INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT NUMBER OF CHOICES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF IRANIAN EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN READING COMPREHENSION

Multiple choice item tests have long been the issue of consideration because of their higher reliability. One area of debate is the optimum number of options in a multiple-choice item; as such, the present study ascertained the issue in English as a Foreign Language context. The other factor analyzed in the study was the effect of level of students’ language proficiency on the optimal number of options. In order to do the research 70 participants were chosen from Najaf Abad university, in Isfahan Province, in Iran, students majoring in English language teaching. A cloze test was used to compute students’ proficiency level, and three formats of three-, four, and five-option-item tests of reading comprehension were utilized. The results from the study suggest that the four-option-format would be yet worthy of consideration. As the reliability of the four-option items was high and it could discriminate among the different levels of students within the same group better than the other two test formats, teachers can benefit from four-option items when testing reading comprehension of the EFL students.