This paper aims to describe an ongoing three-year vocabulary project funded by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture. It focuses on explaining the unique features and one of the practical uses of VIBE* (Vocabulary Item-Bank of English). Designed as a multi-purpose lexical tool on computer for vocabulary assessment as well as vocabulary learning, VIBE has the following features: (1) a coverage based on distinctive selection of the target items/words, namely high frequency words, (2) a novel open-database approach to item creation, and (3) innovative test formats. In its current state, it has been successfully used in pioneering vocabulary competitions to encourage autonomous vocabulary learning.

• Hananto(Atma Jaya Catholic University, Jakarta)