Studies from various disciplines have reported that spatial location of options in relation to processing order impacts the ultimate choice of the option. A large number of studies have found a primacy effect, that is, the tendency to prefer the first option. In this paper we report on evidence that position of the key in four-option multiple-choice (MC) listening test items may affect item difficulty and thereby potentially introduce construct-irrelevant variance. Two sets of analyses were undertaken. With Study 1 we explored 30 test takers’ processing via eye-tracking on listening items from the Aptis Test. An unexpected finding concerned the amount of processing undertaken on different response options on the MC questions, given their order. Based on this, in Study 2 we looked at the direct effect of key position on item difficulty in a sample of 200 live Aptis items and around 6000 test takers per item. The results suggest that the spatial location of the key in MC listening tests affects the amount of processing it receives and the item’s difficulty. Given the widespread use of MC tasks in language assessments, these findings seem crucial, particularly for tests that randomize response order. Candidates who by chance have many keys in last position might be significantly disadvantaged.

BackgroundGrey matter volume (GMV) decline is a frequent finding in multiple sclerosis (MS), the most common chronic neurological disease in young adults. Increases of GMV were detected in language related brain regions following second language (L2) learning in healthy adults. Effects of L2 learning in people with MS (pwMS) have not been investigated so far.MethodsThis study prospectively evaluated the potential of an eight-week L2 training on grey matter plasticity measured by 3T-MRI, L2 proficiency and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in people with relapsing-remitting MS (pwMS, n = 11) and healthy, sex- and age-matched controls (HCs; n = 12).ResultsCategorical voxel-based analysis revealed significantly less GMV bilaterally of the insula extending to the temporal pole in pwMS at baseline. Following L2 training, significant increases of GMV were evident in the right hippocampus, parahippocampus and putamen of pwMS and in the left insula of HCs. L2 training resulted in significant improvements of listening comprehension, speaking fluency and vocabulary knowledge in both pwMS and HCs. GMV increases of right hippocampus and parahippocampus significantly correlated with vocabulary knowledge gain and L2 learning was associated with a significant increase of HRQoL in pwMS.ConclusionOur findings demonstrate distinct patterns of GMV increases of language related brain regions in pwMS and HCs and indicate disease-related compensatory cortical and subcortical plasticity to acquire L2 proficiency in pwMS.

This study investigated to what extent the complexity of EMI university reading materials matches EMI students’ reading proficiency. Text complexity and student proficiency were compared utilizing the Lexile® Framework for Reading text measures, reading test results, student questionnaire responses, and interviews with EMI lecturers. The results of the study indicate that, on average, Lexile text measures of EMI reading materials match students’ Lexile reading scores well. However, the analyses also show that there are wide disparities between texts in terms of difficulty and students in terms of proficiency. The questionnaire and interview data show that factors such as students’ topical knowledge, text length, and text structure and organization are relevant aspects of perceived text complexity beyond word frequency and sentence length. In terms of assessment practices in EMI contexts, the findings of the study suggest that (1) EMI language admission tests should consider reading ability separately; (2) integrated reading/speaking and reading/writing tasks should be authentic; (3) language tests for admission in EMI settings should also consider text length; and (4) texts in language tests for admission should vary in terms of Lexile scores to reflect real-world EMI contexts.