•Note that the context should not itself contain words that the candidates are unlikely to know.
•Since learners and language users in general normally meet vocabulary in context, providing context in an item makes the task more authentic and perhaps result in a more valid measure of the candidate’s ability.
•The context may help activate a memory of the word, in the sane way as meeting it when reading in a non-test situation.
•There could be some negative backwash when words are presented in isolation.
•However, when we test vocabulary by means of multiple choice, the range of possible distractors will be wider if words are presented in isolation.