown by je a lo u s y , by f a it h f u ln e s s , by f la t t e r y , by
d is lik e ? " "T ell me something we have d evotion fo r ."
20. "gain What does g a in mean?" "Does gain mean a lo ss ? Does gain
mean again? Does gain mean a p r o fit? Does gain mean le ft-o v e r ? "
"T ell me something th a t you g a in ." "What happens i f you gain some­
thing?"
21.
"lead What does lead mean?" "Does lead mean to go a fte r ? Does
lea d mean to come to? Does lead mean to guide? Does lead mean to
follow ?" "What do you do when you lead?" "T ell me some tim e when
you lea d ." fo llo w -u p ques.
22.
"aged What does aged mean?" "Is aged mean? Is aged old?
Is
aged u s e le s s ? Is aged youthful?" " If somebody i s aged what i s he
lik e? " ^ c r s "Does aged mean old or young?"
2 3 ."barking What i s barking?" "Is barking b itin g ? Is barking noise?
Is barking eatin g? Is barking singing?" "What i s barking lik e?"
24. "cheer What i s cheer?" "Is cheer anger? Is cheer sa fe ty ? Is
cheer happiness? Is cheer fear?" "What i s cheer lik e?" "T ell
me something about cheer." Notes I f c h i ld ’s answer in clu d es
shoutin g or ch eerin g , ask , "What e ls e does cheer mean?"
25. "weighty What does w eighty mean?" "Does w eighty mean large? Does
w eighty mean heavy? Does w eighty mean s lig h t ? Does w eighty mean
wonderful?" " If something i s w eig h ty , what i s i t lik e?" "T ell me
something th a t i s w eighty." + cr: "Does w eighty mean heavy or
lig h t? "
4
26. "churching What do we mean by churching?" "What i s churching?"
"Does churching mean worshipping? Does churching mean marrying?
Does churching mean b a p tizin g ? Does churching mean praying?"
27. " creation What does c r e a tio n mean?" "Is c r ea tio n magic? Is crea­
t io n making? Is c r e a tio n g iv in g ? Is c r ea tio n id eal?" "What do
you know about creation ?" "What have you heard people say about
creation ?" " T ell me something w ith 'crea tio n * in i t .
28. "falsehood What i s a falsehood?" "Is a falseh ood p la in dealing?
Is a f a l s e hood p o lite n e s s ? Is a falseh ood a l ie ? Is falsehood
th e truth?" "T ell me something th a t i s a falseh ood ." "What does
a boy ( g i r l ) do when he (sh e) t e l l s a falsehood?" j cr: "Is
a falseh ood wrong or righ t?"
29. "winged What does winged mean?" "Does winged have something to
do w ith swimming* running, craw ling, or flyin g?" " T ell me some­
th in g th a t i s winged."
30. " rep o sefu l What does r e p o se fu l mean?" "Does r e p o sefu l mean quiet?
Does r e p o se fu l mean e x c ita b le ? Does re p o sefu l mean c a lc u la tin g ?
Does r e p o se fu l mean answering?" "T ell me something th a t i s reposf u l."
31. "cen terin g What do we mean by centering?" "Does cen terin g mean
la b e llin g ? Does cen terin g mean perfuming? Does cen terin g mean
g lu ein g ? Does c e n terin g mean focu ssing?" (D efine th e se words fo r
th e c h ild i f he does not know them, as Does cen terin g mean p u ttin g
a name on something? Does cen terin g mean making something sm ell
n ic e? Does cen terin g mean making something stic k ? Does centerin g
mean p u ttin g something where i t can be seen very w e ll? ) "What do
you do when you are centering?" "Where have you heard anyone ta lk
about cen terin g? What did th ey mean?"
32. "hearten What does hearten mean?" " If you hearten somebody do
you plan fo r him? Does hearten mean to encourage him? Does hearten
mean to te a r down? Does hearten mean to grow?" "If you hearten
somebody, how does he fee l? " "What do you do when you hearten some­
body?"
33. " s k i ll What i s s k ill? " "What i s a s k i l l lik e? " "Does s k i l l have
something to do w ith la z in e s s ? Does s k i l l have something to do
w ith ease? Does s k i l l have something to do w ith waste? Does s k i l l
have something to do w ith clum siness?" "T ell me something th a t i s
a s k ill."
3 4 . "ailm ent What i s an ailm ent?" "Does ailm ent mean hunger? Does
ailm ent mean health ? Does ailm ent mean alim en tation ? Does a i l ­
ment mean sick n ess?" "When do you have an ailm ent?" "What i s an
ailm ent lik e? "
35. "mercy What do we mean by mercy? Does mercy mean p ity? Does
mercy mean fear? Does mercy mean weakness? Does mercy mean hatred?"
" T ell me a sto r y about mercy.
Use th e word mercy."
3 6 ."evid en t What i s evid en t lik e?" "Does evident mean se cr e t? Does
evid en t mean subdued? Does evident mean hidden? Does evident mean
clear?" " T ell me how you use th e word evid en t."
3 7 . "vouch What does i t mean to vouch?" "Does vouch mean to lie ?
Does vouch mean to preach? Does vouch mean to guarantee? Does
vouch mean t o wound?" "What do you do when you vouch fo r something?"
3 8 . "bordered What i s bordered lik e?" "Does bordered mean angular,
having sharp point? Does bordered mean curved? Does bordered mean
s tr a ig h t-s id e d ? Does bordered mean edged?" Note: th e c h ild may
be t a lk in g about th e border on w a ll-p a p er. In that case E must
make sure th e c h ild knows which i s th e border. "T ell me something
th a t i s bordered."
39. "manuring What i s manuring?" "Is manuring dom esticating? Is
manuring f e r t i l i z i n g ? Is manuring ploughing? Is manuring c u l t i ­
vating?" "What i s a farmer doing when he i s manuring a fie ld ? "
4 0 . " s a d d le -le s s What do we mean by s a d d le -le ss? " "Is s a d d le -le s s
th e same as bareback? Is s a d d le -le s s th e same as blanketed? Is
s a d d le -le s s th e same as scarce? Is s a d d le -le s s th e same as untied?"
"What does a horse look l ik e i f he i s sa d d le -le ss? " 2 c r * "How
do you hold on a horse i f i t is s a d d le -le s s ? 7/hat do you s i t on?"
4 1 . " stain ed What i s sta in e d lik e? " "Does sta in ed mean black? Does
sta in e d mean d isco lo red ? Does sta in e d mean outworn? Does sta in ed
mean discarded?" " If something i s sta in e d what i s i t
lik e?" 4- cr;
"What has happened i f your c lo th e s are stained?"
42. "above What does above mean?" "Is above th e same as around? Is
above th e same as over? Is above th e same as under?
Is above th e
seme as from?" "Show me what we mean by above." "T ell me some­
th in g th a t i s above."
4 3 . "tent What i s 0 ten t?"
Even w ith as a t is f a c t o r y
amongth e answer words.
Is a te n t a sh e lte r ? Is
ten t?"
"What does a te n t look lik e?"
Note:
d e s c r ip tio n , ask c h ild to d if f e r e n t ia t e
"Is a te n t a shed? Is a te n t a cave?
a te n t a house?" "What do you do w ith a
44. " lock ab le What does lo ck a b le mean?" "Does lock ab le mean unsafe?
Does lo ck a b le mean breakable? Does lock ab le mean protected? Does
lo ck a b le mean stolen ?" " If something i s lo ck a b le what i s i t lik e ?
T e ll me something th a t i s lo ck a b le."
45.
"port What i s a port?" "Is a port a fo rt? Is a port a harbor?
Is a port a part? Is a port a boat?" "What use i s a port?" "7/hat
do we do w ith a port?" "7/here would you 6ee a port?"
"T ell me
something th a t we c a l l a port."
6
4-6. " p a tien t What does p a tie n t mean?" " If you are p a tie n t are you
d efeated ? Does p a tie n t mean calm? Does p a tie n t mean un in terested ?
Does p a tie n t mean excited ?" " If you are p a tie n t what are you lik e?"
"When do you have t o be p atien t?"
47.
"w rite What does i t mean t o w rite?"
" If you w r ite something do
you co r re c t it ? Does w r ite mean t o record? Does w r ite mean to
read? Does w r ite mean t o erase?" "What do you do when you w rite?"
"What do you do when I t e l l you to w rite?" "T ell me something you
w r ite ."
4 8 . " d is p o s itio n What i s d isp o sitio n ? " "Does d is p o s itio n mean what
you look lik e ? Does d is p o s it io n mean having something taken away
from you? Does d is p o s it io n mean th e way you f e e l? Does d ispo­
s i t i o n mean something you were born with?" "What have you heard
people say about d isp o sitio n ? " " T ell me what you can say about
d is p o s it io n ."
49.
" c a r to o n ist What i s a carto o n ist? " "Is a c a r to o n ist a drawer?
