The number of options in multiple choice items in language tests: does it make any difference? Evidence from Thailand

Language Testing in Asia

Table 5 Facility index values for the structure (1 – 40) and reading (41 – 51) experimental items

Item #	3-option test	4-option test	5-option test	Item #	3-option test	4-option test	5-option test
	Structure items			Structure items (cont.)
1	0.63	0.69	0.67	28	0.44	0.27	0.27
2	0.35	0.36	0.38	29	0.10	0.18	0.16
4	0.79	0.67	0.64	30	0.46	0.38	0.38
5	0.44	0.38	0.27	31	0.63	0.55	0.51
7	0.27	0.20	0.20	32	0.56	0.44	0.47
8	0.85	0.87	0.78	34	0.38	0.29	0.33
10	0.40	0.47	0.42	35	0.52	0.44	0.42
11	0.25	0.20	0.13	37	0.35	0.44	0.47
13	0.50	0.33	0.56	38	0.62	0.42	0.38
14	0.50	0.53	0.44	39	0.60	0.58	0.62
15	0.81	0.67	0.62	40	0.29	0.36	0.18
16	0.75	0.60	0.62	Reading Items
17	0.77	0.73	0.73	41	0.58	0.56	0.53
18	0.58	0.60	0.73	43	0.48	0.33	0.42
19	0.40	0.45	0.47	45	0.54	0.49	0.44
21	0.75	0.55	0.60	46	0.35	0.36	0.24
22	0.48	0.33	0.22	48	0.92	0.98	0.84
23	0.73	0.55	0.36	49	0.42	0.24	0.22
25	0.75	0.51	0.60	50	0.71	0.71	0.67
26	0.25	0.36	0.36	51	0.19	0.18	0.13
Structure section				Reading section
Mean p	0.52	0.46	0.45		0.52	0.48	0.44
S. Dev.	0.19	0.17	0.18		0.22	0.27	0.24

Note: Items, 3, 9, 12, 20, 24, 27, 33, 36, 42, 44, 47 and 52 were control items which did not form part of the experimental test. Item 6 was excluded from analysis as it was found to be faulty. Similar comments apply to Tables 6 and 7 below.