Abstract:

Interactive book reading (IBR) is an effective way to stimulate vocabulary development through explicit instruction (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001). When doing so, an instrument measuring gains on vocabulary level is necessary. Since IBR can be performed with a variation of books, there is the need for a method of vocabulary testing, adaptable to different books, for different age groups and aligning with dynamic assessment (DA) principles (i.e. combining instruction or feedback with assessment or testing within a single activity) (van der Veen et al., 2016). DA can be seen as taking into account the results of an intervention (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2002). It helps teachers to gain insight in the effects of their reading and provides them with information to adapt the reading to the childrens' needs (van der Veen et al., 2016). This way, DA serves as an innovative curriculum that promotes the development of children through meaningful interactions within classroom activities, such as IBR (van Oers, et al., 2003).

Focusing on vocabulary development through IBR, there is no formula that indicates what the most functional and meaningful words to teach are. Therefore, the combination of two evidence-based theories was proposed for careful selection of instruction words; tiers of vocabulary (Beck et al., 2013) and age of acquisition (AoA) (Brysbaert & Biemiller, 2016).Beck and McKeown (1985) developed a tiered system of vocabulary instruction that has been used widely as a tool to select vocabulary. Tier one includes basic words that barely need instruction. These are least interesting to focus on. Tier two words are high utility words. They are the most productive of instructional effort because of the role they play in the general verbal repertoire (Beck et al., 2013). Tier three are academic content words that are of low frequency of use. They are interesting to explicit when focusing on mostly domain specific knowledge (Beck et al., 2013). The age of acquisition from words is a psycholinguistic variable referring to the age at which a word is typically learned, this based on estimations of (young) adults, indicating at what age they think they learned a certain word (Brysbaert & Biemiller, 2016). By setting the AoA of the tested words per story slightly higher than the mean age of the children participating in the intervention, children learn new words that are feasible but challenging.

As an example for vocabulary testing linked to IBR in line with DA, our own research will be discussed. Here a test-intervention-test design (also called sandwich format, e.g. van der Veen, 2016) is being used as DA approach. Our vocabulary test development showed that the developed method of test composition was fitted for vocabulary testing in line with DA principles. It provides teachers that integrate IBR in their class practices the necessary basis for monitoring students' progress on vocabulary development.

Keywords:

Interactive book reading, dynamic assessment, target vocabulary, vocabulary test development.