Is a c a r to o n is t a scu lp tor? Is a c a r to o n ist a box-maker? Is a
c a r to o n is t a photographer?" "What does a c a r to o n ist do?"
50. "char What does char mean?" "Does char mean to melt? Does char
mean to g laze? Does char mean to powder? Does char mean to burn?"
"What happens i f you char something?"
51. "gurgle What does gu rg le mean?"
"Does gu rgle have something to
do w ith m edicine? Does gu rgle mean bubble? Does gu rgle mean gasp?
Does g u rgle mean shine?" "What i s gu rgle lik e?"
5 2 . "rave What does i t meant o rave?" "Does rave mean to subm it, to
g iv e in? Does rave mean to calm? Does rave mean to su ffer? Does
rave mean t o y e ll? " "What do you do when you rave?"
53. "pale What does something look l ik e when i t i s pale?" "Does pale
mean cool? Does p a le mean p olish ed ? Does p ale mean p le n tifu l?
Does p ale mean lig h t? " "What do you look l ik e i f you look pale?"
2 c r;
"Is p a le blu e lig h t blue or dark blue?"
5 4 . "meander What does i t mean to meander?" "Does meander mean to
p o p u la te, to bring in people? Does meander mean to measure? Does
meander mean to wander? Does meander mean to p e r sist? " "What do
you do when you meander?" "T ell me something th a t does meander."
55.
" r ise r Is a r is e r a person who g e ts up?
Is a r is e r a person who
i s sea/ted?
Is a r is e r a person who f a ll s ? Is a r is e r a person
who runs?" "What does a r is e r do?"
56. "warble What does warble mean?" "Does warble mean to ta lk ? Does
warble mean t o wander? Does warble mean to whisper? Does warble
mean to sing?" "What do you do when you warble?" "T ell me some­
th in g th a t w arbles."
7
57. "hatcher What i s a hatcher? Is a hatcher a feed in g pen? i s a
hatcher an incubator? Is a hatcher a packer? Is a hatcher a
drying machine?" "What do you do w ith a hatcher?" "what i s a
hatcher lik e?"
58. "poker What i s poker?" Note: I f c h ild d e fin e s poker as a f ir e
to o l* ask him i f he knows anything e ls e th a t i s c a lle d poker.
"Does poker have something t o do w ith d ice? Does poker have some­
th in g to do w ith cards? Does poker have something to do w ith ath­
l e t i c s ? Does poker have something to do w ith dominoes?"
5 9 . " w ifely What does w if e ly mean? Does w ife ly mean rela ted ? Does
w if e ly mean husbandry? Does w if e ly mean c h ild - lik e ? Does w ife ly
mean woman-like?"
60. "quagmire What i s a quagmire?" "Is a quagmire a h i l l ? Is a
quagmire a quack? Is a quagmire a fo r e s t? Is a quagmire a swamp?"
"What i s a quagmire lik e? "
61. " f iz z le What does f i z z l e mean?" "Is a f i z z l e an amusement? Is
a f i z z l e a fa ilu r e ? Is a f i z z l e co n ceit? Is a f i z z l e a surprise?"
"T ell me something th a t i s a f i z z l e ." " T ell me what you would c a ll
a f iz z le ."
62. "mid Where i s mid?" "Does mid mean separate from? Does mad mean
in th e center? Does mid mean over? Does mid mean in back of?"
" T ell me something about mid."
63. "scrubbed What do we mean by scrubbed?" " If something i s scruobed
i s i t cleaned? Does scrubbed mean hollow? Does scruboed mean
fancy? Does scrubbed mean worn?" "T ell me something th a t i s
scrubbed." "What does something look l ik e when i t i s scrubbed?"
64. " n aturaln ess What do we mean by naturalness?" "Does n atu raln ess
mean n a tio n a lity ? Does n atu raln ess mean norm ality? Does n a tu ra l­
n ess mean new-born? Does n atu raln ess mean a r t i f i c i a l i t y ? " (These
q u estio n s may a lso be put: "Does n atu raln ess mean th e country you
belong to ? Does n atu raln ess mean th e way you u su a lly are? Does
n a tu ra ln ess mean ju s t born? Does n a tu ra ln ess mean made by man?")
" T ell me what you say about n a tu ra ln ess."
65. "rack What i s a rack?" "7/hat do you do w ith a rack?" Notej
Even when answer i s s a t is f a c t o r y , use a lte r n a t iv e answers to check
meaning. Ask: "Is a rack a stand? Is a rack a bed? Is a rack
a chair leg? Is a rack a bench?" "What does a rack look lik e?"
66. "companionable What i s companionable lik e? "
"Does companionable
mean fu n -lo v in g ? Does companionable mean frien d ly ? Does com­
panionable mean sin ce r e ? Does companionable mean clever?" "What
i s someone l ik e i f he i s companionable?"
8
67. "there What do we mean by there?" Notes I f c h ild confuses th e ir
and t h e r e , make no point of th e d iffe r e n c e , but go on to ask the
a lt e r n a t iv e answ ers. "Does th e re mean here also? Does th ere mean
t h i s place? Does th e r e mean a lik e ? Does th ere mean another place?"
" T ell me how you use th e word th e r e ."
68. "encompassed What does encompassed mean?
Does encompassed mean
hidden? Does encompassed mean in danger? Does encompassed mean
divided? Does encompassed mean surrounded?" "What i s something
l i k e i f i t i s encompassed?"
69. "brusher What i s a brusher? Is a brueher a bird? Is a brusher
a sweeper? Is a brusher a hunter? Is a brusher a smudger?"
"What does a brusher do?"
70. "matched What does matched mean?" "Does matched mean peculiar?
Does matched mean c o n tra stin g ? Does matched mean unequal? Does
matched mean a lik e? " " T ell me something th a t i s matched." -A- crj
" If two th in g s are matched are th ey a lik e or d iffe r en t? "
71. "blue What do we mean by blue? What i s b lu e?” "Does blue mean
dim? Does blue mean gray? Does blue mean colored? Does blue
mean black?" " If something i s b lu e what i s i t lik e?" "Tell me
something th at i s b lu e . What do we mean by blue?"
72. " f ie ld e r Is a f ie l d e r a pitch er? Is a f ie ld e r a b a ll chaser?
Is a f ie ld e r a catcher? Is a f ie ld e r a baseman?" "What does a
f ie l d e r do?" Checks "Where do you se e a fie ld e r ? Where does
th e f ie ld e r stand?"
7 3 . " slin g What does s lin g mean?" " If you s lin g som ething, do you
p u ll i t ? Do you crush it ? Does s lin g mean to throw it ? Does
s lin g mean t o catch it? " "What i s something th a t you slin g?"
"What do you do when you s lin g something?"
74. Note: t h is probably may be om itted w ith f i r s t and second grad ers,
"columnar What i s columnar lik e ? Does columnar mean p illa r e d ?
Does columnar mean h o rizo n ta l? Does columnar mean tw isted ? Does
columnar mean cro p -lik e? " "Can you thin k o f anything th a t i s
columnar? What was i t lik e?"
75. "knee-cap What i s a knee-cap?" "Is a knee-cap muscle? Is a knee­
cap nerve? Is a knee-cap skin? Is a knee-cap bone?" Note: th e se
a lte r n a t iv e answers must be included in th e q u estion in g even i f th e
c h ild c o r r e c tly i d e n t i f i e s h is knee-cap. "Can you show me your
knee-cap?"
76. "syringe What i s a syringe?" "Is a syrin ge a flow er? Does syrin ge
mean sic k n ess? Does a sy rin g e mean sq u irt? Does syrin ge mean
chorus?" "What do you do w ith a syringe?" "What does a syrin ge
look lik e?"
77. Note: probably omit for 1 st and 2nd grades.
" p illa g e What does i t mean to p illa g e ? Does p illa g e mean to
plunder? Does p illa g e mean to p ilo t ?
Does p illa g e mean upbuilding?"
Does p illa g e mean to serv ice?
78. "true what does tru e mean?" "Does tr u e mean good? Does tru e
mean in t e l li g e n t ? Does tr u e mean correct? Does tr u e mean fa lse? "
"T ell me how you use th e word tr u e ." " If something i s tru e what
i s i t lik e? " 2" c**: "Does tr u e mean r ig h t or wrong?"
79. " sin gled Does sin g le d mean grouped? Does sin g le d mean introduced?
Does s in g le d mean ulone? Does sin g le d mean covered?" "T ell me
what s in g le d i s lik e ."
80. " extin gu ish ed What happens i f something i s extinguished?" "Does
e x tin g u ish e d mean lig h te d ? Does extin gu ish ed mean put out? Does
ex tin g u ish ed mean kept a liv e ? Does extin gu ish ed mean released?"
" T ell me something th a t i s e x tin g u ish ed ."
cr: "What happens
when a f i r e i s extinguished?"
81. " tig er-sh n rk What i s a tig e r -sh a r k ? Is a tig e r -sh a r k a crim inal?
