Prepared by Assist. Prof. Burcu Güngör, a faculty member at our School of Education, the English Picture Vocabulary Test (EPVT), which will contribute to the measurement and evaluation process of English education in early childhood, was published by Nobel Bilimsel Eserler Publish House in September 2025.
While foreign language education in early childhood is becoming an increasingly important field worldwide, the need to evaluate this process with scientific and reliable tools is growing at the same rate.
Developed in line with this need, the English Picture Vocabulary Test has been brought into the literature as an original assessment tool aiming to measure the vocabulary development of children learning English in the preschool period at both receptive and expressive levels.
This picture vocabulary test was specifically designed by taking the developmental characteristics of children in the 5–6 age group into account. Structured by considering factors unique to early childhood such as short attention span, limited literacy, and foreign language proficiency, the test evaluates language development multi-dimensionally by measuring children's skills in understanding (receptive language) and using (expressive language) English words through pictorial stimuli. The target words in the test were also selected from vocabulary that children frequently encounter in their daily lives.
The scientific quality of the English Picture Vocabulary Test was strengthened through a comprehensive three-stage pilot study process. In the first stage, as a result of preliminary implementations conducted with 20 children in the 5–6 age group, the visual structure of the test was made more comprehensible and appropriate for the age group.
In the second stage, the developmental appropriateness, linguistic suitability, and material quality of the test were evaluated by gathering opinions from experts in early childhood education and English language teaching.
In the final stage, a large-scale pilot implementation was carried out with 251 preschool children exposed to English at different levels. During this process, it was determined that both the receptive and expressive sections of the test possessed a high level of reliability.
The English Picture Vocabulary Test can be used comfortably on a table, its pages can be turned quickly and easily, and it provides the practitioner with the ease of single-handed use.
