Keyword: «multiple-choice test»

The multiple-choice test is one of the most common test formats in modern practice of teaching profession-related communication in a foreign language. However, it serves only for discrete tasks in the training function that essentially restricts its potential. This paper demonstrates that it is possible to expand the uses of the multiple-choice test if we view it as a part of a system of exercises and tasks designed to teach vocabulary as the most important aspect of profession-related speech. It is suggested to use it at the stage of training the lexical units to be learned with the help of incidental acquisition strategy. The study and analysis of psychology literature allows us to identify theoretical prerequisites for the use of multiple-choice test as a tool for joint, simultaneous implementation of two training tasks: explicit – work with the content of the read text, and implicit – practical use of the vocabulary included in the minimum to be learned on the topic. Combining two tasks is caused by the objective need to save classroom time in short-course conditions of a non-linguistic higher education institution. The paper discusses the construction of a lexically emphasized multiple-choice text-based reading test, formulates basic requirements for its compilation and carries out experimental construction of the test in the light of those requirements. The experience of using the constructed test for teaching vocabulary is analyzed on the basis of the data obtained as a result of the control and final tests of knowledge. The research results in concluding that teaching based on the multiple-choice test designed to control the understanding of the text read and simultaneously implement the incidental vocabulary acquisition strategy is promising.