Is a tig e r -s h a r k a jungle-anim al? Is a tig e r -sh a r k a fis h ? Is
a tig e r -s h a r k a whale?"
Note: Words 82 through 88 may w e ll be om itted in t e s t in g 1st and 2nd
grades u n le ss E f e e l s th e c h ild he i s working w ith might be able
to d e fin e th e words. I f s o , E asks q u estio n s sim ila r to th ose for
th e other words.
89. "concert What i s a concert?" "Is a concert a discord? Is a con­
c e r t an opera overture? Is a concert group music? Is a concert a
v io lin ? " "What i s a concert lik e? " "Did you ever hear a concert?"
90. May be om itted
91. May be om itted
92. "pearled I f a dress i s pearled i s i t f r i l le d ? Does pearled mean
stitc h e d ? Does pearled mean jew eled? Does pearled mean yellowed?"
93. "shamer What i s a shamer?" "Is a shamer a lender? Is a shamer
a coward? Is a shamer an e g o t i s t , somebody who th in k s too much
o f him self? Is a shamer an accu ser, somebody who blames you?"
"What does a shamer do?"
97 . "pique What does pique mean? Does pique mean to annoy? Does
pique mean to d is s ip a te ? Does pique mean to ex a lt? Does pique
mean t o practice?"
9 8 . "pshaw What do people mean when they say pshaw?" "Does pshaw
have something to do w ith terro r? Does pshaw have something to do
w ith carriage? Does pshaw have something to do with wrong? Does
pshaw have something to do w ith disappointment?" "When do you say
pshaw?" "How do you f e e l when you say pshaw?"
10
99. " s c a r ily What does s c a r ily mean?" "Does s c a r ily mean few?
Does s c a r ily mean hardly? Does s c a r ily mean b attered? Does
s c a r ily mean frightened?" "What i s s c a r ily like?"
100. "oyster-bed What i s an oyster-bed?" "Is an oyster-b ed a den?
Is an o y ster-b ed a nursery? I s an oyster-b ed a n est? Is an
o y ster-b ed a fish ery ? " "What do we do w ith an oyster-bed?"
"Where i s an oyster-bed?"
105. "up-peak Does up-peak mean explode? Does up-peak mean se t s a il?
Does up-peak mean r is e to top? Does up-peak mean surrender?"
112. " t i t l e r What i s a t i t le r ? " "Is a t i t l e r a drinker? i s a t i t l e r
a namer? Is a t i t l e r a church giver? Is a t i t l e r an undertaker?"
116. "deep-dyed What does deep-dyed mean?" "Does deep-dyed mean crim­
in a l? Does deep-dyed mean in to le r a b le ? Does deep-dyed mean fa r ­
fetch ed ? Does deep-dyed mean thorough?"
119. " sn a g g le-to o th Does sn a g g le -to o th mean ca llo u s? Does sn aggleto o th mean v i le ? Does sn a g g le-to o th mean crooked? Does sn aggleto o th mean aged?"
124. "waterwork What i s a waterwork?"
Does water-work mean hydrophobia?
Does waterwork mean wave?"
"Does water-work mean supply?
Does waterwork mean a ir-p ip e ?
Q uestions Which May be Used fo r Part Three, Derived Terms
in F ir s t , Second, and Third Grades
1 . fo r m ercy's sake "What do we mean when we say 'fo r mercy's
sake"'?" "You have heard somebody say 'fo r mercy's sa k e ', haven't
you. What did they say?" "How do they f e e l when th ey say, 'fo r
m ercy's sake'?"
2 . sea b lu e "What does sea blu e look lik e ? I f something i s sea blue
what“ does i t look lik e? " I f S answers th a t i t i s th e c o lo r o f
th e sea or some sim ila r r e p ly , E should ask , "What color i s that?"
I f S r e p lie s "blue", E should a sk , "What kind of blue?" "A
dark b lu e or a lig h t b lu e , or what?"
3 . l o y a li z e "What do we mean by lo y a liz e ? " I f c h ild r e p lie s " loyal" ,
ask what lo y a l means. (N ote; such a rep ly r e c e iv e s h a lf- c r e d it
even i f lo y a l i s not d e fin e d .)
4 . g u rg lin g "What does gu rglin g mean?" "Can you t e l l me what gurg­
lin g i s lik e ? " "What i s something th at i s gurgling?"
5 . m id -sea
"Where i s m id-sea?
What do we mean by mid-sea?"
6 . w ingedly
"What does w ingedly mean?" "Can you make a guess what
we mean by wingedly? That i s a good word to guess on*" "T ell me
something about w ingedly."
7 . mid-noon "What i s mid-noon?" "What tim e i s mid-noon?" Check ans­
wer by a sk in g , "What do you do a t mid-noon?" or with old er c h i l ­
dren, "What tim e i s mid-noon by the clock?"
8 . w h ite lea d
9.
"What i s w h ite lead?
What do we do w ith w hite lead?"
m id-iron
"Do you know what m id-iron is?" I f c h ild r e p lie s g o lf
club or g o l f , a sk , "Which club?" or "What
do you use m id-iron for?"
10. le a d colored "What does lea d -c o lo r e d mean?"
a sk , "What kind o f gray?"
11. 1e a d -p a r a ly sis
I f answer i s "gray",
"What i s lea d -p a r a ly sis? "
12. draw poker
"What i s draw poker?" I f c h ild knows i t i s a game,
ask him how to play i t . Ask how i t i s d iffe r e n t from str a ig h t
poker.
13* pen-m aster
"What i s a pen-master?" "That i s another good word
t o gu ess on. What do you thin k a pen-master does?"
19.
le a d -lid d e d "What does le a d -lid d e d mean?"
c r e a tio n a l "What does c r e a tio n a l mean?" "T ell me something about
th e word c r e a tio n a l."
21. mid-watch "What i s a mid-watch?" "Have you ever read about a
mid-watch?"
I f c h ild answers "the middle o f a watch", a sc e r ta in
what kind o f watch he means.
24.
snag to o th
"What i s a snag tooth?"
"What does a snag to o th look
A ppendix ^
Manual f o r Use o f E n g lis h R e co g n itio n Vocabulary Test by
Seashore and Eckerson in Grade Four through High School
D ir e ctio n s fo r G iving E n glish R ecognition Vocabulary Test
to Upper Elementary Grades and to High School
(Grades 4 to 12)
The examiner in h is in trod u ctory remarks should in clu d e th e se
p o in t s :
1. The purpose o f th e t e s t i s t o fin d out how many words th e
ch ild r e n know
2* The t e s t does not a f f e c t th e c h ild 's sch ool grade
3 , The t e s t covers a range o f a b i l i t y from f i r s t grade through
c o ll e g e .
Hence warn a g a in st c a r e le ss n e s s at f i r s t and d is ­
couragement at l a s t .
4 . The c h ild should guess a t words i f he knows something about
them and omit t o t a l l y u n fam iliar words
The examiner may say something lik e t h i s , "This i s a vocabulary
t e s t to fin d out how many words you know.
This t e s t does not have
anything to do w ith your sch o o l grades; we are ju st in te r e s te d in
fin d in g out how many words you can understand.
You must be sure to
do your own work.
"This t e s t happens to be made fo r f i r s t graders and fo r high
sch ool stu d en ts so you see i t s t a r t s out easy, but i t g e ts hard.
Be
c a r e fu l w ith th e f i r s t words and you w ill.n o t make any m istakes on
th e f i r s t page."
D is tr ib u te th e b o o k le ts w ith in s tr u c tio n s to f i l l in th e fron t
page o f d ata.
"Now open your b o o k le t.
See th e words in dark ty p e; th o se are
th e words you are to d e fin e .
You se e th e re are four words in lig h t
ty p e a c r o ss th e page a f te r every word in dark ty p e .
You are to pick
|
out th e one o f th o se four words in lig h t typ e which means the same
th in g or has something to do w ith th e word in dark ty p e .
th e to p o f page one, c le a r up a t th e to p .
'attem p t*.
The word in dark type i s
And th e four words a f te r i t are 'run, h a te, t r y , sto p * .
j Which word means attem pt?
;iI
Look at
'Try' means th e same th in g as 'attempt*
and t r y i s th e t h ir d word, so they have put a th r ee in front of 'attempt*
■t
| in th e p a r e n th e sis ,
j
"Now look a t th e f i r s t word.
Ii f i r s t word i s 'a d h e s iv e '.
;
Don't say anything out loud.
What i s adh esive lik e ?
's lip p e r y * , put a one in fron t o f a d h e siv e.
That
I f adhesive i s
I f adhesive i s 'rou gh ',
.]
|
put a two in fron t o f a d h e siv e.
in fr o n t,
(N ote:
I f ad h esive i s
I f ad hesive i s ' f a t t y ' , put a th ree
' s t i c k y ' , put a four in fron t o f ad h esive.
E must avoid g iv in g cues as to th e answer with h is v o ic e .)
Everyone mark th a t f i r s t word." * *
The examiner should make sure each c h ild understands how to mark
th e answer.
