The Effects of Repeating Questions on Auditory Versions of Multiple-choice Listening Tests : A Preliminary Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine whether repeating the question in the auditory version of multiple-choice (MC) listening tests affects listening comprehension. Two formats were compared: (a) one set of an item was presented orally in the order of question, text, and options and (b) one set of an item was presented orally in the order of question, text, question, and options. Data collected from fifty-eight Japanese university students showed that there was no significant difference between mean scores with the two formats. The data analyses also showed that two formats did not greatly differ in reliability, item facility, item discrimination, or actual equivalent number of options. In light of these results, this study proposes that, on the auditory version of MC listening tests, presenting a question once is a better format than repeating it, if for no other reason than to save time.