Premium
Assessing Teachers’ Beliefs about Literacy Acquisition: the Development of the Teachers’ Beliefs About Literacy Questionnaire (TBALQ)
Author(s) -
Westwood Peter,
Knight Bruce Allen,
Redden Edward
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of research in reading
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.077
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1467-9817
pISSN - 0141-0423
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9817.00034
Subject(s) - psychology , literacy , early literacy , reliability (semiconductor) , scale (ratio) , information literacy , mathematics education , pedagogy , content validity , medical education , psychometrics , developmental psychology , medicine , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics
In this article the authors describe the development of an instrument to measure change in teachers’ beliefs about how children acquire early literacy skills and how these skills should be taught. The questionnaire was originally designed for use in the evaluation of affective outcomes for teachers from literacy inservice training and development programmes. The content of the questionnaire has also proved to be of value as a focus for discussion in school staff meetings. Information is provided here on the design, development, validity and reliability of the instrument. The authors invite comment and feedback from researchers who may use the scale. The instrument may be particularly useful in countries where teachers’ beliefs and practices have been influenced to varying degrees by the ‘whole language’ versus ‘skills‐based instruction’ debate.