Then he may sa y , "YYe w i l l work to g e th e r .
I s h a ll read th e
words and you put in th e number of th e r ig h t answer.
Wherever you
can make a good g u e ss, be sure to guess at th e word.
I f you do not
know a word a t a l l , you may lea v e i t o u t.
I f you want to know what
any o f th e words in lig h t typ e mean, ask me and I w i l l t e l l you what
they mean."
E th en proceeds to read each t e s t word, repeating i t o fte n enough
fo r th e ch ild r e n to hear i t c le a r ly , and th e four choice words in order.
These may be repeated as o fte n as n ecessa ry .
E should make sure the
3
ch ild r e n understand th e ch o ice words and may introduce some of the
standard d e f in it io n s in to h is q u e stio n .
E may sa y , "takedown
For example, for number 14,
What do we mean by ’takedown’?
I s takedown
r e p u ta tio n ; th a t Is what people say about you?
Is takedown lowering?
Is takedown ce le b r a tio n ?
D e fin itio n s should be
Is takedown honors?"
so introduced e s p e c ia lly for q u estio n s 14, 31, 34, 37, 38, 47, 48, 54,
64, 74, 101, 103.
E should read a l l th e words on pages one, tw o, and th r e e .
On
page fo u r , he should encourage th e ch ild r e n to omit th e very unfam iliar
words.
E may sa y , "Now on t h is page, I s h a ll read th e word in dark
ty p e and i f anybody wants to hear th e words in lig h t type we w i l l read
them t o o .
I f you do not know a word a t a l l , ju s t lea v e i t ou t.
"Do you know what we mean by is o s c e le s ?
. . . Number 112, T it le r
a namer?
Supersedere?
Is a t i t l e r a drinker?
Is t i t l e r a church giver?
T rinity?
Or does t i t l e r mean
Or i s t i t l e r an undertaker?"
And in a s im ila r manner fo r th e r e s t o f page fou r, E su ggests th e omis­
s io n o f th e to o d i f f i c u l t words.
For grades tour and f iv e words 1-73
in c lu s iv e and numbers 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 87, 88, 89, 92, 93, 97
through 102, 105, 112, 116, 119, 121, 124, 133, 135, 138, and 139 should
be read as w e ll as any oth ers the ch ild ren r e q u e st.
For s ix th and
seventh grades E should read in a d d itio n to th e above l i s t , words 74,
77, 103, 104, 105, 109, 111, 118, 141, 142.
In sco rin g th e papers for grades 4 , 5 , and 6 th e se item s should
be made th e b a s is o f th e sc o r e .
In some cases a c h ild w i l l not attempt
t h i s many words in which case the co rrected errors should be subtracted
j
from th e number o f words a c tu a lly attem pted.
(J
w i l l attem pt more o f th e words.
In other ca ses th e c h ild
His paper should be marked on a l l
jl
j
j
|
j)
item s attem pted.
However, only errors on th e se designated words should
be counted a g a in st him and th e corrected number of errors subtracted
|j
in grades four and f iv e from th e number of th e s e 100 words attem pted
S
j
and fo r grade s ix from th e recommended 110 words.
|
th e sco re based on th e whole number o f words a c tu a lly attempted i s
i|
h ig h e r , th e h igh er score should be used as th e c h ild 's sc o re .
|
j
;j
j
However, in case
C hildren in grade four should be t e s t e d in groups o f f iv e or s ix ;
groups o f 20 or 30 work f a ir l y w e ll from th e f i f t h grade up, although
i t would be b e t te r t o t e s t f i f t h grade
■!
in groups of f iv e and s ix a ls o .
Parts Two and Three
!
On parts two and t h r e e , fourth and fifth jg r a d e ch ild ren are
!
question ed in d iv id u a lly and E records the answers.
It i s p o ssib le
to have ch ild ren in s ix t h , seventh and eigh th grades w rite out th e ir
answers to parts two and th r e e .
.!
be t e s t e d o r a lly .
The d u lle r ch ild ren here should a lso
It would be p refera b le to t e s t s ix th grade o r a lly
and in d iv id u a lly .
For th e group work, E shows th e ch ild ren part th ree and sa y s,
"These words are te c h n ic a l words.
!
mean, for as many as you can.
You are to w r ite out what th e words
Mow be sure tojwrite enough so someone
e ls e w i l l understand ju s t what you mean.
Be very d e f in it e ; d escrib e
each th in g so someone e ls e would recogn ize i t when he saw i t ."
should pronounce th e f i r s t tw enty-four words o f the l i s t .
E
He should
add, "You may not have heard some o f th e se words, but you can fig u r e
out what th ey mean anyway.
You should w r ite out at le a s t ten o f th e
w ords.
1 . In t h is study f i f t h grade p u p ils wrote out th e ir answers.
When s e v e r a l o f th e ch ild r e n have fin is h e d part th r e e , th e whole
group may be shown part tw o.
E should sa y , "These words are words we
do not hear very o fte n or e ls e th ey are th e names o f p la ces or o f
p e o p le .
You are to w r ite out what th ey mean fo r as many as you can.
Look e s p e c ia lly at number 31, ’Coronado I s la n d s '; number 38, 'Death
V a lle y '."
(And so on for numbers 55, 56, 72, 82, 85, 89, 104, 107,
109, 110, 119, 151.
Notej
E should in clu d e in t h i s l i s t any other
words which he th in k s th e se p a r tic u la r ch ild r e n would know.)
"You
may w r ite th e meanings for any o f th e other words th a t you know, of
co u rse.
I f you know more than one meaning for a word, be sure to
w r ite a l l th e meanings you know."
D irectio n s for Eighth Grade and for High School
In th e eigh th grade and in high sch ool th e d ir e c tio n s for part
one as used in th e upper elem entary grades should be follow ed through
th e sta rred se n te n c e , (on page two o f t h is manual).
From th a t point
on th e procedure i s a l i t t l e d iff e r e n t; th e examiner does not read a l l
o f th e words to th e ^udents but sim ply saye^ "Go ahead and mark a l l
th e words.
Be sure t o pick out th e word which means th e same th in g or
has something to do w ith th e word in dark ty p e .
a good g u e s s , be sure to make i t .
whenever you cah make
You should not lea v e out any words
in th e f i r s t two pages.
" If you want t o know what any o f th e words in lig h t type means
ask and I w i l l t e l l you.
I w i l l pronounce any o f the words for you
th a t you want to hear."
The stu d en ts should be encouraged to read a l l f iv e pages of th e
t e s t , o m ittin g no words on th e f i r s t th r ee pages, but om itting t o t a l l y
u n fam iliar words on pages four and f i v e .
6
D ir e ctio n s and procedure on parts two and th r ee are sim ila r to
th o se used with upper elem entary p u p ils .
urged to w r ite d e f in it io n s fo r more words.
The older stu d en ts are
It i s w e ll to t e l l them
on part three* "Write d e f in it io n s fo r a t l e a s t f if t e e n o f th e words
Do more i f you can."
On part two th e fo llo w in g l i s t o f tw enty-nine words should be
c a lle d to t h e ir a t te n t io n .
Words Used fo r upper Elementary Grades and High School
in Part Two
6 . Angloman
10 . axmaster
1 3 . b e a s tin g s
17. b o llo c k
21 , calend er
26. c i t
31. Coronado Islan d s
35. curmudgeon
38 Death V a lley
44. Duke o f E x e te r's Daughter
55. Fort Sheridan
56. Franciscan
66. guana
67. h a lla h
72. h o llin g
82. Ju s.
85. lad dess
89. lie fso m e
9 7 . m is s e l- t r e e
100. Nafa
102. New Utrecht
104. North P la in f ie ld
107. Pan-African
109. p a r ti-c o a te d
110. perpendiculum
114. P r a x ite le s
119. Reed C ity
138. stod ge
151. tu n g -tr e e
155. vera
1 , This d ir e c tio n was not used in th e presen t study
endix c
D efinitions
for A l t e r n a t i v e Responses
D e fin itio n s
3 . lo y a l
im patient
le g a l
f a it h f u l
being in a hurry, can 't w ait
allow ed by law
you can t r u s t th e person, he stands
by you, tru e
4. k ill
s la y
to make somebody or something d ie
6 . cowardl
je a lo u s
courageous
agreeab le
a fr a id
wanting what th e other person has
brave
p leasan t
frigh ten ed
7. shout
w h is tle
whisper
make a c le a r , s h r i l l sound
(to speak in a low v o ic e ) speak very
s o f t l y and low
11 . cocoon
coconut
hard, brown nut o f the palm tr e e
12 , c h i ll in g
s tiflin g
keeps you from breathing
14. takedown
rep u ta tio n
lowering
c e le b r a tio n
what people way about you
to make a th in g go down
a f e a s t , a happy tim e such as a
holid ay
15. ovened
stewed
cooked with w ater, righ t over the
fir e
18.
