Four Measures of Vocabulary Ability Compared in Older Preschool Children

Thirty-six normal-hearing older preschool children each received four commonly used vocabulary measures. The measures were the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), the Picture Vocabulary subtest of the Test of Oral Language Development, the Expressive One Word Vocabulary Test, and the Receptive One Word Vocabulary Test. Results indicated moderate correlations to exist among the four tests. Scores on all tests were found to be associated with the age but not the sex of the children. Patterns of association among tests remained stable even when effects of age were removed using either partial correlations among raw scores or correlations among standardized scores. Forms L and M of the PPVT-R differed slightly in their correlations to the other tests. The finding of only moderate correlations among these tests implies that a child might pass one test but fail on another. The clinical use of multiple vocabulary measures is therefore suggested.