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The EVT-2 Lets Clinicians Spend Less Time in Testing and More Time in Intervention

A perspective from author Dr. Kathleen Williams

Ask author Dr. Kathleen Williams to name one of her main goals in developing the Expressive Vocabulary Test, Second Edition (EVT-2) and she’ll tell you, “Getting people to understand how important it is to measure vocabulary. Test results can predict success in learning to read and comprehend text, help clinicians understand why students have difficulty with oral instructions, and provide a screen for other potential academic difficulties.”

“Test results can predict success in learning to read and comprehend text, help clinicians understand why students have difficulty with oral instructions, and provide a screen for other potential academic difficulties.”
—Dr. Kathleen Williams

Five years in the making, the second edition of the highly respected EVT offers valuable contemporary enhancements, yet it remains as quick, easy, and reliable as ever. As a result, clinicians can spend less time in testing and more time in intervention. The EVT-2 measures expressive vocabulary and word retrieval for those aged 2½ to 90+ years and requires no reading or writing. It is conormed with the PPVT™-4 test, offering an unbeatable system for comparing receptive and expressive vocabulary, pinpointing students’ strengths and weaknesses, and identifying potential word retrieval concerns. Like the PPVT-4 assessment, the EVT-2 is an individually administered, norm-referenced test. It meets the needs of both general and special education professionals for vocabulary and language screening and assessment, progress measurement, Reading First goals, and fits all three tiers of the RTI model. In the same way that the PPVT-4 test can be used to support reading goals, the EVT-2 assesses oral expression as a foundation of writing skills.

Dr. Williams says, “With this new edition, we wanted clinicians to be able to test and retest. Therefore, the EVT-2 now includes two parallel forms.”

The EVT-2 also offers an updated and expanded item pool that incorporates recommendations from users and expert reviewers. New items use the statistical information that had been gathered on the previous edition and reflect changes in language usage.

“There are now 190 items in each form, giving us the chance to do even more with an assessment,” notes Dr. Williams. “For instance, there is a study showing that when a child is exposed to a lot of dialogue in the home, we can observe a ‘language bridge,’ which indicates the child is having expanded experiences with words. If the parent says ‘put on your red shirt instead of your blue shirt;’ or ‘I’ve peeled two potatoes and now I need to peel two more,’ the child is learning colors, numbers, and verbs, not just naming nouns. Since the EVT-2 now includes a wider variety of words, the clinician can get a broader sample of the child’s oral language experiences and vocabulary knowledge.”

Dr. Williams believes clinicians will also appreciate the five methods of qualitative analysis. “I hope this breadth of data motivates the clinician to look beyond the score. As an example, if the examiner administers both the PPVT-4 and the EVT-2, and the expressive score is higher than the receptive score, the results could indicate that rather than being delayed, the child simply has different labels for words and concepts. By allowing the child to speak, the child can demonstrate his or her unique vocabulary knowledge. The clinician may discover, for instance, that the child has never heard of a sofa, but perhaps knows the item as a couch or divan. When looking at the different ways a child labels things, I’d also encourage the clinician to also consider background or ethnicity. In this way, we can build on differences, instead of viewing the differences as a deficit.”

“. . . we can build on differences, instead of viewing the differences as a deficit.”
—Dr. Kathleen Williams

What else is new in the EVT-2? Stimulus questions are now included in the record form for more precise administration. Growth scale values (GSVs)—a new metric for easily measuring progress over time—have been added. There is a larger easel format (8½ inches by 11 inches) and core vocabulary has been modernized. Additionally, the artwork is realistic and more up to date, offering an exceptional balance of gender and race/ethnicity.

“The art is so appealing that I think a child might like to sit and look thorough the EVT-2 easel like a picture book,” says Dr. Williams. “The illustrations are all by the same artist, and I think this helps. Best of all, the art really holds a child’s attention.”

“The art is so appealing that I think a child might like to sit and look thorough the EVT-2 easel like a picture book.”
—Dr. Kathleen Williams

There is another outstanding new feature that Dr. Williams is especially pleased with. “It might not be as obvious to clinicians as other benefits, but AGS/Pearson did a great job in sampling. Age and grade norms are from the same pool. In essence, this means the grade norms are a subset of the age norms. I’ve been in this field for a long time and I’ve never seen this happen.

“Also, true to the way we build tests, there is a two-way control. Besides a match of ethnicity, and so forth, there is a cross-match with SES. Other publishers do not always do this when building tests.”

In the future, Dr. Williams envisions the possible creation of components to complement the EVT-2. “Maybe we could build an adjunct piece that takes the form of an easel with criterion-referenced items. For instance—if you got an indication that a child has a problem with colors, there could be a tab on the easel that assesses whether he or she knows other color words or how many are known. The easel could include other categories like food items, clothing, or body parts. If you are testing to see how a 15-year-old child with a disability is functioning—body parts are so important. Or, look at the other end of the spectrum—knowing adjectives and adverbs is vital. Otherwise, how are you going to read or write effectively in college or at work?”

The EVT-2 is built on the strength of the EVT and is filled with new enhancements. However, Dr. Williams says there is more to this new edition than first meets the eye. “If we just stop and think, we discover all the many, many benefits of vocabulary assessment.”