Use the Academic Vocabulary Test and the Productive Academic Vocabulary Test to assess receptive and productive knowledge of academic words. Both tests, along with a key, are available here.
Vocabulary plays a central role in language learning, as it supports reading, writing, speaking, and listening. In academic settings, academic vocabulary is especially important. This type of vocabulary appears more often in academic texts than in everyday language and is a key part of students’ ability to understand and use language in academic work.
Because academic vocabulary is important, it's also important to have good ways to measure students' knowledge of it. This can, for example, be useful for identifying learners who may have trouble in academic settings due to limited vocabulary. It's useful to assess both how well students understand academic words (receptive knowledge) and how well they can use them (productive knowledge). This was the rationale for designing the Academic Vocabulary Test and the Productive Academic Vocabulary Test.
The Academic Vocabulary Test (AVT)
The AVT is a test based on a matching (“multiple choice”) format. The test measures knowledge of words (at the level of meaning recognition) sampled from the Academic Vocabulary List (AVL; Gardner, D., & Davies, M. (2014). A new academic vocabulary list. Applied Linguistics, 35(3), 305-327) and can serve as a tool for working pedagogically with and highlight more things we need to learn and think about with respect to academic vocabulary.
The AVT exists in two forms. The two forms can be used as pre- and post-tests, or as part of pre- and post-intervention measures. If only a single administration is planned, either version can be used or, if more time is available, the two can be combined to provide a more reliable measure of academic vocabulary knowledge.
The AVT was developed by Diane Pecorari, University of Leeds, Philip Shaw, Stockholm University, and Hans Malmström, Chalmers University of Technology.
You can read about the approaches used to assess the validity and equivalence of the two AVT forms here:
Pecorari, D., Shaw, P., & Malmström, H. (2019). Developing a new academic vocabulary test. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 39, 59-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2019.02.004
The Productive Academic Vocabulary Test (PAVT)
The PAVT is a test of controlled (as opposed to free) productive knowledge of academic vocabulary. According to Laufer and Nation (Laufer, B., & Nation, P. (1999). A vocabulary-size test of controlled productive ability. Language Testing, 16(1), 33–51), "controlled productive ability" involves “the ability to use a word when compelled to do so…, whether in an unconstrained context such as a sentence-writing task, or in a constrained context such as a fill-in task where a sentence context is provided and the missing target word has to be supplied” (p. 37). In the PAVT, test takers are faced with a context sentence in which a target item fits and is cued by some of the initial letters of the word, followed by a blank space in which the test taker can write the answer.
The PAVT is thus modelled on the Productive Vocabulary Levels Test/PVLT (Laufer & Nation, 1999). To date (2025), the PVLT has been the only widely available validated instrument for measuring (controlled) productive knowledge of academic vocabulary. Just like the AVT, the PAVT is based on Gardner and Davies' (2014) AVL, the most recent and comprehensive inventory of academic vocabulary. Additionally, it employs an updated set of scoring principles, allowing for a more sensitive measurement of written controlled productive academic vocabulary knowledge.
The first version of the PAVT is the result of exploratory test design. Although the test has been validated and performs well for its intended purposes, the authors recognize that it may benefit from further refinement. It is released in the spirit of constructive development and ongoing improvement.
The PAVT was developed by Diane Pecorari, University of Leeds, Hans Malmström, Chalmers University of Technology, and Marcus Warnby, University of Gothenburg.
You can read about the approach taken to design and validate the PAVT here:
Pecorari, D., Malmström, H., & Warnby, M. (2025). A test of controlled productive knowledge of English academic vocabulary. Acta Didactica Norden (19)1, 1-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5617/adno.11584
