Populate a sequence of XML elements with the contents of a list attribute

I am new to lists and xml in FME and having a bit of trouble. I am trying to use the XMLTemplater to populate an XML tag using a list value.

My XML template looks like this:

<prompt>{fme:get-attribute("prompt")}</prompt>
            <output>{fme:get-attribute("output")}</output>
            <data>
            {
            for $testcount in fme:get-list-attribute("itemlist{}")
            return <item>{$testcount}</item>
             }
            </data>

Test count is the output of a list element counter, and itemlist is a list attribute of the items.

My output looks like this:

<prompt>Material</prompt>
            <output>Survey Attributes/Material</output>
            <data>
            
            </data>

There are no contents being created within the data tag.

I am trying to get it to output like this:

<prompt>Material</prompt>
            <output>Survey Attributes/Material</output>
            <data>
            <item>Concrete</item>

            <item>Steel</item>

            <item>Timber</item>
            </data>

The help guide gives an example of this:

<roads>

{

for $road_id in fme:get-list-attribute("road_ids{}")

return <road id="{$road_id}"/>

}

</roads>

I am just a bit confused what attributes get defined to make these list elements populate in the xml.

In the example, is $road_id a list element counter attribute, or is this something else?

Any help is appreciated.