Factor Structure, Measurement Invariance, and Nomological Network of Teaching Presence in Online Foreign Language Education

Though online learning has gained popularity in foreign language (FL) education, there is a lack of measurement tools with robust psychometric properties to comprehensively assess the quality of online FL instruction. This study explored the factor structure and measurement invariance of teaching presence in the framework of Community of Inquiry (CoI), a critical construct to understand instructors' responsibilities in precipitating and facilitating successful online learning. Data was collected from 564 college-level online learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL). Results of exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis supported a five-factor structure of teaching presence, including <i>design and organization</i>, <i>facilitating discourse</i>, <i>direct instruction</i>, <i>assessment and feedback</i>, and <i>technological support</i>. Further evidence was also found to support the internal consistency and convergent validity of the derived factor structure of teaching presence. The nomological validity of the developed scale was established with the positive relationships between each subcomponent of teaching presence and online interaction (learner-instructor interaction, learner-learner interaction, learner-content interaction, and learner-technology interaction). Multi-group CFA indicated strict measurement invariance of the 27-item teaching presence scale across gender, age, and prior online experience. The findings extended the theoretical strengths of the teaching presence construct into FL education and highlighted its important role in fostering interactive online FL learning environments. Furthermore, the developed teaching presence scale can serve as an effective tool for future teacher educators and practitioners to evaluate instructional quality from the learners' perspective, thereby ensuring meaningful online FL learning experiences.