Documentation of competence measure VO (Wortschatz Deutsch) for SC3, SC 4

Hello,

in the current overview of measures and variable naming conventions (Fuß et al., revised version 2025), SC3 is reported to have been administered a test for vocabulary ('listening comprehension at word level, competence domain ‚vo‘) in wave 2. SC 4 was administered testing for vocabulary skills in wave 1. This is also reported in Berendes et al. (2013), where it is explained in ch. 6.4.1 that a "PPVT-like
research version had to be developed for each of the younger age groups (4 to 5
years of age, first graders, sixth graders). " (p. 36), and that „the version for the sixth grad-
ers was tested in a pilot study with 369 students; data analyses showed an internal
consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of α = .88 for this test version. Assessments of vo-
cabulary can be linked across age groups because an anchor item design underlies
the various test versions. In addition, a linking study allows the different modes of
administration to be linked (individual testing in preschool, testing in group set-
tings in school).“ (p. 36).

Could you point me to documentation on these tests,? Apart from the total number of items known from the data, I cannot find information on these as in the documentation ‚Informationen zu den Kompetenztests‘ on SC4, the pdf for ‚vo‘ is pending, and for SC 3 i cannot find any pdf either.

Thank you!

Leonie Twente

Dear Leonie Twente,

Unfortunately, the documentation for both vocabulary tests is still pending .

However, here are brief descriptions of the tests:

SC4, Wave 1: https://www.neps-data.de/Portals/0/NEPS/Datenzentrum/Forschungsdaten/SC4/1-0-0/NEPS_SC4_Competences_w1 _en .pdf

SC3, Wave 2: https://www.neps-data.de/Portals/0/NEPS/Datenzentrum/Forschungsdaten/SC3/2-0-0/NEPS_SC3_Competences_ w2_ en.pdf

Another source of information is the following preprint, which examined the tests among students with special educational needs in grades SC3 and SC4. The test versions used in these samples were the same as those used in regular schools. However, the results refer exclusively to data from schools for students with special educati onal needs.

https://osf.io/preprints/psyar xiv /t8q76_v1

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions (kathrin.lockl@lifbi.de).

Kathrin Lockl