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The present study aims to translate the questionnaires of Parents' Attitudes toward Early Childhood Career Development (PAECCD) and Parents' Attitudes toward Vocational Education Implementation in Preschool Curriculum (PAVEIPC) into Chinese versions (PAECCD-C and PAVEIPC-C) and examines their reliability and validity through two studies. In Study 1, exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) were conducted to evaluate their factor structure among 232 Chinese preschoolers' parents. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were conducted to confirm their factor structures among other 355 Chinese preschoolers' parents, supporting the superiority of the initial theoretical model. Multigroup CFA comparisons indicated the measurement invariance for fathers and mothers. The PAECCD-C and PAVEIPC-C had excellent reliability values from 0.82 to 0.92. This study added to the existing research literature by supporting the applicability of PAECCD and PAVEIPC among Chinese preschoolers' parents.

This research aims to address the challenges of digital transformation in education by understanding the digital competence of teachers through a mixed-methods approach. The grounded theory is employed to develop the Teachers' Digital Competence Model (TDCM), which is structured around three facets: development, pedagogy, and ethics. Within these facets, six key dimensions were identified: digital ethics and safety, digital engagement, digital resources, digital teaching and learning management, digital assessment, and empowering students. The TDCM was operationalized by creating the Teachers' Digital Competence Self-assessment Instrument (TDCSI), utilizing a self-perceived scale to measure teachers' digital competence. The selection of TDCSI questionnaire items was carried out using item analysis and exploratory factor analysis, followed by confirmatory factor analysis to construct a structural equation model and assess the reliability and validity of the instrument. The TDCSI comprises 24 items with a Cronbach's a of 0.937 and factor loadings ranging from 0.535 to 0.834, demonstrating a reasonable structure. This study provides valuable insights into digital competence, offering a practical instrument for measuring teachers' digital proficiency. The findings are poised to inform future research on digital competence, as well as support endeavors to enhance teacher training and professional development programs in the context of educational digital transformation.

Online metacognitive skills are the real-time awareness of cognition, which can effectively promote science learning and improve performance in solving scientific problems. Therefore, it is important to enhance and diagnose students' online metacognitive skills in science education. This study aimed to evaluate ninth-grade students' online metacognitive skills while processing chemistry problems. To achieve this goal, this study constructed a framework for guiding the development of an instrument comprising 12 two-tier items. A total of 258 ninth graders took part in the field testing in Jiangsu, China. A partial credit Rasch model analysis was employed to inform instrument development and evaluation. The results revealed that this instrument was valid and reliable for assessing students' online metacognitive skills. Nearly 60% of the ninth-grade students in this sample were able to monitor their own thought processes or evaluate their own cognitive performance in processing chemistry problems. About one-third of the students could regulate their thought processes. However, less than 4% of the students could make attributions about their cognitive performance.

We report the validity of a test instrument that assesses the arithmetic ability of primary students by (a) describing the theoretical model of arithmetic ability assessment using Wilson's (2004) four building blocks of constructing measures and (b) providing empirical evidence for the validation study. The instrument consists of 21 multiple-choice questions that hierarchically evaluate arithmetic intended learning outcomes (ILOs) on arithmetic ability, hierarchically, based on Bloom's cognitive taxonomy for 138 primary three grade students. The theoretical model describes students' arithmetic ability on three distinct levels: solid, developing, and basic. At each level, the model describes the characteristics of the tasks that the students can answer correctly. The analysis shows that the difficulty of the items followed the expected order in the theoretical construct map, where the difficulty of each designed item aligned with the cognitive level of the student, the item difficulty distribution aligned with the structure of the person construct map, and word problems required higher cognitive abilities than the calculation problems did. The findings, however, pointed out that more difficult items can be added to better differentiate students with different ability levels, and an item should be revised to enhance the reliability and validity of the research. We conclude that the conceptualizations of such formative assessments provide meaningful information for teachers to support learning and tailoring instruction.

There is growing literature on computerized dynamic assessment (C-DA) wherein individual items are accompanied by mediating prompts, but its effectiveness at fine-grained levels across time has not been explored sufficiently. This study constructed a computerized listening dynamic assessment (CLDA) system, where mediation was informed by an attribute-based mediation model (AMM) that established the relationship between the listening items and their underlying cognitive attributes. One hundred and twelve low-level university learners participated in the study, with the experimental group using the AMM-informed CLDA system (hereafter the CLDA group) and the control group (CG) using a non-dynamic assessment. Results indicated that the CLDA group significantly outperformed the CG in the post- and transfer- tests at both the test and attribute levels, and mediation was more effective for items of low and medium difficulty levels than those of high difficulty levels. Questionnaire and interview data indicated that most students perceived the CLDA system positively. The study demonstrates the advantages of AMM-informed C-DA in fine-grained diagnosis and tailored mediation. At the same time, it helps advance the validation pursuit of future mediation development.

Given the lack of cultural consideration of studies on digital natives, this study reports on a large-scale validation of the Digital Native Assessment Scale (DNAS) among university students from three regions of Greater China: Chinese mainland, Macau, and Taiwan, to examine measurement invariance and latent mean differences in the four constructs of the DNAS, grew up with technology, comfortable with multitasking, reliant on graphics for communication, and thrive on instant gratifications and rewards. The results from 5198 participants revealed the DNAS has a stable factorial structure and is valid in measuring students' digital nativity. The DNAS achieved a strong/scalar measurement invariance among students from the three regions in each of the four factors. Latent mean difference tests suggested that Macau students had significantly higher levels on all four constructs than those from the mainland, with small to medium effects; and the latent means of Taiwanese students were significantly higher than those of mainland students in three constructs (i.e. Tech, Multi, and Graphics), with small to large effects. Discussions of the findings were provided by taking into account the historical, economic, and cultural backgrounds of the three regions.

Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic), a high-stakes English language proficiency test, underwent substantial revisions in 2021. The test duration was reduced from 3 h to 2 h by reducing specific task numbers and sections. This study investigates the impact of these changes on teachers' perceptions and teaching practices, areas previously underexplored in language assessment literature. It focuses on the implications of the test's modifications, examining the face validity and washback effects through the lens of teachers in mainland China. Semi-structured interviews with four experienced PTE Academic test trainers, who were familiar with both the original and revised test formats, reveals that the revised PTE Academic is perceived to maintain strong face validity, particularly noted in its academic authenticity, balanced skill structure, and perceived result accuracy. Additionally, most teachers perceived an increase in test difficulty. A mixed washback effect was observed: while improvements in students' language competence--a positive outcome--were noted, teachers also reported a continued reliance on teaching test-oriented strategies for higher-scoring tasks, indicating negative washback. This study highlights the significant implications of reducing PTE Academic's duration and offers targeted recommendations for its future improvement. These suggestions aim to enhance students' academic language skills, thereby better aligning PTE Academic with the practical language abilities required in university settings.

The study seeks to conceptualise foreign language learning burnout and provide its corresponding measurement. The 15-item "Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey" (MBI-SS) was rephrased to fit an English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) learning context. The modified MBI-SS was then assessed among 1718 Chinese secondary EFL students. A final 10-item "Maslach Burnout Inventory-EFL Student Survey" was obtained based on a series of reliability (e.g. item analysis, internal consistency) and validity (construct validity, convergent validity, and criterion validity) test results. According to the confirmatory factor analysis results, foreign language learning burnout is a three-dimensional construct encompassing Exhaustion, Cynicism, and Reduced Efficacy, confirming the invariance of the original tri-factorial structure of the MBI-SS. In addition, participants reported low levels of foreign language learning burnout, Exhaustion, Cynicism, and Reduced Efficacy. Possible reasons for foreign language learning burnout were discussed with reference to the FL educational context in China. We also proposed directions for future research.

Collaborative learning (CL) is widely used in higher education around the world because it is associated with increases in students' knowledge and social skills. Low student engagement in CL activities has been identified as a common issue, while there is no CL-specific engagement scale to measure and understand engagement in such settings. Additionally, although western countries have been investigating student engagement since the 1950s, there have been comparatively few studies of this important construct in China. To address these imbalances, the present paper adopted a mixed methods approach to developing and validating a Chinese CL engagement scale. In the quantitative study, Chinese university students (N = 405) completed an anonymous online survey to assess their engagement in CL activities. Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a hierarchical (second-order) three-factor model of student engagement (behavioural, cognitive and emotional engagement), consistent with the tripartite conception of student engagement in Western countries. Participants were further divided into three unique groups based on engagement scores, and in the qualitative study, 12 participants from three groups were interviewed about CL experiences. Interviews served to further validate the quantitative results. The significance, limitations, and implications of these findings are discussed.

To examine the reliability and validity of revised Parental Phubbing Scale (PPS) and measure the level of parental phubbing, 701 Chinese children aged 3-6 years and their parents were investigated. The results indicated that: (1) the construct validity of the PPS was supported by the best-fit one-factor model; (2) concurrent validity was established by demonstrating that the PPS was positively related to parental smartphone addiction; (3) the PPS was positively correlated with authoritarian parenting style, established the predictive validity; (4) internal reliability was satisfactory. The results also showed that fathers' and mothers' phubbing were at the intermediate level; moreover, phubbing levels were highest among parents aged 31-40. The findings conclude that PPS can be used as a reliable and valid measure to evaluate parents' phubbing and also highlight the need for further research on mothers' and fathers' phubbing.

Based on the concept of sustainability and the aim of addressing China?s great need for talent with green skills, a green skills scale was designed with the help of Chinese university students. Students from four institutions of higher education who had agreed to the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) participated as research subjects. With reference to the reviewed literature, a green skills scale was developed for Chinese university students. The scale was reviewed by experts and scholars and subjected to a reliability and validity analysis, and 900 students were selected to be included in the sample. The green skills of university students are divided into four dimensions: cognition of green knowledge, mastery of green skills, application of green skills, and green skills development, resulting in a total of 16 questions. The overall reliability of the scale is 0.845, the reliability of the dimensions lies between 0.813 and 0.880, the correlation coefficients between the dimensions lie between 0.185 and 0.497, and the root-mean-square values of the AVE of the corresponding coefficients are all larger than the correlation coefficients of the corresponding row and column variables, demonstrating that the green skills scale for university students has good reliability and validity.

Engaging in design thinking activities has been increasingly viewed as important for the craft of teaching for early childhood practitioners. However, reliable and valid measurements for this are lacking. As such, this research aims to develop and validate a design thinking engagement scale (DTES) to assess teachers' engagement in design thinking. A sample of 370 Chinese kindergarten teachers completed a questionnaire to test its reliability, validity and generality empirically. First, principal component analysis (PCA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) both supported a five-factor structure of the DTES, indicating satisfactory construct validity. The total variance explained in PCA was 85.48%. Second, the reliability analyses within each sub-dimension and for the total DTES also showed an adequate internal consistency for the scale, ranging from 0.89 to 0.92 in PCA, and 0.84 to 0.94 in CFA. Besides, at CFA, the composite reliability ([rho]) (0.84 to 0.94) also indicated a good reliability. Moreover, both good convergent validity and discriminant validity were obtained through the method of average variance extracted (AVE) for each dimension (0.64 to 0.80) and constraining the correlations between each pair of constructs respectively. Thus, the DTES can be a promising tool for measuring design thinking engagement among early childhood teachers.

