What are the differences and similarities between the Token Test for Children second Edition and the WJIII listening comprehension subtest?

Answer 1

The Token Test for Children - 2nd Edition (TTFC-2) is a revision of earlier versions of the test that span over a half-century. It is a stand alone test of listening comprehension for children ages 3 years to 12 years. Possibly you are referring to the WJIII Understanding Directions test which is a component (i.e. subtest) of a larger psycho-educational battery. This subtest also measures listening comprehension. It is appropriate for ages 3 years to >80 years. The Token Test for Children - 2nd Edition (TTFC-2) utilizes 20 small tokens, varying in size (large and small), shape (round and square), and color (blue, green, yellow, white, and red). The child is given three opportunities to practice and become familiar with vocabulary used on the test. The administrator then gives the child 46 linguistic commands, to which they must respond by manipulating the tokens. The commands are arranged in four parts of increasing difficulty, and must be administered in consecutive order. The WJIII Understanding Directions test (WJIII) requires the student to listen to a sequence of audio-recorded instructions and then follow the directions by pointing to various objects in a colored picture. The items gradually increase in linguistic complexity as the number of tasks to perform increases. The reliability and validity coefficients for each of these tests (which can be found in their respective technical manuals) are adequate and similar in size/effect. They both also appear to be quite good predictors of early reading success. Because the TTFC-2 age span is specific to children, you may find that it is administered more often in the school system and private speech-language clinics specializing in pediatrics. The WJIII Understanding Directions subtest is likely to be administered in the school setting but also in the adult - clinical settings (i.e. hospitals, rehabilitation clinics). As the TTFC-2 requires passing practice items (to verify understanding of vocabulary) and the vocabulary is tightly controlled, results may be interpreted as more of a 'clean' measure of language processing than the WJIII Understanding Directions subtest which does not verify understanding of the vocabulary prior to administration and also relies on a good amount of visual processing the pictures contain vast amounts of detailed information). The WJIII Understanding Directions subtest appears to require greater use of working memory than the TTFC-2; an important distinction when interpreting results. To summarize, each of these tests measures the broad ability of listening comprehension (i.e. the ability to understand and follow multi-step oral direction). Each has adequate reliability and validity and examiners who administer them can be confident in results.