Some practical techniques of testing the amount of

vocabulary knowledge.

Techniques of vo ca bular y t esting can b e divided into two groups,

n a m e l y t esting r eco gnition skill, a nd pr oduc tion skill.

1. Testing recogn i tion skill.

There are som e t e ch ni ques whi ch t est onl y t he r eco gni t i on of words,
and test onl y the p assive use of vo c a bular y knowled ge. Such techniques
can be suc cessfull y used in the lower st ages of te achin g a f o reign l an gua ge.

1.1. Multiple choice.

A s f ar as t es t i n g v o cab u l ar y i s co n cern ed , t h e m u l t i p l e ch o i ce
technique is the one which is widel y us e d at al l l ev el s o f l angua g e co u r s es .
It h as gai n e d i t s p o p u l a r i t y t h a n k s t o s ome advanta ges whi ch has mad e a
contribution to its common use.

Madsen (1983) indi cates that multiple choice completion is an adequate

t ype o f voca bular y test for students w ho have alr ead y d e veloped re adin g
ab i l i t i es . It m ak es t h e s t u d en t d ep e n d o n co n t ex t cl u es an d s en t enc e
m ean i n g. S u ch i t em m a y b e co n s t r u ct ed b y d el et i n g a w o r d f r o m a
sent ence, for i nst an ce: ([ *] i ndi cat es t he corr ect answ er)

The y __ _______ a b i ke ever y d a y.

a. drive b. fl y c. ride* d. go
fig. 2
Students` task is t o choose and circl e onl y one possible answ er
am ong al l t he di st ract ors (t he wor d s whi ch are wr ong ar e cal l ed
d i s t r a c t o r s ).
Madsen suggest considering sev eral steps before w riting multiple choice
co m p l et i o n i t em s . T h e y are as f o l l o w s :

s el ect i n g t h e w o r d s t o b e t es t ed ,

get t i n g t h e r i ght s en t ence t o p u t ea ch w o r d i n ,

choosing some distr actors to put the ri ght word with,

prepari n g si m pl e an d cl ear i nst ruct i ons

providing ex amples for ea ch ne w q u es t i o n s w i t h i n t h e t es t

Accordin g to Madse n, newspapers, ma gaz i nes, tex t books form other classes
m a y co n s t i t u t e t h e s o u r ces w h i ch w o r d s t o b e checked c an b e t ak en f r o m .
Howeve r, he r eminds that onl y words w hich belong to such cate gories as:
nouns, verbs, adjec tives, and adverbs (so called content words) can b e
included in voc abu l ar y tests, be cause functions words, namel y articl es,
determiners, p reposi ti ons, conjunctions, pronouns, au x iliar y verbs can onl y
o ccu r i n gr am m ar t e s t s .

R eferri n g t o Madsen , he ex em pl i fi es t hat i n order t o prepare a cl ear cont ex t

for t est -t akers, w e need t o provi de esp eci al l y for t h e be gi nners m o re t h an
o n e s en t enc e. T h e y can b e j u s t “t w o - l i n e m i n i - d i al o gu es ” t o cl ari f y t h e
m eani n g. For ex am pl e:

“ I want too paint, to o.”

“All right. Us e that ______ over ther e.”
a. brush* b. penci l c. broom d. spoon
fig.31

Havi ng p repa red t he cont ex t , t he nex t step t o fol l ow, acco rd i ng t o Madsen,
is distractor prep ara tion. It c an be don e in two “equall y go o d wa ys ”, either
b y pr epar at i on di st ract ors b y t each ers o n t hei r own or usi ng m ost com m on
st udent s’ erro rs as d i st ract ors. It i s requ i red t hat di st ra ct ors and t he corr ect
answer should be the same form of word. If this req uirement is not

1
Madsen (1983 : 17)
f o l l o w ed , t h ere m a y b e t h e ch an ce o f s t u d en t s g et t i n g t h e a n s w er co r r e ct l y.
Test-makers should be awar e of the fact tha t the r e is a possi bilit y to “ giv e
awa y” t h e answ er b y uni nt ent i onal l y provi ded gram m at i cal cues. The
ex am p l e i l l u s t r at es the cas e:

