A Construct Validation Study of Time-Sensitive Word Knowledge Measures

Researchers increasingly use response-time tasks, along with untimed, accuracy-based tasks, to measure lexical knowledge. While these tasks are set up differently and are inherently time sensitive, there is no empirical evidence on whether they also tap into qualitatively different dimensions of vocabulary knowledge. In this article, we report a validation study involving five timed and untimed measures for assessing 40, 2K-5K frequency English words. One hundred and forty-five learners took (1) an untimed meaning recognition test, (2) an untimed form recall test, (3) a Yes-No response time (RT) test (affording both accuracy and RT measures), and (4) a masked repetition priming task. Confirmatory factor analysis suggests that these measures can be placed on one or two psychometric dimensions, whereby the one-factor solution (suggesting they measure one construct) is preferred for parsimony. However, the two-factor model had a marginally stronger predictive validity for explaining self-reported proficiency. Our results highlight the value of incorporating response-time measures in vocabulary research although the jury is still out on the theorization of vocabulary knowledge as a one- or two-dimensional construct.