In this study, we evaluated the validity and reliability of a Chinese adaptation of the Self-Regulated Practice Behavior (SRPB) scale developed by Miksza. Tasks included supplementing, altering, and translating items to create a viable adaptation for Chinese music majors and evaluating the construct validity and reliability of the Chinese-adapted Self-Regulated Practice Behavior (C-SRPB) scale. Confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) were used to analyze responses provided by Chinese music majors (N = 880) from various music conservatories and universities. Results indicated that an adjusted six-factor ESEM model was the best fit to the data. Internal consistency reliability coefficients for the subscales ranged from good to excellent ([alpha]s = 0.77-0.86). Significant correlations between six subscales of C-SRPB and practice habits (i.e., daily duration, self-rated efficiency, and percentage of time spent on informal practice) provided criterion validity evidence. Overall, the findings suggested that the C-SRPB is a valid and reliable tool for measuring the self-regulated music practice of music majors in China. The results also suggest that music majors' understanding of self-regulated practice vary according to individualistic and collectivist culture contexts.

In primary schools, the incorporation of STEAM education has become a widespread trend, as it is believed to have the potential to enhance the quality of education and foster students' competencies. This investigation aimed to explore the definition, measurement model, and scale of students' STEAM competence, emphasizing their hands-on experiences in STEAM education. A total of 1126 fourth to sixth-grade students participated in the survey and were examined to assess the reliability and validity of the STEAM competence scale developed based on previous studies and theoretical foundations. The results indicate that the scale is acceptable and that there are significant connections between various indicators as confirmed by path analysis. The study's significance, limitations, and conclusions are also addressed.

The calibration of test materials generally involves the interaction between empirical analysis and expert judgement. This paper explores the extent to which scale familiarity might affect expert judgement as a component of test validation in the calibration process. It forms part of a larger study that investigates the alignment of the LanguageCert suite of tests, Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), the China Standards of English (CSE) and China's College English Test (CET). In the larger study, Year 1 students at a prestigious university in China were administered two tests--one with items based on China's College English Test (CET), and the other a CEFR-aligned test developed by LanguageCert--the LanguageCert Test of English (LTE). Comparable sections of the CET and the LTE involved sets of discrete items targeting lexico-grammatical competence. In order to ascertain whether expert judges were equally comfortable placing test items on either scale (CET or CEFR), a group of professors from the university in China who set the CET-based test, were asked to expert judge the CET items against the nine CSE levels with which they were very familiar. They were then asked to judge the LTE items against the six CEFR levels, with which they were less familiar. Both sets of expert ratings and the test taker responses on both tests were then calibrated within a single frame of reference and located on the LanguageCert scale. In the analysis of the expert ratings, the CSE-familiar raters exhibited higher levels of agreement with the empirically-derived score levels for the CET items than they did with the equivalent LTE items. This supports the proposition that expert judgement may be used in the calibration process where the experts in question have a strong knowledge of both the test material and the standards against which the test material is to be judged.

Student understanding of chemical equilibrium in aqueous solutions (CEAS) plays a vital role in their upper secondary school chemistry learning and everyday life. Diagnosis of students' alternative conceptions (ACs) of the CEAS will provide teachers with valuable information to make instructional decisions on student learning. This study aims to develop and validate an instrument to diagnose students' ACs about the CEAS, including ionization equilibrium, water self-ionization equilibrium, the equilibrium of salt hydrolysis, and precipitation and dissolution equilibrium. Using Treagust (1998)'s development framework, we have developed 25 two-tier multiple-choice items for the CEAS diagnostic test. After completing the corresponding courses, 750 Grade 11 students from five public schools responded to the CEAS diagnostic test. Rasch modeling approach was employed to provide psychometric properties of the CEAS diagnostic test consisting of one-dimensionality, reliability, and validity. This study identified 15 ACs toward the CEAS. This study found that most students performed better on concept tiers rather than reasoning tiers. In addition, students have difficulties in connecting acidity, solubility, ionization, and chemical reaction and in using mathematical thinking to do transformation between concentration, equilibrium constant, and pH value.

Problem solving is considered one of the most critical competencies for life. However, many students may perform well in school yet cannot transfer the skills they learned in school to solve real-world problems, especially in science education. This study discusses the characteristics of the problem from the physics education perspective, based on Problem Representation Theory, and proposes a new type of problem: The Primitive Physics Problem. Moreover, the significance and contribution in promoting students' physics problem-solving ability, both theoretical and empirical, are described. Then the study develops a set of instruments that was tested on 811 students in 12th grade from 10 upper-secondary schools in China. The results showed that the new instrument had good reliability and validity. The promising application in the instruction of the Primitive Physics Problem and in measuring upper-secondary school students' problem-solving ability of the instrument is discussed.

Teachers' practical knowledge is closely related to teaching practice. The purpose of this research was to develop an instrument for assessing upper-secondary school science teachers' perceived practical knowledge about practical work. The development of this instrument was based on five components in the conceptual framework of PCK about practical work: orientations of practical work, knowledge of curriculum materials in practical work, knowledge of students in practical work, knowledge of educational strategies for practical work, and knowledge of assessment in practical work. After the questionnaire was developed, 636 Chinese upper-secondary school science teachers participated in this research voluntarily. The results from exploratory factor analysis, correlation analysis and confirmatory factor analysis provided sufficient evidence for the construct validity of instrument. The high Cronbach coefficient indicated that the instrument had good internal consistency reliability. Finally, an instrument with six factors and 25 items was documented. The instrument would benefit science teacher educators and researchers.

Triggered by the pilot of the "Gao-Kao" reform, the avoidance of physics courses in senior high school has aroused the concern of society in China. The factors that influence the motivation to learn physics are an important research topic, especially for countries that have a disciplinary-based education tradition in secondary school. However, there is a lack of instruments for evaluating secondary school students' physics learning motivation, as most motivational studies consider science learning motivation as a single construct and do not distinguish between the motivation to learn different science disciplines. Therefore, we developed an instrument for measuring physics learning motivation and used this instrument to investigate the trend of physics learning motivation from middle school to high school and how physics learning motivation was influenced by teachers, parents and peers. Adopting achievement goal theory as the theoretical foundation, we developed a survey for physics learning motivation by adapting previously validated instruments. After pilot testing, 502 middle school and senior high school students completed the survey. Statistical tests, such as factor analysis, were conducted to test the reliability and validity of the instrument. Descriptive statistics confirmed some of the findings from past research (such as an overall decline in motivation to learn science), but more detailed analysis also led to new findings. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) we investigated the relationships between students' perceptions of the environment's goal emphases, their personal goal orientations, and their engagement in physics learning in and out of school. The results showed that the students' goal orientations were influenced by teachers and parents, but primarily by their peers. Finally, we discuss possible explanations of the findings and their implications for follow-up studies and policy adjustments.

