Directions for Levels of Word Knowledge Assessment

Best Practices for Vocabulary Instruction in the Middle School Classroom

Directions for Levels of Word Knowledge Assessment

Select the appropriate word list for the grade level of the student or students with whom you are working.

Select 10 words from the list that you believe will fall at differing levels of knowledge for your student. Test your own knowledge of each word by looking it up and confirming your definition.

You will present each of the 10 words to your student individually, so you will need to create a deck of flashcards. Alternately, you may present the words in a list one at a time. In either case, make sure the words are legible.

When you work with your student:

Be sure to work with one student at a time and select a quiet space in which to work.
Explain to your student that this assessment is for a workshop you are taking and that it won’t “count” towards his/her grade. Say, “I want to find out what you know about 10 different words I will show and read to you. You can tell me a definition, give me an example of the word, or use it in a sentence.”
Present one word at a time to the student by showing him/her the word and saying, “This is the word ______.”

(Remember: You are assessing your student’s knowledge of word meanings—not his/her word identification skills—so you should pronounce the word for your student. Some students may know the meaning of the word without being able to read the word.)

Say, “Tell me what you know about this word.”
As the student speaks, feel free to give him/her prompts to elicit further information. Your goal is to find out as much as you can about the student’s knowledge of this word. Prompts may include the following as well as others you develop:
“Have you ever seen or heard this word before?”
“Can you give me an example of ______?”
“Can you use ______in a sentence?’
“Do you know another word than means the same thing?”
“Do you know another word that means the opposite?”
“Can you tell me more?”
“Do you know another meaning for this word?”

Use the Levels of Word Knowledge Record Keeping Sheet to record as much of your student’s responses as you can. Try to rate your student’s knowledge of each word by checking the box for one of the following categories: Level 1—Never saw it before; Level 2—Heard it, but doesn’t know what it means; Level 3—Recognizes it in context as having something to do with; Level 4—Knows it well).