Relationship between Intelligence and Vocabulary

Abstract

This study explored the correlations of scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III in screening language problems and scores on the three Comprehensive Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test subscales. Participants were 243 students ages 6 to 17 years in Grades K-11 who were identified as learning disabled, learning disabled with speech impairment, mentally retarded, and speech impaired. Analysis indicated strong correlations between the two measures, particularly between the CREVT General Vocabulary and WISC-III Verbal IQ (r = .80), WISC-III Verbal Comprehension Index (r =.83), and the Vocabulary subtest (r =.76). These results held across the grades. Supporting earlier studies of relationships of Verbal IQ and Receptive Vocabulary, correlations were lower between participants in Grades K through 2 than those in higher grades on the WISC-III Verbal IQ and the Receptive Vocabulary subtest. An analysis of the accuracy of the WISC-III for classifying students with language problems indicated improvement in classification over chance. These findings suggest that the WISC-III may be an effective screen for language problems.

A relational frame skills training intervention to increase general intelligence and scholastic aptitude

“…A similar line of logic has been followed within RFT. More specifically, the development of framing appears to be correlated with the development of language, itself seen as a crucial aspect of intellectual development and ability (Smith, Smith, Taylor & Hobby, 2005). Framing has been shown to emerge at the same time as language (Lipkens, Hayes & Hayes, 1993) and to be absent in language disabled individuals (Barnes, McCullagh, & Keenan, 1990;Devaney, Hayes & Nelson, 1986).…”

How is their word knowledge growing? Exploring Grade 3 vocabulary in South African township schools

“…It also correlates with academic performance (Dickinson & Tabors 2001;Scheepers 2016), general knowledge (Cunningham & Stanovich 2001;Dougherty Stahl & Stahl 2012) and even intelligence quotient (Bell et al 2001;Marchman & Fernald 2008;Smith et al 2003). The more refined and extensive a child's vocabulary is, the more it reflects the child's degree of knowledge about his or her world.…”

The proxy-measurement of intelligence quotients using a relational skills abilities index

“…Theoretical objections to hypothetical constructs (Skinner, 1974), a preference for functional (i.e., in terms of environment-behavior relationships) accounts, as well as an apparent difficulty in accounting for the generativity of language and cognition (Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001), are often employed to support the argument that a behavioristic account of intelligence is not only difficult technically, but inappropriate conceptually. However, recent advances in a behavior-analytic account of language and cognition, known as Relational Frame Theory (RFT; Hayes et al, 2001; see also Dymond & Roche, 2013) have led to new insights into how we might conceive intellectual behavior in a non-mentalistic manner (e.g., Hayes, 1994;O'Hora, Pelaez, & Barnes-Holmes, 2005; O'Toole, Barnes-Holmes, Murphy, O'Connor, & Barnes-Holmes, 2009;Smith, Smith, Taylor, & Hobby, 2005) as well as the development of intervention protocols that have shown early promise in increasing intelligence quotients (Cassidy, Roche, Colbert, Stewart, & Grey, 2016;Cassidy, Roche, & Hayes, 2011;Dixon, Whiting, Rowsey, & Belisly, 2014;Moran, Stewart, McElwee, & Ming, 2010). As such, RFT-inspired measures are increasingly being looked upon within the behavior-analytic community as conceptually-sound proxies for IQ with acceptable construct validity.…”