She needs to get up earlier so sh e `s bu yi ng an

_______ clock.
a. t i m e b . al arm * c. w at ch d . b el l
fig.42

In t h i s cas e, t h e i n d ef i n i t e art i cl e “an ” s u g ges t u s i n g o n l y t h i s w o r d w h i ch

begi ns with a vowel sound. It is also a p oor idea to provid e such distractors
which ar e not at the same l evel of difficult y, as the y could be easil y
el i m i n at ed b y s t u d e n t s .
Las t b u t n o t l eas t a s p ect o f m u l t i p l e ch o i ce t ech n i q u es w h i ch M ad s en s h ed
l i gh t u p o n i s i n s t ruc t i o n p r e p a r a t i o n . He puts the emphasis on “brief”
i n s t r u ct i o n s o t h at s t u d en t s d o n o t w as t e t o o m u ch t i m e r ead i n g t h em .
C l e a r n e s s o f t h e i n s t r u c t i o n s gua r a n te e s t h a t t h e y w i l l b e u n d e r s t o o d a n d
t h e f eel i n g o f anx i et y w i l l b e r ed u ced .
Madsen (1983 : 22) sa ys : “ Fo r class es with the same lan gu age ba ck ground
an d w i t h v er y l i t t l e s k i l l i n E n gl i s h , yo u can even gi v e t h e i n s t r u ct i o n s i n
the native lan gu a ge . (..) Instructions c an be m ade clea rer b y one o r two
ex amples. The y ar e not gi v en primaril y f or p ractic e. The y a re gi ven to
show how to answer the question. There fore, the y should be simple enough
that ever yone can d o them without an y difficult y. ”
M ad s en m en t i o n s s o m e al t er n at i v e f o r m s o f m u l t i p l e choi ce t ech n i q u es ,
such as: completion of the definiti on, phrase completion, f or instance with
an i d i o m , ap p r o p r i at en es s t o co n t ex t , p h r as al co n t ex t , m u l t i p l e- ch o i ce
cl o z e. A s f o r t h e l as t o n e, i t can b e e as i l y m ad e b y “del et i n g ” w o r d s f r o m a
t ex t “at r egul a r i n t e r v al s ”.
R ef er r i n g b ack t o w hat h as b een al r e ad y s t at ed , m u l t i p l e- c h o i ce cl o z e can
test vocabular y onl y when content, not f unction words ar e d ela yed.

2
Madsen (1983 : 19)
T h e o t h er u s e o f m u l t i p l e- ch o i ce t ech n i q u e s u g g es t ed b y M ad s en, i s
paraphr asing. Fo r in stance:

He was ir ate when h e heard about the ne w plans.

a. interested b. su rprised c. a n gr y* d sad
3
fig. 5

Howeve r, this technique cannot app l y to students who have a poor

knowledge of En gl i s h, and are not fam iliar with man y s yn on yms of gi ven
words.

As for the multiple choice technique, teache rs should take notice of the
fact that vocabula r y tests ou ght to measure onl y th e knowled ge of
vocabular y, but the y should never r equi r e the competen ce in other ar eas.
Misz tal (1999) supplies the ex ample of such a test question to which
specific, subject-o ri ented knowled ge sh oul d be involved in order to answ er
i t co r r e ct l y. S t u d en t s are as k ed t o ci r cl e t h e o n e w h i ch i s n o t a r ep t i l e. A n d
t h e h i n t s gi v en are as f o l l o w s : al l i g at o r , f r o g, l i z ard , an d t u r t l e. A s a
m at t er o f f act , l ea r n er s m a y b e f am i l i ar w i t h al l t h es e w o r d s p r o v i d ed , b u t
t h e y m a y f i n d i t d i f f i c u l t t o d i s t i nguish between an a m phibian and a
reptile. Thus, test- m akes should avoid such kinds of ques tion and stick to
t h e t es t v al i d i t y w h i l e p r ep a r i n g t h e t es t q u es t i o n s .

1.2. Matching w ords to pictures.

The technique of m atching wo rds to pictures is known as the t ypical

o n e w h i ch t es t s t u den t s ` ab i l i t i es t o w ar d s w o r d r eco gni t i o n an d t h e p as s i v e
knowledge of voc ab ular y. It can b e suc cessfull y applied eit her for children
or be gi nning le arn ers of a for ei gn langu a ge, who hav e not developed
r e a d i n g s k i l l s yet , a n d w h o m a k e u s e of limited amount of vocabular y. The
ex am pl e goes as fol l ows:

