Version: (using KDE 4.1.3) OS: MS Windows Installed from: MS Windows In my opinion images should not be shown when users starts multi-selection tests. If the test is from foreign language to user's mother tongue (user sees a foreign word and has to choose what does it mean), then showing the image gives the correct answer, so the test does not check anything. I think that multi-selection tests are easy enough to omit such hint as images.
This is a good point. Let me think a little about exactly what to do about it. I think we should still allow the picture is you should translate from your own language to the foreign one.
I think the current choice (show image for question/anwer/both/none) is appropriate. People may have collections where the question always is "What is the person in the picture doing?" or "This is a flag of a European country. Which one?" or even "Where the hell is Matt?" Then it makes perfect sense to use multiple choice practice with image shown for the question also. I also think that with the more usual translation from mother tongue to foreign language, it is good to see the image. I would bet that (especially for people with good visual memory), seeing the image helps to remember the word (both in the sense of storage and retrieval). Moreover, images help to make the shift from the translation stage of language learning to the monolingual stage (you start thinking in the foreign language without having to translate in your head). Obviously, you have to switch it off if you are testing understanding of the foreign language items - unless we turn the suggestion around and create a multiple choice image test, where a word in the foreign language will be the question, and the multiple choice will be among a selection of images :-)