Test of Word Knowledge (TOWK)

 E H Wiig & W Secord

This instrument is designed to identify students who lack (or excel in) the semantic skills and repertories that are the foundation of mature language use in thinking, learning, and communication. TOWK subtests address various facets of semantic development and lexical knowledge:

• Knowledge of Figurative Language
• Multiple Meanings
• Conjunctions & Transition Words

• Receptive & Expressive Vocabulary.

Flexible administration procedures, with all stimuli being presented through visual and auditory modes, allow the needs of those students who are poor readers or who experience auditory memory problems to be accommodated.

The 2 levels of the TOWK comprise developmentally appropriate tasks which cover a broad age-range. It has been used as a valuable criterion measure for evaluating residual or recovered semantic knowledge following traumatic head injury or acquired aphasia and has applications as an assessment of gifted students who excel in semantic knowledge.