Development and initial validation of productive vocabulary tests for isiZulu, Siswati and English in South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19380289 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carien Wilsenach (0000-0002-1534-3933, University of South Africa, corresponding author), Maxine Schaefer (0000-0002-5455-2762, University of South Africa) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 567-592 |
| Publication date | 2022-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language Testing (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0265-5322 • E-ISSN: 1477-0946 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/02655322211063785 |
| OpenAlex | W4206819342 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 32 |
Multilingualism in education is encouraged in South Africa, and children are expected to become bilingual and biliterate during the early primary grades. Much focus has been placed on measuring literacy in children’s first language, often the medium of instruction (MOI), and English, the language typically used as MOI from fourth grade. However, vocabulary development in African contexts is underexplored, owing to the cost of existing English standardized tests, and the comparatively fewer linguistically and contextually appropriate vocabulary assessments in African languages. To address this gap, we document the development of corpus-informed contextually appropriate tests of productive vocabulary in isiZulu, Siswati, and English, which were used for a project evaluation. The initial validation phase included 412 children. Both tests were reliable and were concurrently validated with reading comprehension tests in each language, and oral language skills in English. This study contributes to our understanding of the factors that affect the variation in vocabulary knowledge in an African context, including age, grade repetition, and vocabulary in the other language. Only English vocabulary was affected by the remote rural location of the school. We recommend some modifications to the tests before they are validated further in other populations
First language · Geography · Language assessment · Language proficiency · Languages of Africa · Linguistics · Literacy · Mathematics education · Multilingualism · Pedagogy · Reading comprehension · Vocabulary · Vocabulary development · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development · Second Language Acquisition and Learning · Second Language Learning and Teaching
Researching Vocabulary
Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
Profile effects in early bilingual language and literacy
LTM
Cross‐linguistic transfer of oral language, decoding, phonological awareness and reading comprehension
How Large a Vocabulary is Needed For Reading and Listening?
Null
First and second language vocabulary affect early second language reading comprehension development
Toward Integrative Reading Science
The role of vocabulary and decoding language skills in reading comprehension
The advantages of jointly considering first and second language vocabulary skills among emergent bilingual children
Do dictionary users really look up frequent words? — on the overestimation of the value of corpus-based lexicography
Child language assessment and intervention in multilingual and multicultural South Africa
Understanding vocabulary acquisition, instruction, and assessment
Language transfer theory and its policy implications
How Big Is "Big"? Interpreting Effect Sizes in L2 Research
Size and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |