Construct Validation of Picture Description Items on the TOEIC Listening Section

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The present study investigated the construct validity of the picture description items on the TOEIC listening section, using 104 Korean university students. The participants answered 10 picture description items, and then provided either textual comments on the difficulty of each item or verbal reports of their test-taking processes. The study collected three different types of evidence: the correspondence between test-takers' descriptions of pictures and those of test developers, test-takers' test-taking processes, and test takers' perceptions of factors affecting item difficulties. The results show that the item difficulty was mainly affected by the predictability of the picture descriptions, while the linguistic input and the multiple-choice item format also played a role on the performance.