What is Literably Vocabulary? Follow
Overview
The Literably Vocabulary assessment is a measure of general receptive vocabulary knowledge that asks students to demonstrate their understanding of word meanings through a variety of tasks. The assessment was designed based on relevant K-12 reading research and guidance from state and national standards related to vocabulary acquisition and use.
Words included in the Vocabulary assessment include high-frequency, high-utility words (Tier 2) that students should be expected to know in order to comprehend texts in academic settings. Starting in grade 1, the assessment also includes content-specific words across Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies domains. Words were selected from well-established vocabulary lists compiled to guide reading instruction in the early grades (e.g., Biemiller, 2009; Marzano & Simms, 2013), using age of acquisition to align words to appropriate grade levels.
The Vocabulary instrument can be used to gather data on students' broad grade-level vocabulary knowledge, to help identify students who many benefit from additional vocabulary support in order to perform reading-related tasks.
Activity Types
The Vocabulary assessment requires students to complete different types of developmentally appropriate activities. These vary by grade level, as shown in the table below. Results are reported as the number of items correct out of the total possible number of items.
| Picture Matching | Synonym | Fill-in-the-Blank | |
| Kindergarten | 20 | 10 | |
| 1st Grade | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 2nd Grade | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 3rd Grade | 10 | 20 | |
| 4th Grade | 10 | 20 | |
| 5th Grade | 10 | 20 |
1. Picture Matching
The picture matching task asks students to identify the picture that best matches the target word from four pictures. Students can read the word or have it read aloud. This picture-vocabulary format is used in well-researched assessments of receptive vocabulary, such as the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Target words for these tasks were selected to be concrete and visualizable.
2. Synonym
The synonym task asks students to select the word that is most similar in meaning to the target word. It requires students to demonstrate understanding of word meaning in the absence of contextual clues. Students may read the words or have them read aloud. Distractor answer choices may include words that are related semantically but not synonyms, as well as words that may resemble the target word in sound or spelling.
3. Fill-in-the-Blank
The fill-in-the-blank task asks students to demonstrate understanding of words in the context of a sentence. Knowing word meaning in context most closely approximates skills students need in order to achieve passage comprehension. Students have the option of reading the sentence and answer choices themselves, or having them read aloud. Distractor answer choices may include words that resemble the word in meaning but do not fit in the context of the sentence, or words that resemble the target word in sound or spelling.
Resources
Biemiller, A. (2009). Words Worth Teaching. New York: SRA.
Marzano, R.J., & Simms, J.A. (2013). Vocabulary for the Common Core. Centennial, CO: Marzano Research.