The Concept of Multiple-Choice Questions as an Intermodal Activity

in Teaching Occupation-Related Foreign Languages

Ludmila V. Makar

, Elena V. Fedotkina

and Murat V. Agaev

Russian University of Transport, Obrazcova Street, Moscow, Russian Federation

Kadyrov Chechen State University, A.Sheripova Street, Grozny, Russian Federation

Keywords: Foreign Language Teaching, Multiple Choice Questions, MCQs, Mediating Language Uses, Reception,

Production, Interaction, Special Features, MCQs Construction, MCQs-Based Activities.

Abstract: To turn language learners into effective communicators in an occupational domain the four language modes

(reception, production, interaction, and mediation) should be brought together. This paper considers the

concept of multiple-choice questions as a mediator between receptive and productive or interactive activities,

thus minimizing the number of steps and therefore transit time between different language uses, which is

especially essential in short course conditions. Regarding the dualistic purpose of MCQs their specific features

are revealed, which are also important for their construction procedure. An experimental set of items for an

occupation-related text and a draft chain of activities leading learners from reception (reading comprehension)

to production (short spoken output) are designed. Further steps to explore multiple-choice questions teaching

potential as an intermodal activity are outlined.

1 INTRODUCTION

Reception, production, interaction and mediation

distinguished by Common European Framework of

Reference for Languages (CEFRL, 2018) as the four

modes of communication in real life situations are

closely interconnected. This is why in teaching

foreign languages they should be brought together to

help learners become effective communicators.

In Russian context of teaching foreign languages

for occupational purposes, the integration usually

represents a long sequence of stages and steps

designed to prepare and push learners from one

language use to another through doing numerous

lexical and grammatical exercises and speech-related

tasks, among which are translation, making up a plan,

discussing questions, retelling, summarizing, etc.

Nevertheless, at non-language faculties where the

number of foreign language sessions is hardly enough

it is important to minimize the number of steps

between language uses without losing the quality of

training. It is achievable if use a teaching technique

whereby all learning activities would stem from one

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‘high-capacity’ task which allows to gradually

concentrate and shift learner’s attention to different

aspects of language so that they could accumulate

ideas, words and structures necessary to convert one

language use into the other. One of such techniques,

as we see it, is the work with denotations and

denotation maps. It makes a core part of the

technologies suggested for teaching monologic

speaking (Maletina, 2015) and spontaneous

monologic utterance in dialogic communication

(Serova & Tulieva, 2020), both grounded mainly on

careful reading and re-productive writing.

We have assumed that such ‘high-capacity’

mediating role can also be accredited to the format of

multiple-choice questions (MCQs). Our research

carried out to reveal the MCQs modern scope of use

shows that it is confined to two applications. Firstly,

MCQs are conventionally exploited as an assessment

instrument for monitoring the process of forming the

ability and readiness to communicate in job-related

situations with a large body of investigations digging

up the field. MCQ is the most versatile type of testing

format, “adaptable to various levels of learning

Makar, L., Fedotkina, E. and Agaev, M.

The Concept of Multiple-Choice Questions as an Intermodal Activity in Teaching Occupation-Related Foreign Languages.

DOI: 10.5220/0011607800003577

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Actual Issues of Linguistics, Linguodidactics and Intercultural Communication (TLLIC 2022), pages 99-104

ISBN: 978-989-758-655-2

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

outcomes, from simple recall of knowledge to more

complex levels, such as the student’s ability to

analyse phenomena, apply principles to new

situations, comprehend concepts and principles, …”

(Burton et al., 1991, p. 4). It is also easily adaptable

to all types of subject-matter including language

teaching. Secondly, MCQs when they are generated

by students are regarded as an efficient method for

learning in different occupational areas. When

generating questions students are to identify the

essential information in a passage they have read and

to write questions about the points they consider

important. Such activity helps them enhance

understanding of topics under study (Palmer &

Devitt, 2006) and “mature from passive into more

active learners” (Hutchinson & Wells, 2013, p. 117).

However, a MCQ construction procedure requires

some skill and experience students are unlikely to

possess even in their native language, which makes it

difficult for them “to construct knowledge

representations which are appropriate, accurate, and

well-elaborated” (Song, 2016, p. 64). This may be the

reason why this use has not found its application in

foreign language teaching, at least no evidence of

such use has been found. Along with the generation,

the aspects of MCQs peer assessment processes are

of academic interest (Kay et al., 2019).

The objective of this research is to initiate the

exploration of the MCQs format in its new

application – as a teaching technique which, on the

one hand, assures the understanding of a foreign

language income and, on the other hand, supplies

means necessary for producing an outcome, thus

mediating reception and production or interaction.

