Design and validation of a questionnaire for the measurement of students' perceptions of intercultural practices within bilingual secondary schools in the european context

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, Spain, and Poland, among others). As a major conclusion, we can state that this questionnaire can be used as a tool for two research goals: (1) the identification of good intercultural school practices in BE, and (2) the development of relevant guidelines for the incorporation of intercultural education into BE.