A test of the new general service list

Abstract

Abstract This paper introduces the New General Service List Test (NGSLT), a diagnostic instrument designed to assess written receptive knowledge ofthe words on the New General Service List (NGSL) (Browne, 2014). The NGSL was introduced in 2013 as an updated version of West’s (1953)original General Service List. It is comprised of 2,800 high frequency headwords plus their inflected forms and is designed to provide maximalcoverage of modern English texts. The test introduced here is divided into five 20-item levels, each assessing a 560-word frequency band of theNGSL. Using a multiple choice format, the NGSLT is intended to assist teachers and learners in identifying gaps in knowledge of these highfrequency words. Data from 238 Japanese university students indicate the NGSLT is reliable (α= .93) and that it measures a single construct. Acomparison of NGSLT and Vocabulary Size Test (Nation & Beglar, 2007) scores for a small group of learners shows that the NGSLT providesmore detailed diagnostic information for high frequency words and may therefore be of greater pedagogic use for low and intermediatelevel learners. Ongoing developments include parallel versions of the NGSLT as well as a separate instrument to assess knowledge of the New Academic Word List. Both the NGSLT and New Academic Word List Test are freely downloadable from the NGSL homepage (www.newgeneralservicelist.org).