Curriculum translation and environmental education: considering issues of discursive intentionality, interpretation, and validity

We would like to thank our commentators Reis, Ercikan and Alper for their insightful comments on our research study and respond in brief to a few of their criticisms. More specifically, we would like to address what we consider to be the three main issues they raise with regard to the practices of curriculum translation and implementation across languages, namely viewing speakers’ intentions as a mode of signification in discourse analysis, exploring curriculum translation through an interpretive research approach, and establishing the validity of research on curriculum translation.

Interpersonal teacher behaviour in primary school classrooms: A cross-cultural validation of a Greek translation of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction

The present study investigated the psychometric properties of a Greek translation of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction Primary (G-QTIP). A sample of 273 primary school students from 17 Grade 5 and 6 classes in Cyprus public schools, as well as their teachers, participated in the study. Students completed a self-report questionnaire consisting of demographic questions and the G-QTIP. Teachers also rated students’ academic achievement in language and mathematics. The study also investigated the effects of students’ demographics and academic achievement on their perceptions. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the a priori structure of the instrument, but with a reduced number of items and with the removal of the Uncertain scale. In general, the G-QTIP is valid and reliable for use in Greek-speaking contexts.     

Exploring the validity of a teachers’ self-efficacy scale in five countries

The purpose of this article was twofold. The first purpose was to test the validity of the Teachers’ Sense of Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) in five settings—Canada, Cyprus, Korea, Singapore, and the United States. The second purpose was, by extension, to establish the importance of the teacher self-efficacy construct across diverse teaching conditions. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to better understand the measurement invariance of the scale across countries, after which the relationship between the TSES, its three factors, and job satisfaction was explored. The TSES showed convincing evidence of reliability and measurement invariance across the five countries, and the relationship between the TSES and job satisfaction was similar across settings. The study provides general evidence that teachers’ self-efficacy is a valid construct across culturally diverse settings and specific evidence that teachers’ self-efficacy showed a similar relationship with teachers’ job satisfaction in five contrasting settings.     

双评作文题网上阅卷评卷教师评卷水平评价维度的确定

本文基于对北京高考某学科网上阅卷数据分析的基础上,提出从六个维度,对评卷教师的评卷水平进行度量。这六个维度是掌握标准宽严、趋中-发散偏好、有效度、主客观相关、考核成绩和速度。并且为对教师做出一个整体评价,对六个维度的如何进行加合提供一定的建议。     

新课改背景下教学有效性的评判依据及时代价值

对有效教学的研究具有重要的教学理论意义和现实针对性,教学有效性作为其最终目标是一个动态的不断发展的价值判断体系,在新课程改革背景下有新的时代价值,同时教学有效性的价值取向也在不断的完善与发展,是新的教学观确立的助推器、有利于师生关系的重构、有助于聚焦学生的成长和发展、有助于实现教师文化的创造、有利于促进教师的专业化发展。     

On Measures of Message Elaboration in Narrative Communication

This study assesses and compares two forms of measurement instrument for message elaboration in narrative communication research: self-report vs. thought-listing. The validity of the two forms was investigated in a nomological network consisting of need for cognition, message sensation value, identification, transportation, parasocial interaction, risk perception, and behavioral intention. Reliability was also examined. Results showed that the self-report form might be better when the focus was on entertainment-related information, while the thought-listing form might be more advantageous for persuasive information. Implications for narrative communication and future research were discussed.     

Measurement of emotional/psychological child maltreatment: a review

Background

Emotional/psychological child maltreatment (ECM) is a major public health problem with serious consequences including emotional and behavioral problems. Nevertheless, ECM is an understudied area.

Objectives

The aims of this review are to identify measures of ECM and to evaluate their psychometric properties and utilities. We provide a summary of ECM measures that have been tested for their reliability and validity, evaluate the quality of these assessments and suggest directions for future research.

Methods

We searched PsycINFO and Medline databases from 2000 to 2010 in addition to a hand search of retrieved references; 2344 were identified and the abstracts reviewed independently by two authors to identify relevant articles. Using pre-established criteria, 144 of those articles were selected and reviewed in full to assess whether the instruments included a separate measure of ECM and its psychometric properties.

Results

Forty-five articles examining 33 measures met the inclusion criteria and were selected for further review. The majority of measures demonstrated acceptable reliability; fewer measures had evaluated one or more types of validity.

Conclusion

Both reliability and validity testing are required in order to establish more accurate measures of ECM.

Practice implications

Reliable and valid measures are necessary to enhance our limited knowledge about the distribution, determinants and consequences of ECM.     

Sensitivity of test items to teaching quality

Instructional sensitivity is the psychometric capacity of tests or single items of capturing effects of classroom instruction. Yet, current item sensitivity measures’ relationship to (a) actual instruction and (b) overall test sensitivity is rather unclear. The present study aims at closing these gaps by investigating test and item sensitivity to teaching quality, reanalyzing data from a quasi-experimental intervention study in primary school science education (1026 students, 53 classes, M_age = 8.79 years, SD_age = 0.49, 50% female). We examine (a) the correlation of item sensitivity measures and the potential for cognitive activation in class and (b) consequences for test score interpretation when assembling tests from items varying in their degree of sensitivity to cognitive activation. Our study (a) provides validity evidence that item sensitivity measures may be related to actual classroom instruction and (b) points out that inferences on teaching drawn from test scores may vary due to test composition.     

初级汉语口语测验题型研究

本研究考察适合初级汉语学习者的口语测验题型。从口语能力构想、测验组织方式和考生水平三个方面选择题型,并通过实测来评价题型的适用性、信度和效度。本文通过教师问卷调查的形式最终确定了快速问答、图片比较、听后复述和看图说话四种题型,并编制测验对223名学习汉语半年至一年的留学生进行了实测。结果表明,四种题型均具有较好的评分信度和效度,其中快速问答的表面效度和共时效度最高,听后复述相对较差。考查词、短语和句子层面的题型比考查语段层面的题型更加适合初级汉语学习者,特别是只学习了半年的学生。研究结果还表明,从半年到一年的学习阶段是学生成段表达能力发展的关键阶段,应加以引导和培养。     

Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) among undergraduates and depressive patients

ObjectiveThe Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) is a self-report questionnaire that retrospectively provides screening for a history of childhood abuse and neglect, and which is widely used throughout the world. The current study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the CTQ-SF.MethodsParticipants included 3431 undergraduates from Hunan provinces and 234 depressive patients from psychological clinics. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to examine how well the original five-factor model fit the data and the measurement equivalence of CTQ-SF across gender. Internal consistency was also evaluated.ResultsThe five-factor model achieved satisfactory fit (Undergraduate sample TLI = 0.925, CFI = 0.936, RMSEA = 0.034, SRMR = 0.046; depressive sample TLI = 0.912, CFI = 0.923, RMSEA = 0.044, SRMR = 0.062). Measurement invariance of the five-factor model across gender was supported fully assuming different degrees of invariance. The CTQ-SF also showed acceptable internal consistency and good stability.ConclusionThe current study provides that the Chinese version of the Childhood Trauma questionnaire-short form has good reliability and validity among Chinese undergraduates and depressive samples, which also indicates that the CTQ-SF is a good tool for child trauma assessment.