Design and Validation of a Questionnaire for the Measurement of Students’ Perceptions of Intercultural Practices within Bilingual Secondary Schools in the European Context

María-Elena Gómez-Parra; Irina  Golubeva; Roberto Espejo Mohedano

doi:10.17323/jle.2021.11516

María-Elena Gómez-Parra Universidad de Córdoba https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7870-3505
Irina Golubeva University of Maryland Baltimore County https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8505-1047
Roberto Espejo Mohedano Universidad de Córdoba https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6592-3509

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2021.11516

Keywords: bilingual education, classroom research, intercultural practices, Delphi method, research methodology

Abstract

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.

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Author Biographies

Irina Golubeva, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Irina Golubeva is an Associate Professor of Intercultural Communication at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Baltimore MD, USA). She graduated in Teaching Spanish and English Languages and Literatures, and holds a PhD in Language Sciences. Irina Golubeva has been working for more than 25 years in the education sector in various positions, including 10 years of experience as international coordinator and head of university international affairs. She teaches and publishes in four languages: English, Hungarian, Russian and Spanish. Her main research interests concern the development of multilingual awareness and intercultural competence through participation in study abroad exchange, internationalisation of higher education, and conceptualization of active intercultural citizenship. She is strongly committed to non-profit work, and served for seven years as a vice-president of the European Association of Teachers.

Roberto Espejo Mohedano, Universidad de Córdoba

Roberto Espejo Mohedano graduated in Mathematical Sciences with a major in Statistics and holds a PhD in Computer Science (computational statistics). He is a Professor at the University of Córdoba and he has worked for 27 years as a University lecturer in several engineering programmes. He has been the academic coordinator of the university degree programmes in computer engineering for 5 years, and he has participated in various processes of curricula creation in the Polytechnic School at the University of Córdoba (Spain). He has publications in impact journals in the area of applied statistics, and he has also coordinated numerous projects on educational innovation. His research is mainly focused on teaching innovation, distance education (e-learning) and applied statistics.

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