مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - A VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY STUDY OF “THE LISTENING STRATEGIES FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS SCALE”

Abstract :

The aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable assessment tool to determine middle school students use of pre-listening, listening and post-listening strategies. The skill of listening requires a training process, and it is necessary to be informed about this process to make listening a habit. The listening process includes three stages which are pre-listening, listening and post-listening. The study was conducted with 400 middle school students (fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth graders). Initially, the researcher created the items, consulted expert opinion (content reliability) and performed a pilot test. Then total item correlation analysis as well as explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted in addition to Cronbach s alpha analysis, which tested the reliability of the scale. The analyses determined that the scale consisted of 47 items and three factors. The scale explained 45.335 % of the total variance. The eigenvalue was 15.933 for the first factor, 3.213 for the second factor and 2.162 for the third factor. The Cronbach s alpha internal consistency coefficient of the entire scale was .956. Regarding its sub-dimensions, the scale was found to have a Cronbach s alpha internal consistency coefficient of .930 in the first factor, .914 in the second factor, and .830 in the third factor, which shows that the scale is reliable. The analysis indicated that the factor loads of this three-factor scale were between .720 and .452 for the first factor, .724 and .463 for the second factor and .661 and .510 in the third factor. The factor analysis showed that the factor loads of the items in these three factors were 0.45 or higher. The fit indices of the scale were: RMSEA=.060, CFI= .95, IFI= .95, GFI= .94, AGFI= .90 and SRMR= .081. The values found by these analyses show that the Listening Strategies For Middle School Students Scale is a valid and reliable tool that can be used to determine middle school students pre-listening, listening and post-listening strategies.