Abstract
Local item dependence (LID) is one of the most critical assumption in the Rasch model when it comes to the validity of a test. As the field of vocabulary assessment is calling for more clarity and validity for vocabulary tests, such assumption becomes more important than ever. The article offers a Rasch-based investigation into the issue of LID with the focus on the two popular formats of Vocabulary Levels Tests (VLT): multiple-choice and matching. A Listening Vocabulary Levels Test (LVLT) and an Updated Vocabulary Levels Test (UVLT) were given to a single cohort of 311 university students in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. The analyses of raw score and standardized residuals correlations were conducted. The findings found no relationship between the 4-option, multiple-choice format of the LVLT and item local dependence. However, results from score and standardized residuals correlations analyses showed a strong link between the 3-item-per-cluster, matching format and item local dependence. The study calls for greater attention to the format of future vocabulary tests and support the use of meaning-recall formats in vocabulary testing.
Highlights
The field of vocabulary assessment is moving forward at full speed, with several issues have been raised and numerous solutions are being suggested and considered (Schmitt et al, 2020)
Several studies have confirmed the relationship between local item dependence (LID) and the matching format of vocabulary tests (Kamimoto, 2014; Culligan, 2015; Daly, 2019), they only focused on Schmitt et al (2001)
Results from the analyses showed that, for the Updated Vocabulary Levels Test (UVLT) that employed the matching format, both the score and standardized residual correlation analyses showed strong correlations between the same pairs of items that belonged to the same clusters
Summary
The field of vocabulary assessment is moving forward at full speed, with several issues have been raised and numerous solutions are being suggested and considered (Schmitt et al, 2020). One of the mentioned problems is related to the format of vocabulary tests. Concerns have been raised regarding the strategic guessing effect of a meaning-recognition test form, the 4option, multiple-choice format, as well as how it may inflate students’ vocabulary score and damage reliability of studies which employed such tests (Stewart et al, 2021; Stoeckel et al, 2021). It struck me strange that only the multiple-choice format was able to receive such privilege, and that the matching format of vocabulary tests, which is of equal age and popularity, was nearly left forgotten. Several studies have confirmed the relationship between LID and the matching format of vocabulary tests (Kamimoto, 2014; Culligan, 2015; Daly, 2019), they only focused on Schmitt et al (2001)
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