Computerized vocabulary test for primary school students: usability, reliability, functionali-ty

Abstract

Even in the initial years of primary school, there are considerable differences between students in basic skills, and this becomes more pronounced as the years proceed (Nagy, 2017). The proportions of pupils who do not develop adequate reading skills by the end of the eighth grade are increasing, which has a significant impact on their further learning and their life chances in the labor market (OECD, 2023). Even in lower secondary education, it is essential that students have an adequate level of reading and word processing skills. This requires a knowledge of the specialized language and terminology of the given subject. The aim of our research was to develop and empirically test an online, computer game-based vocabulary test for young students. The corpus of the vocabulary test was taken from the vocabulary of the current textbooks in the primary school textbook catalogue. The developed instrument consisted of four different types of tasks measuring vocabulary without dependence on content and one set of tasks embedded in a text comprehension task. A total of 150 students in grades 2-5 participated in the study. The Cronbach’s α (0.90) and person-separation reliability (0.91) of the test were adequate. The results of the Rasch analysis confirmed that the test worked well and that the tasks were appropriate for measuring the ability level of the age group studied. The level of difficulty of the tasks covered the ability range of the age group examined; and the test well differentiated between students. The main pedagogical relevance of the research is that the assessment tool is an online test that can be used in a classroom setting and provides immediate feedback to teachers and children through automatic evaluation, thus providing a basis for further development.