This study compared aural and written modes of presentation for the two item types, to explore the effects of question/option presentation mode and item type on EFL learners’ listening comprehension performance and their perception. One hundred and fifteen Korean college students who were divided into three different proficiency groups participated in the study. The participants took a listening test which consisted of dialogue-completion and Q&A multiple-choice items in the aural and written modes, followed by a survey on their perceptions, and a stimulated recall interview. The results showed that the least proficient group was more critically affected by the mode than the other two groups. The least proficient group performed significantly better in the written mode than in the aural mode, while they received similar scores on the two item types. The major factors that caused the discrepancy among the groups were memory capacity in the aural mode and reading ability in the written mode. The implications and suggestions on listening test development are discussed.

This study aims to compare the effects of different types of test-items using the same text and test-takers' text familiarity on the scores of English reading comprehension. A total of 312 third-grade Korean high school students took three different English tests, adapting types of test-items from the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). Each test included items using the same texts, presented in exam preparation books published by EBS in Korea, but different question types. To estimate levels of their topic familiarity, two surveys were carried out. Repeated measures ANOVAs reveal that there were significant differences in scores among the items using the same text with different types of test-items. However, there was no statistically significant effect of topic familiarity. The results indicate a greater effect of different types of test-items than topic familiarity on the scores of a reading comprehension test using the same text. Based on the findings, it is suggested that English teachers in Korea need to manage their reading classes by using various types of questions in order to develop students' reading ability and to prepare their students for the CSAT.