The Relation of Expressive Vocabulary to Early Reading

The Relation of Expressive Vocabulary to Early Reading Elizabeth C. Crawford, Florida State University, FCRR Barbara R. Foorman, Florida State University, FCRR Yaacov Petscher, Florida State University, FCRR Purpose The purpose of the study is to describe the development and validation of the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR) expressive vocabulary measure and evaluate how well it correlates to the EVT-2 and predicts kindergarten word reading and first and second grade reading comprehension. Information on the relation of IRT difficulty parameter, imageability and frequency will be discussed as well as item characteristics curves for grade level items. TABLE 1 – Correlations among IRT Difficulty Parameter, SFI, and Imageability IRT - b parameter Kindergarten First Grade SFI -. 607** -. 245 Imageability -. 316 -. 078 Second Grade -. 551** -. 390 TABLE 2 – Correlations among SESAT/SAT-10, FAIR, and EVT-2 Method A total of 373 children, 135 kindergartners, 118 first graders, and 120 second graders were the participants in this study. They each received the Expressive Vocabulary Test- Second Edition (EVT-2) and FAIR Expressive Vocabulary Measure in one session in a randomized order. The FAIR measure contains 24 items per grade. The demographic characteristics of this sample are: 48% female, 78% Free or Reduced Lunch, 13% English Language Learners, 21% White, 20% Hispanic, 52% Black, 6% Multiracial and less than 1% Asian/Pacific Islander. FAIR EVT-2 Kindergarten SESAT . 520** . 584** First Grade SAT-10 Second Grade SAT-10 . 539**. 485** . 602**. 567** TABLE 3 – Correlations between FAIR and EVT-2 Kindergarten – FAIR First Grade – FAIR EVT-2. 828**. 802** Second Grade - FAIR . 749** Correlations among FAIR, EVT-2, and SESAT Word Reading (K) or SAT-10 Reading Comprehension (1 st and 2 nd) FIGURE 1 - Kindergarten Item Characteristic Curves – Kindergarten Items FIGURE 2 - First Grade FIGURE 3 - Second Grade Results and Conclusions Results indicate that the FAIR Expressive Vocabulary Measure has strong concurrent validity with the EVT -2. The FAIR vocabulary measure was nearly as predictive of SESAT and SAT -10 performance as the EVT-2. A significant negative relationship was found between the IRT b parameter and SFI in kindergarten and second grade. Student performance on expressive vocabulary measures has a moderate, significant relationship with performance on reading outcomes measuring early reading skills in kindergarten – second grade students. Please address correspondence to: Liz Crawford at ecrawford@fcrr. org