This study aimed to translate the Japanese version of the Life Skills Scale for Adolescents and Adults (LSSAA) into Chinese, English, and Korean, simplify it, and assess its reliability and validity. Validation was performed using individual data of 9941 high-school students from China, Japan, Korea, and the United States collected by the 2021 "Survey on Experiences and Attitudes Related to the Corona Crisis" conducted by the National Institution For Youth Education. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the four-factor model of the LSSAA fit the data for all four countries. Testing of the measurement invariance of the four-factor model among the four countries supported the adoption of a weak invariance model, and the LSSAA scores were comparable across all four countries. These results suggest that the LSSAA has good reliability and validity and applies to adolescents in English-speaking countries and some Asian counties.

As one of the 21st-century skills, self-directed learning (SDL) has received widespread attention and has become an essential research topic in education. In this study, we examined the psychometric properties of the SDL scale (SDLS) (Lounsbury et al., 2009) with a sample of 408 Chinese undergraduates. Previous research on Chinese students has validated SDLS by using confirmatory factor analysis directly assuming SDL as a unidimensional factor as it was tested in Western countries. However, considering the rich connotation of SDL, we applied exploratory factor analysis and further used Rasch analysis based on item response theory to enrich researchers' and practitioners' understanding of its psychometric properties. We found additional and good psychometric evidence of a two-factor structure of SDLS: students' initiative and ability of SDL and their self-concept of SDL. The two factors of SDLS have good internal consistency and positive correlation with formative feedback orientation, showing evidence of its criterion validity.

The elicited imitation task (EIT), in which language learners listen to a series of spoken sentences and repeat each one verbatim, is a commonly used measure of language proficiency in second language acquisition research. The "TOEFL® Essentials"™ test includes an EIT as a holistic measure of speaking proficiency, referred to as the "Listen and Repeat" task type. In this report, we describe the design considerations that informed the development of the EIT for TOEFL Essentials. We also report the results of a series of investigations conducted during the prototyping and pilot phases of test development, which were undertaken with the goal of confirming task design specifications, evaluating scoring performance, and obtaining initial validity evidence to support score interpretation and use of the EIT in the TOEFL Essentials test. We found that task design variables generally performed as expected. The length of input sentence was strongly associated with performance (Pearson r = 0.88), consistent with the construct measured by the EIT, while other task variables not directly related to the EIT construct did not impact performance (e.g., graphics, speaker accent, and response time). Scorers drawn from TOEFL iBT test raters were able to score responses consistently with over 98% exact or adjacent interrater agreement on a 6-point scale, and scores on the pilot version of the EIT were highly reliable (Cronbach's [alpha] = 0.93 on the 15-item pilot version). Correlations between EIT scores and other measures were generally as expected: Correlations with other speaking tasks were high (0.78-0.84) and slightly to somewhat lower for other language measures (0.73 for writing, 0.68 for listening, and 0.57 for reading). Correlation with an independent measure of holistic language proficiency (C-test) was moderately high (0.69), as expected. We discuss the study findings in terms of the TOEFL Essentials test validity argument and point out limitations to the current results along with future research needs. Overall, we believe that the findings provide initial support to warrant the use of the EIT as operationalized in the TOEFL Essentials test.

Bullying is a growing concern in China, yet there are few validated scales designed to measure different types of bullying among Chinese children. In this present study, a bilingual team of researchers use a forward-backward translation process to adapt the Bullying, Harassment, and Aggression Receipt Measure (BullyHARM) for Chinese youth. BullyHARM has previously been shown to be a reliable scale for measuring six bullying domains (i.e., physical, verbal, social/relational, cyber, property, sexual) among children in the United States (US). After cultural and linguistic adaptation, we enrolled 397 middle school students from Beijing, China in a validation study to assess the psychometric properties of the new BullyHARM-China scale. Results of confirmatory factor analysis suggest the final 21-item scale displays strong internal consistency. Consistent with findings from the US, the first-order model of six factors (i.e., six bullying subscales) displays the best fit to the data. Our findings suggest that BullyHARM-China is a reliable tool for measuring bullying victimization among Chinese students.

The new paradigm approaches to technology-enhanced feedback (TEF) have piqued the interest of educators seeking to shift away from feedback monologic processing and toward feedback dialogic exchange. The way teachers demonstrate constructive TEF behaviours for their students is essential to the development of students' feedback literacy. However, there is a general lack of multidimensional theoretical conceptualisation for understanding, and instrumentation for measuring teacher TEF literacy. To fill this gap in the literature, this study designed and empirically validated a teacher TEF literacy scale (TTLS) using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis on two distinct samples of teacher participants chosen at random. A total of 632 school teachers from throughout most of China, with a variety of subject backgrounds, participated in this study. The results show that the TTLS' three-factor structure is valid and reliable. To provide supplementary evidence of structural validity, the status quo of TEF literacy among primary and secondary school teachers in China was tested, and a discipline variation in teacher TEF literacy was identified, as hypothesised.

