Open AccessDesign and Validation of a Questionnaire for the Measurement of Students’ Perceptions of Intercultural Practices within Bilingual Secondary Schools in the European Context
Author(s) -
María Elena Gómez Parra,
Irina Golubeva,
Roberto Espejo Mohedano
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of language and education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.177
H-Index - 4
ISSN - 2411-7390
DOI - 10.17323/jle.2021.11516
Subject(s) - cronbach's alpha , intercultural competence , psychology , construct validity , competence (human resources) , scale (ratio) , likert scale , context (archaeology) , perception , pedagogy , content validity , delphi method , medical education , mathematics education , social psychology , psychometrics , medicine , computer science , developmental psychology , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , biology
Bilingual education (BE) is widely recognised as a complex phenomenon, which constitutes a priority for key educational institutions and organisations. However, further research is needed to uproot common beliefs such as that bilingual students can easily interact with two or more cultures. The literature affirms that BE students need specific school training to improve intercultural competence. The main aim of this study is to describe the design and validation of a questionnaire to measure students’ perceptions of intercultural practices at bilingual schools. The validity of content and comprehension was carried out through the Delphi method, for which three methodological phases were established. The reliability of the scale (internal consistency) was measured through the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Factorial analysis was used to check the validity of the construct. The psychometric parameters of the scale were obtained from a pilot sample of 40 students, and later from a sample of 213 students from bilingual secondary schools in several European countries (i.e., The Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, France, England, among others). As a major conclusion, we can state that this questionnaire can be used as a tool for two research goals: the identification of good intercultural school practices in BE, and the development of relevant guidelines for the incorporation of intercultural education into BE.