Method And criteria for assessing vocabulary skill

Identify Examples and Nonexamples

• Rather than having students fill in the correct word on a written worksheet, have them use their critical thinking skills to respond to auditory examples of sentences with vocabulary words used correctly and incorrectly.
• Come up with two lists of sentences — one with correct usage of vocabulary words and one with incorrect usage.
• Read each sentence aloud, pausing between each one so that students can identify the vocabulary word and determine if the word is used correctly or not.
• You can have them respond verbally with "correct" or "incorrect" or manually with a "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down." Alternately, students could make a list of their responses to score and tally at the end of the activity.

Brainstorm Words in Categories

• Another option for assessing vocabulary is to provide students with a specific category, then have students list all of the words they know that could fit into that category. For example, you could ask kids to list all the words that describe feelings that they can think of. For a more concrete activity that links to science class, you could ask them to write a list of ocean and sea-related words. Review their lists to identify any words that don't fit the category, then count what they came up with to assess their knowledge.

Create a Skit

• To help assess whether students can actually use vocabulary words in their writing and dialogue, assign students to create a skit or short speech that uses vocabulary words to act out in front of the class. Students can do this on their own or in pairs or small groups. The most important rule will be to work in a certain number of vocabulary words, being sure to use them correctly and appropriately. Assess if they fit in the correct number of words and if the way they used the words demonstrates an understanding of what they mean.

Come Up With a Title

• Challenge kids' creativity by assigning them to come up with unique titles for their favorite types of entertainment that feature words from their current vocabulary list. Let them decide if they want to come up with the title of a song, book, movie, TV show, video game, or website. The caveat is that the word can't be used ironically or nonsensically. Their title has to demonstrate correct word usage. If they're working on a long list of vocabulary words, you may even want them to create one of each.