Argumentation plays a significant role in science as a scientific practice in which knowledge is constructed, evaluated, and modified. Scientific argumentation (SA) is thus a promising activity for students to pursue in order to think and act like scientists and to enhance their understanding of science. Considering the impact that assessments usually have on teaching and their role in understanding students' ability, this study aims to explore the assessment of scientific argumentation competence (SAC) and Chinese high school students' performance and perceptions of SA. This study, therefore, proposes a three-component framework for understanding SAC, including the competencies to identify, evaluate, and generate the SA elements outlined in Toulmin's argument model. Based on this framework, we hypothesize three levels of SAC and develop a test including 22 items to see whether these proposed SAC elements are valid and to what extent they represent students' levels of SAC. An iterative procedure is adopted to develop and validate the assessment instrument, validity evidence is collected from the analysis of teachers' interviews, students' think-aloud and follow-up interviews, and from confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis of students' scores on the test. The results suggest that the measure, which includes three SAC components has acceptable reliability and validity, and the three-level progression of SAC is aligned with and further expands previous learning progressions of SA. We also find that most students in our sample are at level 1 of SAC and they in general hold positive attitudes toward learning through argumentation, but their willingness in engaging with SA tends to be affected by their perception of the intrinsic and practical value of SA and their personality. Providing them with explanations of SA elements does not improve their test performance.

This exploratory study examines the role of foreign and second language contexts in the acquisition of conventional expressions. A group of 21 ESL learners was compared to 25 EFL learners randomly selected from a larger pool. Both groups completed an aural multiple-choice discourse completion task (MC-DCT), which was developed from a previously validated oral DCT. The aural MC-DCT consisted of 21 items with learner-generated options delivered aurally. A total of 91 native speakers also completed the task as a control group. The results showed an effect of learning environment on learners' selection of conventional expressions. The ESL group selected the conventional expressions in more items than the EFL group on the aural MC-DCT; the differences in the selections by the two groups were item-specific. The observed effect of learning context is discussed as related to individual items and type and modality of the task. The paper also discusses the special make-up of the ESL group due to the pandemic and expansion of the group for future research.

The early phase is the decisive period for the teachers' career. Intellectual styles (particularly thinking styles) play a vital role in teachers' professional development. With the purpose of measuring thinking styles of teachers at the early phase, this study was designed to validate a revised inventory of thinking styles (TSI-R2) for pre-service and early career teachers. A sample of preservice teachers (n = 248) were invited to join the pilot study and a sample of teachers with one year work experience (n = 252) participated in the main study. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis were performed. The results suggested that with slight modification, TSI-R2 was a reliable and valid instrument to measure thinking styles of pre-service teachers and early career teachers, which has some implications to enhancing teacher education and development.

Previous studies on students' conceptions of learning science (COLS) have focused primarily on formal environments. In these studies, students' COLS were positively associated with their approaches to and outcomes for science learning. However, little research has been conducted to explore students' conceptions of learning science in informal environments (COLSIE), despite its importance to students' academic achievement. To fill this research gap, this study qualitatively and quantitatively explored Chinese primary school students' COLSIE. First, in Study I, interview data gathered from a group of 80 students were analysed using the phenomenographic method, and ten hierarchical categories of COLSIE emerged (e.g., communicating and explaining). Based on these categories, a survey was developed and distributed to another group of 414 students in Study II. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to validate the survey, which revealed nine factors matching the ten categories except for the initial categories of applying and understanding. This study also revealed the commonalities and uniqueness of COLSIE in comparison with students' COLS in formal environments. The findings suggested that informal science learning experiences may strengthen students' impressions of science practices. Science educators are encouraged to provide their students with opportunities to engage with science practices in informal environments.

Science educators have highlighted the need to develop students to integrate knowledge across science disciplines to address real-world issues. However, there has been little research about the development of interdisciplinary assessment instruments. In this research, the instrument that measures the level of upper-secondary school students' interdisciplinary understanding of environmental issues was developed and validated based upon Wilson's Construct Modeling framework. After a pilot testing, the revised assessment instrument of interdisciplinary understanding covering five typical environmental problems comprised 14 multiple-choice questions and four constructed-response questions. Five hundred twenty-three eleventh graders, including 279 boys and 244 girls from mainland China, made up the research sample. The partial credit Rasch analysis has verified the reliability and validity of the interdisciplinary understanding instrument. In addition, the results of cluster analysis revealed that over half of the students could use some partially accurate scientific concepts and principles from two or more disciplinary perspectives to deal with a specific environmental issue. The validated instrument can provide insights for assessing and developing upper-secondary school students' interdisciplinary understanding in science education.

In Western society, teacher social recognition has been identified as an important factor for improving teaching and learning. Although there are currently instruments that measure teacher social recognition, they mainly address the Western conceptualization of recognition and rely on simplistic measurement schemes. Supporting teachers via recognition in Eastern societies--whose cultural values and societal structure differ from those of Western society--necessitates a measurement tool that reflects the unique context and social values of those teachers. This study describes the construction and validation of a Teacher Social Recognition Scale via factor analysis to develop an instrument that measures Chinese teachers' concept of social recognition. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Social support perceived by inclusive education teachers is seldom empirically investigated, and there are few tools to measure it. This research aims to develop a valid instrument to investigate inclusive education teachers' social support and to determine the current situation of such support in China. A total of 216 and 367 valid questionnaires from teachers in elementary and junior high inclusive education schools were collected in study 1 and study 2, respectively. The findings indicated that (1) Chinese inclusive education teachers' social support was represented by a four-factor model with high reliability and validity that included professional, emotional, administrative and material support; (2) teachers received mostly emotional support, followed by administrative support, material support, and then professional support; and (3) demographic variables such as age, length of service, academic qualification, training time, and establishment of a school resource room had significant influences on teachers' perceived social support. The study contributes to developing a conceptual framework and measurement instrument for Chinese inclusive education teachers' social support. It provides practical implications for the improvement of current Chinese teacher education programmes and the development of high-quality inclusive education.

Purpose: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, student engagement in online learning has been a critical issue for all educational institutions. The university student engagement inventory (USEI) is the most used scale for assessing the construct of student engagement. The present study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the USEI among 1504 Chinese university students who completed a survey through an online platform between December 2020 and January 2021. Design/methodology/approach: In this cross-sectional study, content validity, construct validity and reliability of the scale were assessed. Findings: The results supported the three-factor model with acceptable goodness of fit (X[superscript 2] (71) = 369.717, p = 0.13, X[superscript 2]/df = 5.207, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.967, normed fit index (NFI) = 0.960, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = 0.958, standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.030, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) (90% CI) = 0.053 [0.049, 0.057]), good internal consistency and construct reliability (Cronbach's alpha and omega coefficient >0.70) and strong convergent validity. Also, the measurement invariance was confirmed across gender. Originality/value: This study showed that the 3-factor structure of USEI with Chinese university students had good construct validity, internal consistency and reliability. It could help measure student engagement in online learning in China.