c o n s titu tio n s .! allow ed by th e law
r e la x in g
to loosen up, to r e st
th rea ten in g
t e l l i n g of some punishment or harm
which i s coming to th e person
c o n s tr u c tiv e
19. devotion
jea lo u sy
fa it h f u ln e s s
f la t t e r y
d is lik e
20. gain
wanting something a l l for y o u r se lf
being a person who does v/hat he promises
saying n ic e th in g s to a person which
you do not mean
you don't lik e somebody or something
lo s s
p r o f it
something you lo s e
how much more a th in g i s worth than
i t cost
worshipping
th in k in g about th e Lord or giv in g
thanks to th e Lord
becoming husband and w ife
sp rin k lin g you with holy water or
p u ttin g you in holy water
ta lk in g to God
marrying
b a p tizin g
praying
4
27 ' creation
id e a l
making th in g s happen by se cr e t
charms and sayings
p e r fe c t
p o lite n e s s
being cou rteou s, w ell-behaved
30. r e p o se fu l
e x c ita b le
c a lc u la tin g
g e ttin g angry easy or being happy easy
planning ju s t for y o u r s e lf, scheming
31. cen terin g
la b e llin g
perfuming
g lu e in g
fo c u ssin g
p u ttin g a name on something
making something sm ell n ic e
making something s tic k
p u ttin g a th in g where you can see i t
very w e ll
33. s k i l l
la z in e s s
ease
w aste
clum siness
not wanting to work
w ithout try in g hard, easy
something not used or thrown away
awkwardness
34. ailm ent
alim en ta tio n
food
36. evident
subdued
having given in , quieted or defeated
37. vouch
guarantee
to promise th a t something i s good or
th a t you w i l l do something
to hurt
28
fa lseh o o d
magic
wound
39. manuring
dom esticating
f e r tiliz in g
ploughing
c u ltiv a tin g
to tame a w ild animal
(to make th e ground rich er) g iv in g a
plant something to make i t grow
digging up th e ground
take care of a gafdea or f i e l d , raking
and h oein g, webdiag
41. sta in e d
d isco lo r e d
discarded
the c o lo r has been changed
thrown away
44. lo ck a b le
breakable
protected
can be broken
kept from harm, defended
46. p a tie n t
defeated
calm
u n in terested
being on th e lo sin g sid e in a con test
q u ie t, s t i l l
not in te r e s te d , not caring about a
th in g
becoming very happy or very angry
e x c ited
47. w r ite
correct
record
erase
to change m istakes so they are rig h t
to put something down in words or
sen tences
rub out
3
48. d is p o s it io n
appearance
d is p o s s e s s io n
a ttitu d e
in s t in c t
what you look lik e
having something taken away from you
th e way you f e e l
something you are born with
50. char
g la z e
powder
make i t l i k e g la s s
crushing or grinding in to small p ieces
lik e sugar
52. rave
submit
to g iv e in
54. meander
populate
measure
to bring people in
to find th e s iz e o f anything
57. hatcher
incubator
packer
a machine for keeping eggs warm
one who wraps th in g s up or puts them
in boxes
drying machine machine for tak in g th e water out of
th in g s
58. poker
dominoes
sm a ll, f l a t , black p ieces of bone or
wood with w hite spots
59. w if e ly
husbandry
c h ild - lik e
woman-like
farming
th e way ch ild ren are (do)
th e way a woman i s (does)
60. quagmire
quack
a faker; a person who d oesn 't know as
much as he says he does
61. f i z z l e
f a ilu r e
c o n ceit
not doing what was expected
th in k in g too much of y o u r se lf
64. n a tu ra ln ess
n a tio n a lity
n orm ality
a r tific ia lity
belonging to a country
the way you (th in g s) u su a lly are
made by man
66 . companionable
sin c e r e
c le v e r
r e a l, honest
b r ig h t, smart
68. encompassed
d ivid ed
surrounded
separated, put in two or more parts
shun m on a l l sid es
69. brusher
smudger
a person who s e t s out smoky f ir e s to
drive o f f in s e c ts or fr o s t
70. matched
p e cu lia r
c o n tra stin g
queer
th e o p p osite o f one another
74. columnar
p illa r e d
c r o p -lik e
h o r izo n ta l
having p illa r s or posts
lik e a crop, lik e a harvest
f l a t , (g estu re)
ft
sq u irt
to make water or some liq u id shoot
out fa s t in a l i t t l e stream
80. e x tin g u ish e d
r e le a se d
l e t go
Phonographer
recorder
a person who makes records
84* undefine
d e f in i t iv e
inform al
indeterm inate
ille g a l
f in a l
fr e e and easy way
not s e t t le d , not very c le a r
not allow ed by the law
85. in to to
totem
earnest
ext ended
th e sig n o f a t r ib e or clan
tr y in g very hard
drawn out
87. longus
d ia g n o stic
something th at explains
88. d r ily
puny
weak and l i t t l e
89. concert
d iscord
music that doesn’t sound good
opera overture music th a t i s played righ t before the
opera, before the sin gin g
90. d e r is iv e
r id ic u lin g
approving
e d itin g
s lu g g ish
91 . v ic a r ia n
ten ant
laughing a t , making fun of
th in k in g i t i s righ t
g e ttin g books and papers ready to
be printed
la z y , slow
clergyman
a r e n te r , someone who l iv e s in a place
and pays rent
a m in iste r , p r ie s t , or preacher
92. pearled
f r ille d
having fancy bows and r u f fle s
93 . shamer
len der
someone who l e t s another person have
or use something for a w h ile; some­
one who lends th in gs
a person v/ho th in k s and ta lk s too much
o f h im self
e g o tis t
9 4 . hydrography
protozoa
o n e -c e lle d anim als, so sm all you can't
see them with your eyes alone
charting waters making a map o f some water as a riv e r
or lake
steam f i t t i n g a man who puts in heating p ip e s, steam
pipes
geology
a study of rocks and th e earth
9 5 . p l u r a li s t
monist
bigam ist
se v e r a l b ases
96.
b a sta r d iz e
b lu s te r
one who exp lain s the universe by one
th in g
a man who has two wives at the same
tim e or a woman who has two hus­
bands at th e same tim e
having more than one base, or supports
i ll e g i t im a t e
to get angry and stamp around, making
a lo t o f n o ise
to make something strong, to protect
a place
sp rin k lin g you w ith holy water or
p utting you in holy water
born to parents who are not married
d is s ip a t e
w aste (money and tim e)
100. o y ste r - bed
den
nursery
fis h e r y
a cave where animals l iv e
a p lace where they grow plants
a place where they grow f is h
101. probation
delinquency
g e ttin g in to trou b le and doing what
you shouldn't
chance, whether a thing i s apt to
happen
fo r tify
b a p tize
97.
pique
p r o b ilit y
103. incorrupt
illib e r a l
honorable
narrow-minded, stin g y
an honest person, a person you can tr u st
104. immedicable
incurable
imprudent
id e n tic a l
can not be made w e ll
not caring what he does
ju s t a l ik e , ex a c tly th e same
108. supersedere
tak e precedence be more important
magnify
make something look la rg er in s iz e
109. t r i n i t y
coronet
tr ib u n a l
a sm all crown worn by a person who i s
l e s s important than the king
a court or a group of people who say
what i s th e law
110. morphinomania
insomnia
not being able to sle e p
drug a d d ic tio n being a sla v e to drugs or m edicines
113. geru n d ial
p a r t ic ip ia l
h yp erb olic
in fin itiv e
descendant
lik e a p a r t ic ip le which i s an ing-word
th at d escrib es somebody or some­
th in g
something made very great or important
ju st to get p eo p le's a tte n tio n
lik e an i n f i n i t i v e which is lik e "to go,"
"to do"
coming from something
114,. san gm n i
t o le r a b le
115,» s k o l io s i s
s p in a l curvature a bending o f th e backbone
p a r a ly sis
not being ab le to move a le g or arm
or not to f e e l anything in them
116, deep-dyed
in to le r a b le
117.
fig u r e o f speech a way o f saying thin gs
m etabolism
using th e food in th e body
lo g ic a l method c a r efu l and righ t thinking
119. sn a g g le -to o th
c a llo u s
v ile
hard, not caring
mean, bad
120 . a l l i t e r a t i o n
a llu s io n
a hint
122 . a p o s t o lic s
th eo lo g y
h eresy
study of r e lig io n
not b e lie v in g what most people b e lie v e
in r e lig io n or p o l i t i c s , art e t c .