3
Madsen (1983 : 24)
Match the words from the list to the pictures and name each fruit as in the
example: pin eapple , banana, lemon, pear, cherries, stra wberry, grapes,
apples ,

apples pear lemon pineapple

b an an a ch erri es grap es stra w b erry

fig. 64

In r el at i o n t o M ad s e n `s r em a r k s w h ich were dis cussed in th e previous

subchapter, th e fi gu re No 6 rev eals la ck of cor responden ce to wh at has
been stated. Assuming that students at t h i s s t age h av e al r e a d y d i s t i n gui s h ed
n o u n s i n s i n gu l a r a n d p l u r a l f o r m s , t h e y m a y f i n d a h i n t h i d d e n b e h i n d t h e
ex istence of plural nouns, such as: cher ries, grapes, apples.
T o p u t i t b r i ef l y, m at ch i n g w o r d s t o pi ct ures seem s t o b e appe al i n g fo r
vi sual l earne rs and t hose who pa y at t e nt i on t o t he aest het i c aspect o f t h e
t e s t l a y-o u t ; b u t o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , i t is time consuming an d requires much
teache r-pr epar ation.

4
Misztal, Lechowski (2001 : 12)
1.3. Matching w ords to their def i nition s.

Corre ct an sw ers: 1 -b , 2-d, 3-c, 4-e, 5 - a,

fig. 75

Fi gu re No 7 pr es ent s t he ex am pl e of m at chi n g words t o t hei r

d ef i n i t i o n s . T h i s t ech n i q u e f o cus es o n r eco gni t i o n s k i l l , b u t i n com p ari s o n
to the technique discussed in the poi nt 1.2, it requires te st-takers to be
m o re advanc ed as fa r as readi n g com p r e hension is concerne d. Be gi nners of
f o r ei gn l an gu a ge l earn i n g w i l l n o t be ab l e t o co p e w i t h t h i s l ev el o f
difficult y.

1 . 4 . M a t ch in g w ords to th eir synonyms /ant onyms.

Thi s part i cul ar t e ch ni que al l o ws l earn er s t o ex pose t h e wi de ran g e of

vocabular y the y kn ow, and it encoura ges them to develop this knowledge
for the sak e of communication. Having the abilit y to subs titute one word
with the other, students become mor e proficient in spea king and w riting
s k i l l s . T h e t as k t o p r o v i d e s yn o n ym s o r ant o n ym s i s r eal l y p ract i c al ;
m o reover t o pr epar e such act i v i t y not m uch effo rt i s needed . For i nst anc e:

5
Misztal, Lechowski (2001 : 21)
 The answ ers:
b e a u t i f ul - u gl y
b i g- l i t t l e
b l u n t - s h a rp
c h e a p - e xp e n s i v e
c l ea n - di r t y
d a r k - l i g ht
d e a d - al i v e
e a s y - di f f i c u l t
e m pt y - f u l l
f at - t h i n

fig. 86

The fi gu r e No 8 p resents the wa y in which th e knowle dge of the

opposite words are check ed, but as we ll it is possi ble to prepar e similar
act i v i t y i n o r d e r t o t es t s t u d en t s ` abi l i t y t o r eco gni z e t h e s yn o n ym s o f
gi ven wo rds. The ex am pl e i s as fol l ows:

C o m b i n e t h e a d j e c t i v e s w i t h a s i mi l a r m e a n i n g i n t o p a i r s :
nice hard the answers: nice - pleasant
awful delicious awful - terrible
tasty pleasant tasty - delicious
difficult terrible difficult - hard
7
fig.9

1.5. Matching w ords to a given catego r y.

T h es e t yp es o f act i v i t i es are q u i t e l i k ab l e b y l e arn e r s at al l l ev el s o f

l an gu a ge acq u i s i t i o n s . U s i n g t h i s t e chn i q u e al l o w s t h e t e a ch er t o ex am i n e
learne rs ` c apacit y t o distinguish e ither the function, or the cate go r y of
gi ven wo rds, for ex ample:

6
Misztal, Lechowski (2001 : 137)
7
Misztal, Lechowski (2001 : 139)
 10. M atch the following words to their function in the
s e n t e n c e : g o , b i g , b a l l , we l l , s a d , p l a y , q u i c k l y , b i k e ,

nouns verbs adjectives adverbs

ball go big well
bike play sad quickly

fig. 10

Rega rdless of the f act that the ch art a bove seems to pres ent rathe r
gr ammatical aspect to be tested, th e de mand to know what function in the
sentence a word h as , ought to be put for ward.
T h e ex am p l e b el o w i l l u s t r at es t h e w a y o f t es t i n g r e co gni t i o n o f t h e w o r d
cat e gor y:

Group the words below under the following headings:

chicke n, grape, ha m, ca rrot, orange, milk, c hee se, onion
fruit vegetables meat dairy products

grape carrot ham milk

orange onion chicken chese

fig.118

8
Misztal, Lechowski ( 2001 : 16)
1 . 6 . M a t c h i n g w or ds t o t h e i r Pol i s h / E ng l i s h e q u i v al e n t s .

