Multiple-Choice Test Items of Foreign Language Vocabulary

This paper reviews the various multiple-choice formats used in testing foreign language vocabulary with special reference to the underlying constructs of vocabulary competence. While all formats are argued to categorically measure recognition of second language word meaning, they are claimed to differ with respect to whether they measure receptive recognition or productive recognition, following a distinction drawn by Nation (2001). A further distinction is made between those formats that measure abstract knowledge of vocabulary and those that measure lexical ability. The paper also discusses problems associated with the contextualization of the target items in the receptive recognition ability formats and considers three proposals for ensuring the processing of the context by the test-taker. It further discusses how receptive formats could be transformed into productive formats by manipulating the relative difficulty of the target and the choice words using word frequency as an index of difficulty.