This paper considers theoretical and practical issues

of MCQs as an intermodal activity, namely 1)

determining their specific features and basic

principles for construction, 2) designing an

experimental set of MCQs for an occupation-related

text, 3) designing a possible chain of MCQs-based

activities leading to the output desired and piloting it

in classroom conditions, 4) outlining further

directions of study.

2 SPECIAL FEATURES OF MCQS

AS AN INTERMODAL

ACTIVITY

Even when targeted only at reading comprehension

“different MC questions … create very particular

comprehension and response processes” (Rupp et al.,

2006, p. 470). The dualistic function of MCQs under

study cannot but influence their features such as

content, linguistics and layout which must be taken

into considerations in the design process.

First of all, careful reading and choosing answers

for MCQs makes learners concentrate on target ideas

of the text. With non-language students in focus, it

should be admitted that their background knowledge

is usually enough to “be able to understand many of

the individual idea units or propositions in a text”, but

their language level is often much behind making

them spend much time “to form an overall

representation of the text in their mind” (Green, 2014,

p. 100). This is why MCQs should be designed so that

to be helpful for students not just to extract individual

meanings but form a coherent system of information

where individual ideas follow each other logically. It

may coincide with the logical structure of the text or

may not as long as it adequately conveys its concept.

As the outcome product is also expected to have

logic, which in fact means a kind of planning, MCQs

have to be combined in a set in a way that ensures the

logical flow of input information with the prospective

output product in mind to facilitate the production

process.

The second consideration concerns the MCQs

vocabulary. The fabric of an occupation-related text

is made of the so-called general scientific vocabulary

(abstract nouns and verbs) which is of especial

difficulty to learners (Polubichenko, 2019) and

requires ample practice to be mastered properly.

According to the studies that examined vocabulary

acquisition on the basis of reading, text-based lexical

enhancement work can increase the efficiency of

vocabulary skills (Laufer, 2003; Min, 2008).

Although MCQs do not pursue a distinct vocabulary

goal, the comprehension task cannot be done without

vocabulary knowledge. Hence, the retention of the

target vocabulary and its turning from receptive into

productive can be regarded as a supplementary goal

when designing MCQs to be an intermodal activity.

Words included into MCQs become more salient

attracting learners’ attention and building into their

personal vocabularies. In fact, doing MCQs as a

comprehension enhancement activity implies the

consolidation of the target words and incidental

vocabulary acquisition.

And finally, an MCQ structure may play part

tuning the learners in for the oncoming output. A

basic multiple-choice item consists of a stem and a

list of several alternatives containing a single or

multiple answers and distractors. If a desired output

is interaction, it seems reasonable for the stem to take

the form of a question. A question and the answer(s)

form a dialogue unity. This feature may be used for

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rehearsal activities when two or more learners are

involved into the check-up process – asking questions

and giving the answer(s) with the possibility to signal

if they agree or do not and justify their position. It can

also be treated as an opportunity for practicing simple

cooperative / communication skills such as

disagreeing politely, asking for help, and thanking

partners. If a production output is desired, it is rather

that a MCQ stem takes the form of an incomplete

sentence. Together with correct answer(s) it will

make a complete sentence to become a part of the

final product.

On a balance, the construction of MCQs

designated to mediate reception and production /

interaction should evidently start with a well-defined

final output product, its content, vocabulary and

structural characteristics. The key principles to be

followed include: 1) covering basic ideas of the text,

which does not mean all ideas, but only those which

are to be included into the final output, 2)

constructing as many items as there planned to be

sentences in the expected output, 3) arranging items

in an order that makes up a plan of the output, 4)

choosing the grammatical structure of a MCQ stem

depending on the type of the final output in view –

production or interaction, 5) covering the target

vocabulary but in a way that does not contradict the

general guidelines of writing MCQs designed solely

for comprehension assessment purposes to exclude

the possibility of choosing the correct option(s) out of

recognizing the key words rather than understanding

ideas.

3 CONSTRUCTING MCQS AS AN

INTERMODAL ACTIVITY

This section exemplifies the application of the

foregoing principles when constructing MCQs as an

intermodal activity between a written input material

and a short spoken production output as a final

product.

3.1 The Characteristic of the Input

Material

The input material is a text for reading within the

topic Passenger Service, part of a greater module

Passenger Transportation taught to 3

year part-time

railway students (Makar, 2021). It contains factual

(terminology, specific details and elements) and

conceptual (classifications and categories, principles

and generalizations, and theories, models, and

structures) knowledge, which is typical for

occupation-related texts in general (Andersen &

Krathwohl, 2001).

