Test format
The LVLT uses the same multiple-choice format as the Vocabulary Size Test (VST). This
format provides multiple benefits:
1. The difficulty of each distractor can be manipulated.
2. Marking is efficient, reliable, and can be conducted electronically.
3. Item analyses can be conducted easily.
4. It supports item independence, a necessary criterion for Rasch analysis; and
5. Participants can demonstrate their knowledge of the meaning of each item.
Each item has four options, from which examinees must choose the Japanese response with
the closest meaning to the target word. The four options are provided in the examinees’ first
language in order to isolate the construct of aural vocabulary knowledge from other
constructs such as second-language (L2) reading ability. An example item is shown
below (the translations in parentheses were not visible to examinees):
[Examinees hear: ‘School: This is a big school.’]
(1) a.銀行 (bank)
b.海の動物 (sea animal)
c.学校 (school)
d.家 (house)
744 Language Teaching Research 19(6)
As shown above, examinees listen