Development and validation of the Teacher Multiliteracies Scale (TMS) for English language teacher education

In education's evolving landscape, traditional concepts of literacy are insufficient for addressing modern life's multifaceted demands. Thus, multiliteracy has emerged as essential for contemporary educators. However, current tools often focus narrowly on individual literacy components, failing to provide holistic assessment of multiliteracies, especially in English language teacher education. Despite recognition of multiliteracies' importance, development of validated instruments designed to measure these competencies among pre-service English language teachers shows a notable gap. This study aimed to develop and validate the Teacher Multiliteracies Scale (TMS), a comprehensive measurement instrument to assess pre-service English language teachers' multiliteracies. The TMS encompasses four dimensions: multimodal, digital, critical, and socio-cultural literacies and was developed through a rigorous process involving literature review, expert validation, and pilot testing. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed a four-factor structure, demonstrating strong construct validity. The TMS showed high reliability, with Cronbach's alpha values ranging from 0.954 to 0.980 across dimensions. The study successfully developed and validated the TMS, thus providing a reliable, valid tool for assessing pre-service English language teachers' multiliteracies. Results highlight the TMS's potential to enhance teacher education programs by offering a comprehensive evaluation of essential literacies in the English language education context. TMS implementation in teacher education programs can promote a holistic approach to literacy education, equipping future educators with the necessary competencies to navigate and teach in a digitally and culturally diverse world. The instrument can further serve as a foundation for future research and development in multiliteracies education. • We developed the Teacher Multiliteracies Scale (TMS) for pre-service English language teachers. • TMS assesses multimodal, digital, critical, and socio-cultural literacies. • Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed strong construct validity. • The scale demonstrated high reliability with Cronbach's alpha from 0.954 to 0.980. • TMS offers a holistic evaluation to improve literacy education in English language contexts.