The effects of question or task complexity on second language speaking have traditionally been investigated using complexity, accuracy, and fluency measures. Response processes in speaking tests, however, may manifest in other ways, such as through nonverbal behavior. Eye behavior, in the form of averted gaze or blinking frequency, has been found to play an important role in regulating information in studies on human cognition, and it may therefore be an important subconscious signal of test question difficulty in language testing. In this study, 15 CEFR B2/C1-level-English learners took a Zoom-based English test with ten questions spanning six CEFR complexity levels. The participants' eye behaviors were recorded and analyzed between the moment the test question ended and the beginning of their response. The participants additionally provided self-report data on their perceptions of test-question difficulty. Results indicated that as test questions increased in difficulty, participants were more likely to avert their gaze from the interlocutor. They did not, however, blink more frequently as difficulty changed. These results have methodological implications for research on test validation and the study of nonverbal behavior in speaking tests.

As a replication in the Chinese context of previous aptitude testing validation studies, this research aims at exploring the validity of an interpreting aptitude test battery, composed of the Logical Memory Test (LMT), the Scale of Language Anxiety (SLA) and the Achievement Motivation Test (AMT), in the prediction of consecutive interpreting performance of Chinese interpreting trainees. A quasi-experimental and correlational research design was adopted. The aptitude test battery was administered at the beginning of the first semester for 48 post-graduate interpreting trainees, and English-Chinese (E-C) and Chinese-English (C-E) consecutive interpreting (CI) tests, used to measure the interpreting proficiency of the subjects, were conducted at the end of the semester. Scores from the aptitude tests and consecutive interpreting tests were subjected to parametric correlation analysis as well as multiple linear regression analysis. The results indicated that (a) the LMT scores enjoyed a statistically significant positive correlation with C-E CI; (b) the SLA scores had a statistically significant negative correlation with both E-C and C-E CI; (c) there was no statistically significant correlation between the AMT scores and CI in either direction. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to interpreting candidate screening and admission testing.

Sight translation has been widely used in aptitude testing to screen prospective trainee interpreters at leading interpreter training schools, including ESIT, ISIT, and EMCI. However, it has also been criticised for its lack of validity and reliability. No empirical study has thus far been conducted to explore its power to predict interpreting performance. To fill this gap, the present study adopts a data-driven approach to explore the predictive validity of sight translation for interpreting performance in both consecutive and simultaneous modes. A total of 33 graduate trainee interpreters (A language: Chinese; B language: English) enrolled in an interpreting programme of a leading Chinese university were tracked over the course of one and a half academic years. Two raters (A language: Chinese; B language: English) were asked to assess their performance based on the criteria of fidelity, language, and delivery. Statistical analyses suggest that, irrespective of language direction, the participants' performance in sight translation was not predictive of their performance in either consecutive or simultaneous interpreting. This study provides much-needed empirical evidence for the development, administration, and assessment of aptitude testing for interpreting and interpreter training at large.

Many Chinese universities are implementing an educational reform to transform their general English courses into academic English courses. Accordingly, how to assess students' English ability should also be reformed. In this test review, we introduce a school-based general academic English summative test developed by English instructors. An argument-based approach was adopted to analyze the test validity by obtaining students' test data and their reflective responses to the test. This review can provide a practical reference for the development of a valid general academic English summative test by including practices of course instructors and voices of students, two important test stakeholders, in test design.

Background: Engineers operate in an increasingly global environment, making it important that engineering students develop global engineering competency to prepare them for success in the workplace. To understand this learning, we need assessment approaches that go beyond traditional self-report surveys. A previous study (Jesiek et al., "Journal of Engineering Education" 2020; 109(3):1-21) began this process by developing a situational judgment test (SJT) to assess global engineering competency based in the Chinese context and administering it to practicing engineers. Purpose: We built on this previous study by administering the SJT to engineering students to explore what prior experiences related to their SJT performance and how their SJT performance compared with practicing engineers' performance on the SJT. Method: Engineering students completed a survey including the SJT and related self-report survey instruments. We collected data from three groups of students: those who had studied abroad in China; those who had studied abroad elsewhere; and those who had not studied abroad. Results: We found that students' SJT performance did not relate to their scores on the self-report instruments, but did relate to their participation in study abroad programs. The students also performed better on the SJT when compared to the practicing engineers. Conclusions: Our results highlight the need to use multiple forms of assessment for global engineering competence. Although building evidence for the validity of the Global Engineering Competency China SJT is an ongoing process, this data collection technique may provide new insights on global engineering competency compared to traditionally used assessments.

With a sample of 4,646 undergraduate students from four universities in China, this study examined the psychometric qualities of a newly-adapted measurement, namely, the Online Motivation and Engagement Scale for university and college students, and investigated the characteristics of and differences in Chinese students' motivation and engagement in emergent online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results supported the reliability and construct validity of the measurement, and identified four types of learners with distinctive features of student engagement. The research revealed a complex picture with promising and worrying messages about student engagement in emergency online learning during the pandemic. These findings contribute to the conceptualisation and measurement of student engagement in online learning, and provide insights for improving online learning and teaching during and beyond the pandemic.

