Identifying items for assessing the expressive vocabulary of 4-year-old Cantonese-speaking children

This study aimed at identifying items for assessing the expressive vocabulary of 4-year-old Cantonese-speaking children in Hong Kong using a dynamic elicitation method. In phase 1, 214 words were selected from various language sources and their levels of difficulty were rated by 10 experienced preschool teachers. A revised list of 99 words, which consisted of different difficulty levels and word types, were chosen. A PowerPoint file was then made to present the pictures and video clips for eliciting these words. In phase 2, the 99 words were tested on 32 4-year-old children recruited from two local preschools. Forty-seven words met the required item statistics for inclusion in the final word list for further development of an expressive vocabulary test. Characteristics of the final word list and the children‟s performance were discussed. This study also provided some preliminary data on 4-year-old Hong Kong Cantonese children‟s understanding of English vocabulary. Identifying Items for Assessing Expressive Vocabulary 3