123. in d u ction
f a lla c y
a m istake, an error
a b stra ct lo g ic ru les for th in k in g , r u les on how to
think
124. w ater- work
hydrophobia
125. numps
dullard
126. a c c lin a l
c lim a tic
having to do with the weather
127. polyneura l
n eu rotic
a person who i s very nervous
128. transform ism
power co n tro l making e l e c t r i c i t y
ev o lu tio n
study o f how th in g s change
r a tio n a lism
b e lie v in g we should reason everything
out
th eology
study o f r e lig io n
129. planeometry
a e s th e t ic s
prophecy
geometry
study of what beauty i s
t e l l i n g what i s going to happen
study lik e a r ith m e tic, a study o f the
s iz e and shape of th in gs
130. prospectus
s p e c ie s
what kind a th in g is
131. o f f ic ia r ia n
subordinate
not being as important
d is c ip lin a r ia n keeping order, making people obey r u les
stenographer
a se cr e ta ry , someone who w r ite l e t t e r s
for another person
you can stand i t
you cannot stand i t
d isea se a mad dog has
someone who i s not bright
7
133 *
a study o f a fam ily t r e e , a study of
th e people who belong to a fam ily
or who came from the same person
ap p lied eth ics,w h a t i s r ig h t and wrong in d iffe r e n t
kinds o f work
land subdividend, making land in to sm all parts or
lo t s
134. im provisate
extem porize
in v e s t ig a te
135. alumnal
graduated
genealogy
luminous
do something without preparation
look in to something, examine some­
thing
marked o f f in degrees or in te r v a ls
or measurement
b r ig h t, shinin g by i t s own lig h t
136. rhomboid
r h e to r ic a l
using words ju s t for th e ir sound and
not for what they mean
138. flimmer
f lic k e r
waver, burn u n stea d ily
139. d iv is o r
exponent
th e l i t t l e number w ritten r ig h t above
another number which t e l l s how
many tim es th e number i s m u lti­
p lie d by i t s e l f
140. b ir e fr in g e n t
r e fr a c tiv e
p r e h isto r ic
can bend l ig h t , h ea t, or sound
before h is to r y , happening before
h is to r y
can be seen through
transparent
143. panegyry
snobbishness
being n ic e only to people who are
more important than you
144. obsequious
tr a ito r o u s
sequent
s e r v ile
d e c e it f u l, not to be tru sted
coming a f t e r , follow in g
lik e sla v e s
145. echinus
protozoan
sea urchin
o n e -c e lle d animals
a l i t t l e sea animal th a t has a th in
s h e ll and i s covered with b r i s t l e s
147. o n to lo g ic a l
m etaphysical
study of what is r e a l; th in g s which
cannot be seen or touched
148. embolic
s a r c a s tic
saying th in gs that hurt a person's
fe e lin g s
149. m onosyllogism
f a lla c io u s
wrong, making a mistake
150. a tro p in e
in e r t
belladonna
w ithout l i f e
a poisonous medicine
152. dynam ostatic
in s u la tio n
generator
making something so i t w i l l not carry
h e a t, n o is e , or e l e c t r i c it y
machine th at makes steam, gas, or
e le c t r i c i t y
illo g ic a l
not good th in k in g , mistaken
153. anaphorical
154. a n tis ia lo g o g u e s a liv a t io n
more s a liv a than usual (note th at the
answer i s preventing s a liv a tio n )
156. h ip p o p h ile
horse fa n c ie r
phobia
someone who lik e s horses
being very much a fra id of th in gs that
most people do not fear
157. s e ta
b r is tle
p e ta l
comet
sh o r t, s t i f f , coarse hair
colored part of a flow er
a sta r with a t a i l
163. sp ir a lo z o o id
hydroid
a sea-anim al
165. p r ep o ssessio n in c lin a tio n
lik in g to do something
h ered ita ry rig h t what you can do because o f the
fam ily you belong to
relinquishm ent g iv in g up
166. braw
rowdy
tawdry
168. s p e e c h ific a tio n
o r a c le
rough, n o isy , rude
showy, but cheap
what a god says
169. chafeweed
cudweed
a kind of a ste r
171. escapement
evasion
an excuse, a way of g e ttin g out of
something
172. benzophenone
a n a e sth etic
something that makes you so you do
not f e e l pain
something th at i s put in th e blood
s e c r e tio n
173. id iop ath y
worship of id o ls , extreme admiration
of any person or th in g
primary d ise a se a d isea se caught d ir e c tly from a
sick person
id o la tr y
Appendix d
Data Sheet Used in Grades Seven to Twelve o f th e New Concord
School fo r Gathering Information on th e Student's Educational
H istory
DATA SHEET
NAME
DATE
First
Middle
DATE OF BIRTH
year
Month da y y r .
SEX_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ R A C E _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ SCHOOL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
GRADE_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
( boy o r g i r l )
Last
Month
da y
(white o r colored)
FATHER'S NAME
__________________ ,
ADDRESS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
OCCUPATION OF FATHER_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ OF MOTHER_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
EDUCATION OF FATHER
OF MOTHER _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
( h i g h e s t g r a d e c o m p l e t e d o r d eg r e e o b t a i n e d )
HOW OLD ARE YOUR BROTHERS?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ YOUR SISTERS
(age in y e a r s of each b r o th e r )
WHAT LANGUAGES) DOYOU SPEAK AT HOME?
(age in y e a r s )
YOUR PARENTS?_ ___________
WHAT SCHOOLS HAVE YOU ATTENDED?
(name o f s c h o o l )
(grade)
(date)
WHAf LANGUAGES BESIDES ENGLISH DO YOU KNOW?.
USE:
( use)
( language)
A=
B=
C=
D=
u n d e rs ta n d
read
sp eak
w rite
WHAT DO YOU READ FOR YOURSELF?
(funnies,
fictio n ,
biography,
poetry,
etc.
NAME THE BOOKS:.
HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE YOU READ SINCE SEPTEMBER?
WHAT MAGAZINES DO YOU READ REGULARLY?
DO YOU LIK E TO LEARN NEW WORDS?_
DO YOU WRITE STORIES OR POETRY FOR FUN?
( y e s o r noi
( y e s o r no)
DO YOU LIKE TO READ
( c i r c l e answer)
BETTER THAN ANY
OUT-DOOR GAME
DO YOU WORK CROSS-WORD PUZZLES
EvERY DAY
DO YOU PLAY ANAGRAMS OR LEXICON
FREQUENTLY
DO YOU USE X DICTIONARY
DO YOU EVER USE A
AS WELL AS
ANY GAME
I F THERE I S
NOTHING ELSE
TO DO
ONCE OR TWICE
A WEEK
SEVERAL TI MES
A DAY
DICTIONARY OF SYNONYMS
( c i r c l e b oth i f you use both )
OCCASIONALLY
ONCE A DAY
ONCE A
MONTH
NOT AT
ALL
NEVER
NEVER
ONCE A
WEEK
ONCE A
MONTH
RHYMING DICTIONARY
Appendix e
Supplementary L ist o f B asic Words for Use in Grades One, Two,
and Three
1. m a r k
2. w h e e l
3. f i n e
4. l a y
5. m or e
6. o n c e
7. s i m p l e
8. p r a c t i c e
9. e x p r e s s m a n
ID. s o a p s u d s
11. f o o t m a n
12. g o v e r n o r s h i p
13. t r e a s u r e r
14. 1 a c k
15. o p p o s i t e
16. s o m e b o d y
17. j o i n t
18. h i n d
19. m a s t
BO. r e s o l v e
21. a l t a r
22. b l o o d y
23. f i s t
24. i d e a l
25. m a y b e
26. w h o l e n e s s
27* r u f f 1 e
28. d o g - m u z z i e
29. m i l l - p o n d
30. b o u q u e t
31. t a g
32. h e a d a c h y
33. s a n d a l
34. c o r e
35. s i e e p e r
36. b a c k g r o u n d
37. c o n f e s s o r
38 . d i s a p p r o v e
39. p i g m y
40. c o u r t - h o u s e
41. c a n y o n
42 . m u s i c i a n
43. r e g u l a t e
44. c a r r i e r
45. n e e d l e s s
46. p r o w e s s
47 . b e v e r a g e
48. e t h e r e a l
49 . v e s t i g e
50. c o i n a g e
51. n e u t r a l i z e
52. d e t a i n e r
53. c r a n n y
54. d e c o r u m
3 5. g r o v e l l i n g
56. m u l l
57. mi s d e m e a n
58. s a t e e n
g am i n
59.
stip u la te
60.
sensory
61.
62,
63.
64.
65.
66.
67,
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
8Q.
81.
82.
83.
84.
8 5.
unbeli ever
roseate
kith
moderator
t i pp1e
p o i n t**bl an k
object i fy
cupid i ty
self-ab negat
1 i bretto
m e n s u r a d . f i 073
ou t - m a n e u v e r
redily
ef f ectuate
befag
monogamy
c a r b o x i de
c y a n i de
lus tful
i ma g e l e s s
faker
globoid
i n c o h e s i ve
A p p e ndix f
E n g l i s h R e c o g n i t i o n V o c a b u l a r y T e s t by S e a s h o r e a n d E c k e r s o n
English R ecognition Vocabulary Test
Form 1
by
ROBERT H. SEA SH O R E
Associate Professor of Psychology
Northwestern University
and
LOIS D. ECKERSON
Personnel Department
Southern California Gas Co.