1-h
2-a
3-e
4-g
5-d
6-c
7-f
8-b

fig. 129

Suppl yi n g this tec hnique in vocabula r y test w e focus mainl y on

s t u d en t s ` ab i l i t i es t o i n d i cat e t h e eq u iv al en t o f a gi v en w o r d ei t h er i n
native, or tar g et lan gua ge.

1 . 7 . T h e o d d man o u t .

Las t b u t n o t l eas t t ech n i q u e t es t i n g r eco gni t i o n s k i l l i s t h e o n e,

w h i ch i s w i d el y u s e d w i t h ch i l d r en as w el l as w i t h t h e b egi n n er s , n am el y
the odd man out.
Students` task is to search fo r such wor d which does not belong to the rest
of words provided, for the sake of its at t achm ent t o a di fferent cat e go r y.
For ex am pl e:

A n i ma l s : d o g, c at , t ree, h amster , r at,

S ch o o l eq u ip men t: ruler, p h o n e, rubber , pencil, cra yon
Clothes: jack et, shirt, dress, shorts, n o t eb o o k ,

fig. 13

9
Misztal, Lechowski (2001 : 122)
 As it can be seen fr om the ex am ples provided, the odd word ma y be
i d ent i fi ed at t he fi rs t gl anc e, as i t di ffe r ence i s cl e arl y ex posed.

2. Testing prod uc tion skill.

There ar e some tec hniques which ai m e d at t es t i n g t h e p r o d u ct i o n o f

words, and test active use of voca bula r y knowled ge. Such techniques can
be applied for rathe r advanc ed lea rners of a for eign l an gua ge.

2 . 1 . Gap f i l l in g .

It i s q u i t e com m o n l y p r a ct i ced ap p r o a ch w h i l e t es t i n g v ocab u l ar y

knowledge. Let us t ake a look at the ex ample of it:

C o m p l et e t h e s en t en ces w i t h o n e w o r d :

1. You should wear h e _ m_t when yo u `re

s k ydi v i n g.
2 . I`m go i n g t o s a y s o m et h i n g i m p o r t an t , s o
please, pa y a a _ _ _ t _ _ n!
3. W e should r _ _ y _ l e our rubbish not
throw them awa y.
4. I can `t go out in the evenin g without m y
m u m `s p_ r _ _ s s _ on_.
5. I`m fre ez ing! M y le gs a re as cold as i _ _ .

The answe rs: 1.h el met, 2. at ten ti on , 3. recy cl e,

4. permission, 5. ic e ,
fig.14

In t h i s t ech n i q u e t h ere i s o n e t h ing of a hi gh importan ce, namel y the

contex t of a sentence. Unless it is clear e nough, stud e nts will not be a ble to
come up with the i dea wh at word they are suppos ed to fill in. What is
chara cteristic about such activit y is that one dash corres ponds to one
letter. In order to have under contr ol the degr ee of a task difficult y,
t eache rs can d eci de how m an y l et t ers t h e y are goi n g t o prov i de.
2 . 2 . Pro v i d i n g w o rd s t o t h e i r d e f i n i t io n s .

T h i s ap p r o ach i s d ef i n i t el y s uitable f or students with go od readin g

comprehension skills. A definition should be formed in such a wa y it was
n o t c o n f u s i n g o r t h e a m b i gu i t y s h o u l d n ot o c c u r . It m u s t n o t b e t o o gen er al
as it would prevent learne rs from suppl yi n g the co rre ct ans wer.
Let us tak e under co nsideration these tw o ex amples.

W r i t e t h e c or r ec t w or d f o r i t s d ef i ni t i o n :
1 . It i s a r ou n d pl a s t i c p a r t of a ve h i c l e
t h e an s w e r : s t e er i ng - w h e el

fig.15
The definition provided in this ex ample is a poor one as the testees ma y
have conside rable p roblems with fi n d i n g t h e n am e o f t h e r i ght i t em .

W r i t e t h e c or r ec t w or d f o r i t s d ef i ni t i o n :
1 . It i s a r ou n d pl a s t i c p a r t of a ca r , us e d
f o r s t e e r i n g t h e ve hi c l e .
T h e a n s w e r : s t e e ri n g- w he e l
fig.16

In c o m p a ri s o n t o t h e p r e v i o u s d e f i n i t i o n , t h i s o n e i s b e t t e r a s i t i s m o r e
precise one. Unfort unatel y, it is not good enough b ecaus e the content of
the definition partl y contains the ri ght a nswer.

