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Running head: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test

Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test Narrative

Alyssa Cottle

Brigham Young University- Idaho

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Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test

Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test Narrative

The PPVT, or the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, is a test that measures the receptive
vocabulary of individuals, both adults and children (Dunn & Dunn, 2007). The test is
administered, individually, and with no time-requirement. It is also norm-referenced. There are
two versions of the test, Form A and Form B. There are 228 test questions on each form, each
item having four colored pictures on a page for the examinee to look at. When a stimulus word is
given by the examiner, the examinee selects the picture that they think coincides with the
stimulus word they hear (Dunn & Dunn, 2007).
The 228 test questions are broken up into 19 different sets of 12 questions or items each.
The sets become increasingly hard, which is done so that the examiner can administer the sets
that are age-appropriate for each individual taking the test. Most of the scoring is done during the
test as the examiner marks down the correct responses, errors, or whether or not the examinee
knew the answer (Dunn & Dunn, 2007).
This test is important because it helps to gauge how well an individual knows the English
language, or when trying to decide what instruction the child or individual needs. It can be used
to measure a person’s learning capabilities in regards to language and vocabulary that they hear.
The more vocabulary a person has, the more proficient they will be in reading comprehension.
This allows examiners to see the person’s general verbal ability (Dunn & Dunn, 2007).

Testing Environment

The child that I assessed was not a student from the child labs at Brigham Young
University-Idaho. JP is a child that I met outside of school, and when the test was administered,
he was four years, five months, and sixteen days old. I knew that because this was going to be
done outside of the labs at BYU-Idaho, his mother would have to be present. I contacted her,
received permission, and found a time when we would both have enough time to administer the
assessment. Upon arriving to their home with my partner, I asked the mother to turn on all of the
lights so that her son could see well during the test. I made sure to introduce myself to both of
them, and develop a level of comfort with the child, as he did not know me previously. After a
few minutes, the mother asked her son to come sit with us at the kitchen table, where I had set up
the assessment. However, JP immediately became silent and clung to his mother’s legs. He
would not respond to my questions anymore, and said that he did not want to do the assessment.
After talking with his mom, JP agreed that he would do the assessment if he could do it in
the living room, while sitting next to his dad. I then preceded to move the test to the living room,
where I set it up the same way I had in on the kitchen table, to where I could see both the test
form and the booklet on the coffee table. He sat to where he could only see the testing booklet. I
could see both sides of the easel. However, JP refused to sit in the chairs provided, so we both
moved to the floor where we were at the same level as each other. The room was quiet and
private, and all distractions (TV, toys, etc) were shut off or put away.
It is also important to note that previously, I told his mother that this test is not an IQ test,
and that it is a test to measure her child’s understanding of different vocabulary words. I told her
that neither her or I could prompt JP or give him any clues. I also alerted her that he would miss
items because I would have to continue until he missed a large enough amount of items. While
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Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test

she was aware that this was for my class, I alerted her that I am also a student just learning about
assessments, and that this was not official or 100% accurate, if I by chance did something
incorrectly. She was understanding and completely willing to help me with whatever I needed.

The Test

The test itself, from administering the training items to the ceiling set, took 20 minutes.
The entire visit took 45 minutes, because my partner administered the test to another child
afterwards, and we took a few minutes to talk to the parents about what the test was and what
would be happening.
Originally, JP was not sitting still or cooperating in the environment that we chose—the
kitchen table. However, he remained extremely engaged throughout the entire test once we
switched the environment of the test. There were a few times he would ask his mom if his
answers were correct, and she did not give him the answers. She only assured him that he was
doing great. However, it is possible that if she looked at him in a certain way, he could have
changed his answers to the prompts. I reminded him that he was doing great as well, and
preceded on to the next questions. There were also a few moments at the end of the test, when he
would get up and start to walk away. His mother had to ask him to come back on two different
occasions. While it is an assumption, t is possible that he was simply guessing at the end due to a
lack of interest, but I assured him that he was doing great and that we were almost done. He
seemed engaged enough spent about ten seconds on each question before answering. While I was
worried about sitting on the floor because the test says to sit in chairs, I do not think that this
served as a distraction in any way. The child was more comfortable with it, allowing me to
establish rapport, and he became extremely willing to participate.

Test Results

JP’s test results were in the high average category. His raw score was 87 and his standard
score was 113. This put him in the 81st percentile, high average category. His age equivalent was
5:5. During the test, I felt that JP knew a lot of questions that other children his age would not
know. Due to this, I was slightly surprised and expected him to have a moderately high score,
just from looking at the test. However, after reassessing the questions and results, I do feel that
these were accurate for this child. He is not yet in kindergarten, but knows a lot of vocabulary
words. This was accurately depicted through the results of the test, as he received a grade level
of not yet being in kindergarten, but still scoring a high average score. While I do feel this test
was accurate, there were times when JP said he was confused by the fact that I was not using
articles before words. He didn’t say those words exactly, but I would say something like “point
to flaming” and it took him longer to decide on an answer. I feel he would have gotten some
questions right if they had been worded differently. Having said that, the test measured what it
was supposed to measure, and I feel it was valid.
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Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test

References

Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, D. M. (2007). Peabody picture vocabulary test (4th edition). NCS Pearson,

Inc.