Assessing the German vocabulary size of elementary school students in Graubünden, Switzerland

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24452/sjer.47.2.9

Keywords:

German as a foreign language; German as a second language; elementary school; academic vocabulary; test validity

Abstract

Vocabulary size correlates strongly with general language proficiency and is highly predictive of academic skills. Frequency-based vocabulary tests, such as the German VST (‚Vocabulary Size Test‘; Institut für Testforschung und Testentwicklung, 2019; Nation, 2001), are particularly informative. The present study validated this test with 229 fifth and sixth graders from Romansh- and German-instructed primary schools in Graubünden, Switzerland. The study shows a high reliability and internal validity of the German VST as well as a strong correlation of the test with the PPVT-4 (Lenhard et al., 2015) in a sub-sample. The test therefore provides relevant data on the academic vocabulary of students with German as L1, L2 or L3 in the Romansh context.

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Author Biographies

  • Dominique Caglia, Pädagogische Hochschule Graubünden; Universität Freiburg (CH)

    Dominique Caglia (n. Dosch), doctoral student in German as a foreign and second language at the University of Fribourg. Studied pedagogy/psychology and Romansh and conducts research at the PH Graubünden on multilingualism in schools.

    Pädagogische Hochschule Graubünden, Scalärastrasse 17, 7000 Chur

    E-Mail: dominique.caglia@phgr.ch

  • Erwin Tschirner, Universität Leipzig

    Erwin Tschirner, Gerhard-Helbig-Professor of German as a Foreign Language, Emeritus at the University of Leipzig, Germany; main research areas: Second Language Acquisition (speaking, reading, listening, vocabulary), language proficiency assessment and assessment theory, German syntax and morphology, language teaching.

    Universität Leipzig, Herder Institut, Beethovenstrasse 15, D-04107 Leipzig

    E-Mail: tschirner@uni-leipzig.de

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Published

2025-10-06

Issue

Vol. 47 No. 2 (2025): Non-state actors in state schools

Section

Varia

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Dominique Caglia, Erwin Tschirner

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Caglia, D. and Tschirner, E. (2025) “Assessing the German vocabulary size of elementary school students in Graubünden, Switzerland”, Swiss Journal of Educational Research, 47(2), pp. 188–201. doi:10.24452/sjer.47.2.9.