Psychometric Evaluation of a Receptive Vocabulary Test for Greek Elementary Students

Abstract

Assessment of lexical/semantic knowledge is performed with a variety of tests varying in response requirements. The present study exemplifies the application of modern statistical approaches in the adaptation and assessment of the psychometric properties of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–Revised (PPVT-R) Greek. Confirmatory factor analyses applied to data from a large sample of elementary school students ( N = 585) indicated the existence of a single vocabulary dimension and differential item functioning procedures pointed to minimal bias due to gender or ethnic group. Rasch model–derived indices of item difficulty and discrimination were used to develop a short form of the test, which was administered to a second sample of 900 students. Convergent and discriminant validity were assessed through comparisons with the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children–III Vocabulary and Block design subtests. Short- and long-term stability of individual scores over a 6-month period were very high, and the utility of the test as part of routine educational assessment is attested by its strong longitudinal predictive value with reading comprehension measures. It is concluded that the Greek version of the PPVT-R constitutes a reliable and valid assessment of vocabulary for Greek students and immigrants who speak Greek.

Varieties of developmental dyslexia in Greek children

“…As well as having theoretical implications, the ability to differentiate among subtypes of dyslexia is vitally important for educationalists and clinicians for the purposes of effective intervention. (Naglieri, 1985), b Digit Span subtest from the Athena Test (Paraskevopoulos et al, 1999), c Reading fluency (Panteliadou & Antoniou, 2007), d Single word spelling (Mouzaki et al, 2007), e PPVT adapted for Greek (Simos et al, 2011).…”

“…" (Naglieri, 1985b), b Digit Span subtest the from Athena Test (Paraskevopoulos et al, 1999), c Reading fluency (Panteliadou & Antoniou, 2007), d Single word spelling (Mouzaki et al, 2007), e PPVT adapted for Greek (Simos et al, 2011) Figure 1: Nonword reading accuracy by word reading latency for the TDR children, and 90% confidence intervals. Results for the dyslexic children are also plotted: stars represent dyslexic children with the profile of phonological dyslexia, diamonds represent dyslexic children with the profile of surface dyslexia and hourglass symbols represent dyslexic children with a mixed profile.…”

Spelling improvement through letter-sound and whole-word training in two multilingual Greek- and English- speaking children

“…He spelled just two high frequency words correctly (μαμά/mama/(mother) and όχι/ohi/(no)). Mouzaki et al, (2007), h blending subtest, the Athena Test (Paraskevopoulos et al, 1999), i PPVT-adapted for Greek (Simos et al, 2011). Scores in bold are for assessments where standardized scores were not available and represent percent correct.…”

Gender Differential Item Functioning in Slovak Version of Intelligence Structure Test 2000 - Revised

“…His ideas are strongly supported by results of studies focused on gender differential item functioning in intelligence tests, even in measuring the g-factor. Results of many studies confirmed that several intelligence tests contain items which exhibit gender DIF (e.g., Immekus & Maller, 2009;Brown & Rodgers, 2009;Simos et al, 2011). Some of these studies focused on the sources of gender DIF in item content.…”

“…Differential item functioning analysis has been used in many studies related to intelligence testing. Maller (2000) analyzed DIF in deaf and hearing children and Simos et al (2011) in different ethnic groups in Greece. Several studies also confirmed that one of the sources of DIF can be found in language skills and language origin (Martiniello, 2009;Roomaney & Koch, 2013;Schaap, 2011).…”