The text consists of four paragraphs, which is

considered to be a justified length corresponding to

different language levels. However, short texts like

this are claimed to be difficult due to the limited

amount of information they contain (Arshad et al.,

2020). Readability formulas also interpret the text as

difficult to read. Thus, the Flesch reading-ease test

taking into account the number of sentences, words

and syllables scores it 35, and the New Dale-Chall

Formula, which uses its own graded word list to

determine potentially difficult words, scores it 8.5.

Quantitative characteristics (712 syllables, 403

words, 16 sentences) testify that the difficulty arises

from the long complex sentences (average sentence

length is 25 words). Although most of the words are

single (55 %) and double (28 %) syllabled,

qualitatively the text vocabulary presents difficulty

comprising many general scientific words

problematic for students to memorise, retain and use

due to their functional and semantics features. No title

or illustrations that could aid in comprehension

accompany the text.

3.2 The Considerations on MCQs

Construction

The type of the target output is a short spoken report

about a passenger service or product. To determine

the content and number of MCQs and their order in

the set it was necessary to determine quantitative and

qualitative characteristics of the final product: the

main ideas to cover, the number of sentences and their

logical sequence. Based on the content of the text, it

was decided that six sentences and, hence, six

multiple choice items are enough to convey its

meaning. To determine their order an illustrative

outcome was produced whose logic did not

completely coincide with the order of information

chunks in the text. The information demanded in

items five and six in the text follows in reverse order.

The planned output being a short report,

grammatically each MCQ represents a combination

of a stem in the form of an incomplete sentence and a

list of four alternatives mostly in the form of short

word combinations so that a stem connected with a

correct option or options produces a complete

sentence. Out of six MCQs two are single correct

option, four – multiple (two or three) to cover the text

content and diversify the difficulty of items.

Lexically, it was decided to avoid verbatim

phrasing and simplify the vocabulary, which are the

The Concept of Multiple-Choice Questions as an Intermodal Activity in Teaching Occupation-Related Foreign Languages

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basic vocabulary requirements to MCQs

construction. For the purpose we employed

appropriate lexical strategies, mainly paraphrasing,

with the use of previously learnt and more frequent

vocabulary. Of eight general scientific words and

eight topical word combinations the unit focuses on,

five target words and word combinations were

included in paraphrased MCQ chunks in the form

they were introduced (compete, destination, improve

(2), marketing campaign, customer survey) both in

correct and incorrect options not to be regarded by

students as signals for answers, the word quality was

presented as a definition, schedule, competitors,

promotion, departure point are the forms.

3.3 MCQs-Based Activities

In this section the sequence of activities deploying

around MCQs constructed and observations made in

classroom conditions are presented. The learners

were instructed that the MCQs were the basis for a

scope of follow-up activities so that they could keep

proper attention to the items.

Activity 1: careful reading of the text and deciding

on the correct answers to choose from the alternatives

provided. The task was done individually to allow

learners activate their personal background

knowledge on the topic and language skills to

interpret the textual information. As with any learning

activity, there was allotted definite time to finish the

activity. However, as the MCQs were designated for

learning (not for assessment), there was no strict time

limit and it was reasonably prolonged for the learners

to prepare well enough. It should be noted that the

time was partly spent on the revision of MCQs

vocabulary, since the learners understood that they

would need it in further activities. Thus, the task

evidently encouraged them to make more efforts to

retain those words as the important ones.

Activity 2: justifying individual choices as a class

to check comprehension. As learners were primarily

focused on comprehension, this activity provided

opportunities for making corrections and fixing the

correct answers. Additionally, it did not allow the

weaker learners to skip over thought-conveying target

words, made learners hear and pronounce them

several times, thus consolidating their correct

spelling, pronunciation and meanings, which

hopefully may facilitate the retention of the context

and contextually meaningful words. There is an

option of going through the MCQs discussion twice

if the time allows and there is a learning necessity:

first in small groups, then as a class.

Activity 3: generating an intermediate shortened

summary-type text out of the stems and correct

responses by eliminating the distractors. The new text

presented a coherent representation of the original

text concept in full sentences, which is typical for

reports, but lexically and grammatically it was

simpler as is attribute to spoken patterns, and its

structural organization differed. In fact, this was a

reproductive activity aimed at taking in the ideas from

the text read and tying them with the thought-

conveying words. The summary was peer-assessed,

which did not take much time but contributed to the

consolidation of the vocabulary in a more demanding

situation. The intermediate text product could be

treated as a model to be used at the last – production

– stage. As it was a classroom work, the text was

hand-written. However, if done with the use of

electronic devices one can just delete the distractors

to have the product, which may be especially

convenient. To strengthen the effect from this activity

it is possible to visualize statements in the form of

pictures or a mini-presentation, the positive effect of

visualization on learning being widely recognized.