Name ................................................................ Sex..................... Age_______ Date.
Classif.
........................................................................... School or Group.
Fr.
So.
Jr.
Sr.
Gr.
City ......................................................................................... State.
* Estimation of Total Vocabularies
1.
*2.
Genera] Term s (in h eavy ty p e, a t m argin in d iet. )
a.
to ta l no. o f w ords in th is recog n itio n te st
=
173
b.
no. of errors________ x 1.33 (corr. for g u ess.) =
___________
c.
to ta l w ords a ctu a lly know n on th is te s t (a -b ) =
___________
d.
m ultiply c by 505 (this sample is 1 /5 0 5 of all such words in dictionary)
Proper N ouns, Geog. and Rare Term s
a.
no. of term s definable from su pp lem entary lis t on p a g e 8
= ________
b. multiply by 505 as in Id above, or estimate according to
m anual o f d irection s
*3.
Derived Terms
a.
No. of terms correctly defined
b, m ultiply a by 4450 (this sample is 1 /4450
of all such words in the dictionary
*4.
Total English voacbulary, in ordinary sense of the word equals the sum of
lists 1 and 2, or in the sense of all words listed in the dictionary, the sum
of lists 1 to 3 inclusive.
*5.
D ecile ranks for school groups
a.
basic term s
—
b.
derived term s
=
•MAY BE SIMPLY ESTIMATED FROM MANUAL OF DIRECTIONS
Copyrighted and published by the authors, 1938, Evanston, 111.
In the list below each of the w ords in heavy ty p e is follow ed on th e sam e line by four other
words. One of these four words is a synonym of or is related to the com m onest m eaning o f the
word in heavy type. P lace in the p aren theses to the le ft of th is word the num ber of th e colum n in
w hich the correct m eaning appears. For exam ple, th is sam ple line would be m arked a s follow s:
1
(3) at t e mpt
2
run
hate
The correct word is in colum n three.
Do n ot om it any item s.
fs th e m ost probable one.
3
4
try
stop
Therefore, the num ber 3 is p laced in the parentheses.
If you do n ot know the correct m eaning BE SU R E TO GUESS which
Be sure to exam ine ALL FOUR p o ssib le answ ers on each question.
1.
G E N E R A L T E R MS
1
2
3
4
1. ad h esive
slippery
rough
fatty
sticky
2 , quick
dead
fast
good
slow
3. loyal
legal
impatient
faithful
lawless
4. kill
fight
make
love
slay
5. pulse
fever
sickness
beat
health
6. cow ardly
jealous
courageous
agreeable
afraid
7. sh out
whistle
yell
weep
whisper
8. legal
lawful
true
tricky
advertised
9. pen
lead pencil
penny
paper
writing tool
1 0 . clear
cut in two
solid
seen through
cloudy
11. cocoon
crazy person
coconut
silkworm
fly
12. chilling
cooling
stifling
smoking
freezing
13. m ou se
bird
squirrel
worm
animal
14. tak ed ow n
reputation
lowering
celebration
honors
15. oven ed
stewed
fried
boiled
baked
16. percolator
sauce pan
19 . d evotion
roaster
coffee-pot
miss one’s wayquestion
make certain
upbuilding
constitutional relaxing
jealousy
flattery
faithfulness
20. gain
loss
again
profit
left-over
2 1 . lead
go after
come to
guide
follow
22. aged
mean
old
useless
youthful
23. barking
biting
noise
eating
singing
2 4 . ch eer
anger
safety
happiness
fear
25. w e ig h ty
large
wonderful
heavy
2 6 . ch u rch ing
worshipping
slight
marrying
baptizing
praying
27. creation
magic
making
giving
ideal
2 8 . falseh ood
plain dealing
politeness
lie
truth
29. w inged
swimming
running
crawling
flying
30. reposefu l
quiet
excitable
calculating
answering
17 . assu re
18. con stru ctive
frying pan
make unhappy
threatening
dislike
1
2
4
3
31. cen terin g
labelling
perfuming
glueing
focussing
32. h earten
plan for
encourage
tear down
grow
3 3 . skill
laziness
ease
waste
clumsiness
34. ailm en t
hunger
health
alimentation
sickness
35 . m ercy
pity
fear
weakness
hatred
36. evid en t
secret
subdued
hidden
clear
37. vou ch
lie
preach
guarantee
wound
38. borderd
angular
curved
straight-sided edged
39. m anuring
domesticating fertilizing
ploughing
cultivating
40. sad d le-less
bareback
blanketed
scarce
untied
41. stain d
black
discolored
outworn
discarded
4 2 . ab ove
around
over
under
from
43. tent
shed
cave
shelter
house
4 4 . lock able
unsafe
breakable
protected
stolen
45. port
fort
harbor
part
boat
4 6 . p atien t
calm
uninterested
excited
47. w rite
defeated
correct
record
read
erase
4 8 . d isp osition
appearance
dispossession
attitude
instinct*
49. cartoon ist
drawer
sculptor
box-maker
photographer
50. char
melt
glaze
powder
burn
51. gu rgle
medicine
bubble
gasp
shine
52, rave
submit
calm
suffer
yell
5 3 . pale
cool
polished
plentiful
light
54. m eander
measure
seated
wander
persist
one who falls runner
56. w arble
populate
one who gets
up
talk
wander
whisper
sing
5 7 . h atch er
feeding pen
incubator
packer
drying machine
58. p oker
dice
cards
athletics
dominoes
59. w ife ly
related
husbandry
child-like
60. quagm ire
hill
quack
forest
woman-like
swamp
61. fizzle
conceit
surprise
over
in back of
fancy
new-born
worn
64. n atu ralness
failure
separate from in the center
hollow
cleaned
normality
nationality
6 5. rack
stand
bed
chair leg
bench
66 . com panionable
fun-loving
friendly
sincere
clever
67. th ere
here also
this place
alike
another place
68. en com p assed
hidden
in danger
divided
surrounded
55. riser
62 . m id
63. scrubd
amusement
artificiality
1
2
sw eeper
4
3
h u n ter
smudger
69. brusher
bird
70. matched
peculiar
c o n tra stin g
unequal
alike
71. blue
dim
g ray
colored
black
72. fielder
p itcher
ball chaser
catcher
basem an
73. sling
pull
crush
throw
catch
74. columnar
pillared
horizontal
tw isted
crop-like
75. knee-cap
m uscle
nerve
skin
bone
76. syringe
flower
sickness
squirt
chorus
77. pillage
p lunder
pilot
service
upbuilding
78. true
good
intelligent
co rrect
false
79. singled
g rouped
in troduced
alone
covered
80. extinguished
lighted
p ut out
kept alive
81. tiger-shark
crim inal
jungle-anim al fish
w hale
82. recipiendary
receiver
c arrie r
giver
re fu se r
83. phonographer
p erfo rm er
m usic dealer
reco rd er
listen er
definitive
inform al
ind eterm in ate
illegal
w holesom e
totem
on th e w ay
en tire
86. marquise
arm y officer
decoration
noblew om an
serv an t
87. longus
earn est
extended
short
diagnostic
88. drily
lucky
puny
u n in terestin g
daring
8 9 . concert
discord
opera o v ertu re group m usic
violin
90. derisive
ridiculing
approving
editing
sluggish
91. vicarian
te n a n t
poor m an
horsem an
clergym an
92. pearled
frilled
stitched
jew eled
yellowed
93. shamer
lender
cow ard
egotist
accuser
94. hydrography
stu dying
prQtoza
ch artin g
w aters
steam fitting
geology
95. pluralist
pneum onia
several bases
m onist
bigam ist
96. bastardize
b lu ster
fo rtify
baptize
illegitim ate
97. pique
annoy
dissipate
exalt
practice
98. pshaw
te rro r
carria g e
w rong
disappointm ent
99. scarily
few
h ardly
b a tte re d
frightened
100. oyster-bed
den
n u rse ry
nest
fishery
101. probation
delinquency
judge
trial
probability
102. cabled
tran slated
teleg rap h ed
radioed
m ailed
103. incorrupt
honorable
illiberal
dishonest
h ard -h e arted
104. immedicable
incurable
im prudent
cured by faith
identical
105. up-peak
explode
set sail
rise to top
su rren d er
106. antecedent
before
related to
afte r
because
84. undefine
85. in toto
released
1
2
3
4
equilateral
1 0 7 . iso sceles
unequal
right angled
1 0 8 . su persed ere
take pre­
cedence
coronet
follow
two sides
equal
allow to pass
tribunal
school
1 1 0 . m orphinom ania.