Research Findings: This study aimed to explore parental satisfaction with Puhui early childhood education (ECE) service in China using evidence from a national validation study. The Parent Satisfaction with the Puhui Early Childhood Education Service Scale (PES) was developed and validated with 4,134 Chinese parents, who were sampled using a stratified cluster sampling method. First, an examination of the PES's psychometric properties indicated that it was a reliable and valid scale with three constructs: government responsibility, kindergarten responsibility, and children's development. Second, descriptive statistics revealed that Chinese parents were generally satisfied with the Puhui ECE service, being most satisfied with child development and least satisfied with government responsibility. Third, latent profile analysis generated three profiles: low, medium, and high satisfaction parents. Fourth, hierarchical regression analysis found that kindergarten rating and urbanicity were significant predictors of parent satisfaction. Practice or Policy: The findings imply that more policy attention should be paid to the quality and fairness of the Puhui ECE. Moreover, this study extends the research on parent satisfaction with ECE services and provides useful tools to evaluate universal ECE services in China and beyond.

This study developed and validated an instrument to investigate senior school students' understanding of electrostatics and provide a cognitive diagnostic assessment of their strengths and weaknesses on the related concepts (e.g., electric charge). The instrument included 20 four-tier multiple-choice items and the development process is organized around two activities: the development of the instrument and its validation. The development step defined the secondary concepts and designed the items using the misconceptions related to them. In the validation step, the instrument was applied to 1850 senior high school students from nine schools in two provinces in China, and the collected data were analyzed using the CDM package in R language. This step ensures that the diagnostic reports represent students' conceptual understanding reliably and validly by selecting the best model, analyzing item quality, overall test reliability, and the instrument's structure. The instrument can provide the percentage of students in the test population who possess certain combinations of concepts, the percentage of students in the test population possessing individual concepts, and the fine-grained size of concept proficiency information, which can be integrated as one completed report to issue to students, teachers, and parents to demonstrate students' status of conceptual understanding related to electrostatics. In addition, the construct induced from the diagnostic results can also be aggregated to the classroom, schools for instruction planning or low-stakes decision making, or infer a learning sequence.

Purpose: Principals' well-being worldwide is under increasing threat due to the challenging and complex nature of their work and growing demands. This paper aimed at developing and validating a multidimensional Principal Well-being Inventory (PWI) and examining the state and consequences of principal well-being. Design/methodology/approach: This paper involves four independent samples of principals working in schools from Hong Kong and Mainland China. The research design consisted of four phases with four sequential empirical studies. Phase 1 was to establish the content validity (literature review and Study 1); Phase 2 was to test the construct validity (Study 2 and Study 3); Phase 3 was to build the criterion validity (re-use the data from Study 3) and Phase 4 was to test the cross-validity of the PWI (Study 4). Findings: Based on published literature and four successive empirical studies, a 24-item PWI was created via a theoretical-empirical approach of test construction. Validity was confirmed through construct-, content-, criterion- and cross-validity testing. The PWI covers the six important well-being dimensions -- physical, cognitive, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual -- to present a general picture of principals' occupational well-being associated with job nature, well-being literacy, leadership and context. Research limitations/implications: The inventory will aid efforts to promote principal well-being as an essential component of schoolwide well-being, quality education and a wellness society. Practical implications: During the post-COVID-19 period, this project is deemed both critical and timely so that quality education will not be sacrificed due to factors affecting principal well-being. Originality/value: This theoretically and empirically validated inventory serves as a robust tool for comprehensively understanding principal well-being and a fuller exploration of their well-being literacy, drivers and outcomes.

The emergence of new media technologies has empowered individuals to not merely consume but also create, share and critique media contents. Such activities are dependent on new media literacy (NML) necessary for living and working in the participatory culture of the twenty-first century. Although a burgeoning body of research has focused on the conceptualization of NML, limited studies have explored English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' new media literacy. Considering the importance of NML for EFL learning and teaching, this quantitative study aims to develop and validate a research instrument for assessing EFL learners' new media literacy (ENML) in China. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to further examine the relationships among the different indicators of ENML. The sample consisted of 974 EFL learners (669 males, 305 females) from a comprehensive university in China. A comparison of the five proposed models indicated that all of them were acceptable, including a first-order model and four second-order models. The first-order model includes 10 indicators: consuming skill, understanding, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, prosuming skill, distribution, production, participation, and feedback. The other four second-order models describe the relationships among the 10 indicators of ENML. These results along with their implications for further research are also elaborated.

Preschool teachers' attitudes toward preschool inclusive education (PIE) greatly influence their inclusive education practice. However, few instruments in this area with sound psychometric properties are available for Chinese teachers. The current study aims to validate the Multidimensional Attitudes toward Preschool Inclusive Education Scale (MATPIES) in a Chinese sample and adapt it to the Chinese context (MATPIES-C). A total of 653 preschool teachers participated in this study. The results revealed that (1) the original three-factor structure of MATPIES was not supported by the Chinese sample, and a four-factor structure emerged instead; the derived factors were affective, behavioural, cognitive-arrangement and cognitive-significance. (2) MATPIES-C reported high reliability (reliability coefficients = 0.904, 0.921, 0.827, 0.831, respectively), and its convergent and discriminant validity were also verified. (3) Comparisons between scores from each sub-construct revealed that the preschool teachers presented mixed attitudes toward PIE and further supported the newly derived four-factor structure. Thus, MATPIES-C provides a sound foundation for future research on Chinese preschool teachers' attitudes toward PIE and can serve as evaluation indicators of PIE training programs for preschool teachers.

Intensive research attention has focused on developing students' evaluative judgement within the higher education curriculum, but little has addressed how it can be measured. The contextual nature of evaluative judgement makes it difficult to generate an encompassing instrument, highlighting the need for situated measurement tools. Against this background, this study develops and validates a self-report instrument to measure engineering students' evaluative judgement of intercultural competence. A total of 815 Chinese engineering students participated in the pilot and formal phases of validation. Following sequential exploratory-confirmatory factor analyses, the final instrument contains 27 items covering six dimensions. Validity and reliability evidence supports the correlated six-factor model and a higher-order factor model. The study provides educators and policymakers with a useful tool to understand students' development in their evaluative judgement of intercultural competence. More importantly, for students themselves, the instrument facilitates self-reflection and helps them achieve greater autonomy in directing their development and growth. Although the study adopts a situated approach to measure evaluative judgement, we also discuss the possibility of adapting this instrument for other judgement contexts.