Activity 4: making up a final spoken report on the

topic in the form of a short talk on a service or product

suggested by railways to stay competitive on the

passenger market. Unlike the reading comprehension

stage, the final report was of individual

accountability. Preparing each learner had to make

several decisions, namely, which information chunks

from the text read to use in a new one, which service

or product to describe, what to tell about it and how.

In fact, reports presented model texts modified by the

learners to the degree corresponding to their language

level. The weakest learners just changed a few words,

the strongest ones followed the logic suggested by the

model text but made their talks longer and more

detailed. The reports were presented orally to the

group and assessed by the teacher.

In fact, we can interpret all activities above as a

MCQs-based multi-skill activity going through

several stages – reception (in the example it is

reading), reproduction (in writing and oral) and

production (presenting short topic-related reports) –

to activate background and language knowledge and

skills and acquire new ones to produce a target type

of product.

3.4 Discussion

The MCQs-based multi-skill activity is evidently

constructed in the way that makes the learning easier.

Consecutive processing of the input material takes

learners from understanding a longer detailed text to

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producing a topic-related shorter one. Meanwhile, the

psychological evidence shows that it is more difficult

learning process that increases the learners’

engagement and facilitates the long-term retention

and transfer of skills or knowledge (see e.g., Healy &

Sinclair, 1996). It challenges the learning process

based on the MCQ technique, and makes us bring up

several questions and seek answers for them.

And the first question is whether the negative

effect on long term retention and transfer from the use

of MCQs does arise, and if it does, how it can be

neutralised. It seems feasible to avoid unfavourable

consequences with the help of cooperative, or

collaborative, learning which involves every learner

and maximises the benefits of cooperation among

mixed-ability and mixed-proficiency group members

(Jacobs & Renandya, 2018). In a use described some

of the cooperative learning principles were easily

applied, for instance, peer interaction and equal

opportunity to participate (activities two and three) as

well as individual accountability (activity four).

Numerous cooperative learning techniques and their

variations in existence, it is up to the teacher to select

most suitable ones for a specific classroom situation.

The second question concerns optimal conditions

for the application of MCQs as an intermodal activity.

As this technique lends a helping hand, it is presumed

that these are low-level language learners who find it

difficult to reach thorough understanding of

linguistically complex occupation-related material

that may particularly benefit from it. The pilot use

backed this logical assumption up. However, on this

stage it is not clear if MCQs in their new role may suit

a variety of learning situations, for example,

autonomous training beyond the classroom and e-

learning, shaping the skills and leading to the result

desired.

As foreign language study groups at non-language

universities tend to be formed with no consideration

for students’ language level, teachers face classes

comprising students of nearly a full range of levels

from false beginners to intermediate and higher. Such

classroom situation is a real challenge for a teacher

who has to seek for methods to engage and lead every

learner to success. With MCQs as an intermodal

activity, good opportunities for differentiated

learning are strongly felt. For example, lower-level

learners can be given a set of MCQs ordered logically

to simplify the comprehension procedure while

higher-level ones can be supplied with a set of

randomly organized items to be answered and then

ordered logically for further re-production task.

Another possible way to differentiate is to make the

final task more difficult and complex for more

proficient learners. It is worth then exploring the

MCQs potential for differentiated learning as another

promising aspect.

Finally, the last but not the least issue that has to

be studied more thoroughly deals with vocabulary.

Does a MCQs-based multi-skill activity create

conditions for vocabulary to transit from reception to

production? The possibility of using the target words

on all stages of the described MCQs-based activity

provided multiple retrievals, which is stated to be one

of the key factors to transfer vocabulary from short to

long term memory so that the learners recall the

words easily (Wesche & Paribakht, 2000). But

whether it is enough for long-term retention is a task

for further experimental evidence with the use of

methods proved reliable in vocabulary investigations.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The use of MCQs makes it possible to expand the list

of ‘high-capacity’ teaching techniques which can

bridge receptive and productive / interactive language

uses minimizing the transit time between them, which

is an essential benefit in short course conditions

typical for occupational domain. The outcomes of the

pilot uses look promising and encourage to further

explore the potential of this technique in a number of

areas, among which are, primarily, optimal

application conditions from the standpoint of learning

benefits for different categories of language learners

and the extent of its possible use in and beyond the

classroom, including e-learning, as well as the issue

of incidental vocabulary acquisition.

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