1 1 1 . sectxonalize
fear of sleep
insomnia ■
germ disease
divide
offer security fight
1 1 2 . titler
drinker
namer
church giver
undertaker
1 13. gerundial
participial
hyperbolic
infinitive
descendant
1 1 4 . san guin i
bloody
salty
tolerable
mind-reading
1 15. sk o lio sis
tuberculosis
brain disease
paralysis
1 1 6 . d eep -d yed
criminal
spinal cur­
vature
intolerable
farfetched
thorough
1 1 7 . m etap hor
metabolism
logical method
1 1 8 . literalist
figure of
chemical
speech
compound
unimaginative thoughtful
educated
widely read
1 1 9 . sn a g g le -to o th
callous
vile
crooked
aged
1 20. alliteration
repetition
spelling
allusion
reference
1 2 1 . hum m ocked
swinging
jungle-like
on an island
hilly
1 22. a p ostolics
theology
1 2 3 . ind u ction
fallacy
1 24. w aterw ork
supply
heresy
church
fallen from
faith
furnishings
opening
reasoning fromabstract logic
inward
observation
hydrophobia air-pipe
wave
1 2 5 . num ps
mineral
refuse
dullard
servant
1 26. acclin al
accepting
climatic
refusing
slanting
1 2 7 . p olyn eu ral
without nerveslarge brained
neurotic
many nerved
1 28. transform ism
power control evolution
rationalism
theology
1 29. p lan eom etry
geography
geometry
prophecy
aesthetics
1 3 0 . p rosp ectu s
miner
outline
proof
species
1 31. officiarian
military man
subordinate
disciplinarian
stenographer
1 3 2 . cardiphonia
1 3 4 . im p rovisate
mental disease musical in­
heart sounds
strument
genealogy
study of
land sub­
jewels
dividend
lose carelessly investigate
neglect
1 3 5 . alum nal
graduated
luminous
without light
silvery
1 3 6 . rhom boid
equal sides
parallel-sides
right angled
rhetorical
1 3 7 . arreary
mysterious
behind
disordered
unlawful
1 3 8. flim m er
clutter
flicker
flighty person cheater
1 3 9 . divisor
square root
divided by
studies
exponent
1 40. b irefrin gen t
prehistoric
transparent
twice heated
refractive
1 4 1 . zon ar
belt
area in A frica unbreakable
divider
mammal
1 4 2. d em ission
death
correction
unknown
1 0 9 , trin ity
1 3 3 . gem m o lo g y
resignation
magnify
three
drug addiction
extend
medical instrument
applied ethics
extemporize
4
3
2
1
1 4 3 . p an egyry
flattery
contempt
snobbishness
disinterestednei
1 4 4 . ob seq iou s
traitorous
sequent
intermediate
servile
1 4 5 . ech in u s
protozoan
sea-urchin
flower
1 4 6 . b rillian t-w ise
sparkling
foolish
entertaining
1 4 7 . o n tological
metaphysical
primitive
horse
highly
educated
reasonable
medical
calculating
1 4 8 . em bolic
sarcastic
clotted
bitter
wedged
1 4 9 . m o n o sy llo ­
gism
1 5 0 . atropin e
narrow
minded
inert
onesided
single reason­ fallacious
ing
belladonna
mid-point
1 5 1 . in terb orou gh
between states statewide
between cities tunnelled
1 5 2 . d yn am ostatic
insulation
generator
heat control
1 5 3 . anaph orical
illogical
force of
gravity
relative
geometric
chattering
anti-aircraft
pacifist
unbelieving
154. a n tisia lo g o g u e preventing
eye muscle
1 5 5 . p ettifo g
gay person
drunkard
tricky lawyer giddiness
1 5 6 . hippophile
hunter
horse fancier
blacksmith
has a phobia
1 5 7 . seta
bristle
petal
comet
chair
1 5 8 . m u ltivagan t
many sided
dizzy
wandering
criminal
1 5 9 . viscu s
adhesiveness
visual field
thickness
intestines
1 6 0 . su bm ontan e
tunnel
below arch
base
summit
1 6 1 . eq u es
servants
pathfinder
nobility
1 6 2. sod alite
aluminum
organization
representa­
tive
explosive
circular
snake
evil
exit
insanity
relinquishment
tawdry
timid
“loop-thehydroid
loop”
1 6 4 . au sgleich
love of money arrangement
1 6 5 . p rep ossession inclination
hereditary
right
1 6 6. braw
grand
rowdy
1 6 3 . spirtalozooid
stranger
1 6 7 . revie
echo
surpass
dwindle
torment
1 6 8. sp eech ification
1 6 9 . ch afew eed
grammar
stuttering
oracle
repetition
thistle
cudweed
milkweed
tobacco
1 7 0 . cau seu se
woman
reason
sofa
roadway
1 7 1 . escap em en t
legal process
evasion
pardon
venture
1 7 2. b en zop h en on e
crystal
anaesthetic
gasoline
secretion
1 73. idiopathy
feeble­
idolatry
mindedness
primary
disease
quack medicine
f n P£
m e*n tar5*
N am es, G eographical L ocation s and R are W ords.
(Define, identify, or use in illustrative sentences, being sure to give all meanings
known, and compare with usage given in manual, from F. and W. unabridged dic­
tionary: OR score may be estimated from score on previous list according to manual
of directions.
1. Aarhus
41. discoidean
80. jervin
2. acrebolic
42. Dombrowski
81. joree
3. AEgipan
43. Down
82. Jus.
4. Aldrian
44. Duke of Exeter's 83. Keeney Knob
Daughter
5. Amnicolidae
84. krobylos
6. Angloman
45. Egham
85. laddess
7. aptosochromatism 46. El-Elohe-Israel
86. Landesmann,
Heinrich
8. Arcueil-Cachan
47. Ephesine
9. Asebebia
48. Ettrick Shepherd 87. lathee
10. axmaster
49. exitial
88. lerrett
11. badoch
50. Faucher
89. liefsome
12. Baluze
51. Feodar
90. limonin
13. beastings
52. Firbolg
91. lycopod
14. Beira
53. Flynt
92. Mactan
15. biflecnode
54. for del
93. Maillebois
16. blastaea
55. Fort Sheridan
94. mamoul
17. bollock
56. Franciscan
95. Melanconiaceae
18. bowes
57. frimsel
96. Mindoro
19. bullie
58. fundi
97. missel-tree
20. bushelage
59. Garo
98. Mois
21. calender
60. giveale
99. Musschenbroek
22. campane
61. gloup
100. Nafa
23. cantiness
62. Goniopholidiae
101. nelumbium
24. catalo
63. gradin
102. New Utrecht
25. chone
64. Grasse
103. no
26. cit
65. griff
104. North Plainfield
27. Cloverport
66. guana
105. orage
28. Colden, Mount
67. hallah
106, Orion
29. congee
68. hapshackle
107. Pan-African
30. coolaman
69. Helle
108. parauque
31. Coronado Islands 70. Herbartian
109. parti-coated
32. Cotylidea
71. hewe
110. perpendiculum
33. croppy
72. holling
111. Phytolaccaceae
34. crystallochore
73. Honorichos
112. plebaia
35. curmudgeon
74. hotar
113. potatory
75. hypoosmious
36, cyclotus
114. Praxiteles
37. daneweed
76. Ingalik
115, Prideaux
38. Death Valley
77. insectation
116. prolusion
78. Iridum Sinus
39. Dicystidea
117. pute
40. dinomania
118. ramper
79. Jagadhri
119. Reed City
120. relata
121. ressaut
122. Ricamarie
123. rolichie
124. rota
125. rumkin
126. Salmona
127. saumbue
128. Selim
129. Septentrio
130. Servo—
131. Shilshah
132. sigillary
133. soot-wart
134. spane
135. spreach
136. State Center
137. stercoremia
138. stodge
139. strategus
140. Strutt
141. Suiogoth
142. swad
143. swole
144. tapul
145. telega
146. tetrahydric
147. threste
148. Toole
149. Tower Hamlets
150. Tremandraceae
151. tung-tree
152. twinne
153. Vacherie
154. varry
155. vera
156. whidder
157. Woodbridge
158. yoghoort
Derived Terms, (abbreviated list.) F or each word or phrase in this list see if you
could think of (or write, if requested) a specific instance in which it would be cor­
rectly applied so as to illustrate its meaning. In compound or technical term s you
should know the main points, (especially those underlined in the scoring manual)
not merely a general idea of its meaning. M ark each item plus or minus, then
correct this scoring a fter comparison with the definitions from the manual.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
for mercy's sake
sea blue
loyalize
gurgling
mid-sea
wingedly
mid-noon
white lead
mid-iron
lead colored
lead paralysis
draw poker
pen-master
devotionist
columnal
morphinomaniac
metaphorize
ruling pen
lead-lidded
creational
mid-watch
bastardization
monosymptomatic
snag-tooth
intrauterine syringe (med.)
induction machine (elec.)
hydraulic pen
probationism (theol.)
trinity column
clock escapement (mech.)
Concert of Europe
green manuring
mid-ethmoid
mutual induction (elec.)
sling cart
mock lead
dynamic .induction (elec.)
constructive notice (legal)
chocolate lead
lead spar
syringeal (ornithol.)
atropism
resilient escapment (mech.)
drum escapement (mech.)
midbody
unessential divisor