Peer feedback activities are characterized by peers performing both roles of feedback provider and receiver, and peers are found to benefit from both roles. However, in current feedback literacy studies, the emphasis has been overwhelmingly given to students' understandings, capacities and dispositions in receiving feedback, and existing student feedback literacy scales measure only the receiving side of feedback literacy. Students learn from providing and what they provide fundamentally shapes what others receive. This study conceptualizes peer feedback literacy as students' capacities and attitudes in providing and receiving peer feedback, and developed and validated a peer feedback literacy scale on the basis of responses from 474 Chinese university students. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, and four factors emerged: feedback-related knowledge and abilities, cooperative learning ability, appreciation of peer feedback, and willingness to participate. The resulting scale showed good psychometric properties and revealed some surprising associations with student major, year and amount of prior experience.

This paper reports on the development and validation of the classroom assessment (CA) for self-regulated learning (SRL) Questionnaire (CASRLQ), a questionnaire intended to measure to what extent CA practices are SRL supportive. The original CASRLQ, consisting of 32 items to represent five SRL-supportive CA dimensions, was constructed and administered to a sample of 469 Grade 11 students. However, the preconceived structure was not supported. We then used the same dataset (split into two) to explore and verify a new factor structure employing exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The questionnaire was then revised. A new sample of 630 Grade 11 students were surveyed to confirm the structure of the revised questionnaire. The final form of the CASRLQ consisted of 28 items and addressed seven CA features: assessment tasks, student choice, self-assessment, peer-assessment, instruction, teacher feedback, and CA environment. The CASRLQ proved to be a reasonably reliable and valid instrument suitable for use in quantitative investigations on CA-SRL-related topics. It could also offer some guidance for teachers' CA practice.

In the current research, we developed and validated a questionnaire to measure Chinese working adults' motivation to study accounting on a path of lifelong learning in Hong Kong, China. We conducted individual in-depth interviews with adult learners (n = 30) and professionals (n = 12) in study 1 and study 2. Qualitative analysis showed six specific common themes for Chinese working adults' motivation to learn accounting. Based on these results and the research literature, we developed a list of 31 provisional items for the questionnaire. In Study 3, we administered the provisional questionnaire to students (N = 426) from sub-degree, undergraduate, and graduate programs. These data were analyzed using quantitative analysis. Exploratory factor analysis showed a six-dimensional structure. Removal of redundant items resulted in a 17-item questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence of the reliability and validity of this measure, which assesses six domains of adult learners' motivations for pursuing continuing education in accounting: development of knowledge and skills; family cohesion; reinforcement of social networking and communication; career development; enrichment of life; and self-development. This measure in the Chinese cultural context can be used for research purposes and for assessing students' motivation in accounting programs in Hong Kong.

Objective: This study was designed to produce a new parent-report measure, the Diagnostic Receptive Expressive Assessment of Mandarin-Infant Toddler Assessment of Communication and Language (DREAM-IT) in order to provide norms for the developmental skills of children aged 0-36 months in four areas: expressive language, receptive language, cognitive play and social skills. Methodology: The scale was designed to be both broader and deeper than existing instruments that neglect one or more of these significant domains involved in early language. Items were chosen by a group of specialists with clinical experience working with the age group and with attention to the developmental literature. Caregivers were tested individually by a trained person who asked the questions and provided examples. In addition to an extensive health questionnaire, caregivers answered questions in Mandarin about their child's behaviour using a scale of 'not yet', 'sometimes' or 'always' or listing out words and/or sounds understood or said by the child. The 476 participating caregivers were recruited at maternal and child healthcare clinics centred in Chengdu, China, 191 of whom were tested a second time seven months later. The children were sampled in three-month age-bands from 0 to 36 months. The sample was balanced for child gender by age band, and parental education was balanced. Caregivers of 0-24-month-old children and caregivers of 12-36 months were each asked a different set of questions, to determine the appropriate age range and cutoff points for each question, requiring the sample size to be doubled for children aged 12-24 months. Results: The results were subject to item-response theory analysis to remove outlying items, and the resulting internal reliability was high for each domain (average Cronbach's alpha=0.87). The final instrument (between 67 and 113 questions in total) was refined to include the least redundant questions that had the highest intercorrelations, with attention paid to coverage of all domains across the age range. Two scales were developed: one for children 0-18 months, the second for children aged 18-36 months. The longitudinal design permitted the creation of growth curves and norms for each domain for six-month intervals from 0 to 36 months. A small sample of 32 parents of children with Down syndrome aged 18-36 months provided validation that the scales are highly sensitive to developmental delay. Conclusion: The instrument shows considerable promise for detecting early communication problems in children in China.

The present study was executed with the purpose of validating ELT Certificate Lesson Observation and Report Task (ELTC-LORT), which was developed by China Language Assessment to certify China's EFL teachers by performance-based testing. The ELT Certificate has high-stakes considering its impacts on candidates' recruitment, ELT in China and quality of education, so it is crucially important for its validation so as to guarantee fairness and justice. The validity of task construct and rating rubric went through a process suited for many-facet Rasch measurement supplemented with qualitative interviews. Participants (N = 40) were provided with a video excerpt from a real EFL lesson, and required to deliver a report on the teacher's performance. Two raters graded the records of the candidates' reports using rating scales developed to measure EFL teacher candidates' oral English proficiency and ability to analyze and evaluate teaching. Many-facet Rasch analysis demonstrated a successful estimation, with a noticeable spread among the participants and their traits, proving the task functioned well in measuring candidates' performance and reflecting the difference of their ability. The raters were found to have good internal self-consistency, but not the same leniency. The rating scales worked well, with the average measures advancing largely in line with Rasch expectations. Semi-structured interviews as well as focus group interviews were executed to provide knowledge regarding the raters' performance levels and the functionalities of the rating scale items. The findings provide implications for further research and practice of the Certificate.