W r i t e t h e c or r ec t w or d f o r i t s d ef i ni t i o n :
1 . It i s a r o u n d pl as t i c p a r t of a c a r , p l a c ed
i n f r on t of t h e dr i ver , h e l d an d t ur n e d t o
c o n t r o l t h e d i r e ct i o n i t t r a ve l s i n
T h e a n s w e r : s t e e ri n g- w he e l
fig.17

From all the three definitions provided, t he l ast one i s acc ept abl e as i t
ex haust i vel y p resent s t he i ssue.
2 . 3 . Pro vi d i n g w ord s t o p i c t u r e s .

This technique r eveals the similarit y to the one des cribed i n 1.2, but
the onl y diffe renc e is that here student s are requi r ed t o p ro duce an answ er
on their own. It is not supplied for them.
W h at needs to be mentioned while talking about this partic ular appro ach is
t h at t h e t as k m a y s e em t o b e d i f f i cul t t o co p e w i t h i f t h e pict u r e w i l l s h o w
some abstract noun, an adje ctive, or a verb? Obviousl y it should be clea r
w h at i s b ei n g d ep i c t ed i n t h e p i ct u r e, s o t h at t h e t es t i s o f t h e m eani n g o f
t h e w o r d , n o t t h e t e s t ee 's ab i l i t y t o i n t e r p r et t h e p i ct u r e.

2 . 3 . 2 . 4 . Word f ormation .

Kind of task that re quires chan gi n g of t he basic fo rm of a given word

b y adding a p refix or a suf fix to a gi ven word or takin g the m awa y is called
word formation tech nique. Fo r instanc e:

Co mp l ete th e s en te n ce w i th th e corre c t f o rm of th e w o rd i n b o ld :

These peopl e are __ hom el ess __ The y live on the street. HOME
I can `t d o t h i s ex erc i s e, p er h aps t h i s b o o k w i l l b e _ _ helpful __ HELP

fig.18

2.3.2.5. Translation.

In orde r to measu re to what ex tend students are able to pro duce a

new wo rd, t e ache rs can gi ve t hem j ust a f ew wo rds t o t ran sl at e. The y m a y
be provided sep arat el y without an y contex t, for ex ample:

T ra n s l a t e i n t o Pol i s h t h e f o l l ow in g w ord s :
happ y – s zcz ę śl i w y
a kennel – b u d a
to draw - rysow ać
 fig.19.

T r a n s l a t e i n t o E n g li s h th e f ol l ow in g word s:
środowisko- en vi ro n men t
bud yn ek – a b u i l d i ng
go t o wa ć – to cook
fig.20

The other wa y to test students` ability to suppl y th e eq uivalents of the

w o r d s gi v en i n ei t h er P o l i s h o r E n gl is h langua ge is to gi ve them such
a c t i v i t y a s it is prov ided b y Misz ta l a nd Le c howski ( 2002: 2 2) :

1 . W h i c h ar e yo u r f a vo u r i t e ve ge t a bl e s : …( k a p u s t a ) or …( o g ó r k i ) ?
2 . T he b es t w a y t o… ( z a g o t o w a ć ) … w a t e r i s t o p ut i t i n a . . ( c z a j ni k ) .
3 . C a r r o t s c a n b e s t e ame d o r t h e y c a n be e at e n …( s ur o w e ) .. .
4 . C o u l d yo u …( o b r ać ) … t h es e or a n ge s f o r me , p l e a s e?
5 . A t hr e e … ( da n i o wy ) . . me a l of …( z u p a) … me a t a n d .. ( d es e r ) … i s
e n o u gh f o r me .
T h e a ns w e r s : 1 . ca bb a g e , c uc u m be r s , 2 . b o i l , k et t l e , 3 . r aw , 4 .
p e e l , 5. c o u rs e , s o u p , d e s s er t ,
fig.21

Sources & References:

Komorowska – Piskorowska, H. 1984. T esty w nauc zaniu j ę zyków obcy ch .

W yd anie dru gie po prawione i uz upełnione. W arsz awa: W S

Madsen, He rold S. 1983. Techniques in t esting. Ox ford: Ox ford Universit y

P r e ss
M i s z t a l , M . 1 9 9 9 . Tests in E nglish: The matic Voc abulary . W ars z awa:
W S iP
M i s z t a l , M . , Le c h o w s k i , M . 2 0 0 1 . T e s t y d l a u c z n i ó w s z k o ł y p o d s t a w o w e j i
Gimnazjum: Ję z yk a ngi el ski . W ars z awa: W S iP