Interrelations of vocabulary skills: commonest versus multiple meanings.

Abstract

Spargo of the Northwestern English Department for his kind criticisms and suggestions on technical points. t Terman, The measurement of intelligence, p. 230. 67 * Odd-even corrected reliability for English Recognition Vocabulary test = .84 ± .02.

Knowing Versus Learning Words

“…As Miller and Wakefield suggest, identifying the number of different meanings for a given word that would be conceptually distinct for children or adults may not be easy. Unabridged dictionaries, especially for frequently occurring root words, often give as different senses highly related meanings, some of the differences among which are often so subtle that they might not seem that distinct to most people (e.g., Lovell, 1941). For example, many of the senses referred to by Miller and Wakefield for the verb take in Webster's Third appear to be slight variations of the basic meaning "to gain possession of."…”

Composition, Public Speaking, Vocabulary, Grammar, Spelling, and Handwriting

“…On the contrary, Lovell (87), testing eighty-two college students on both commonest and multiple meanings for the same word, found the two to be closely enough related to suggest that for general purposes, the one could be estimated from the other.…”

The Relative Value of Recall and Recognition Techniques for Measuring Precise Knowledge of Word Meaning-Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives

“…and Baylor Universities, Lovell investigated the relationship between knowledge of multiple meanings and knowledge of the commonest meaning for a word. His working criteria for differentiation in meaning were:Lovell, George D."Interrelation of Vocabulary Skills: Commonest Versus Multiple Meanings" The Journal of EducationalPsychology 32:67-72;January 1941 …”