Determining the Psychometric Properties of the Scale for Preschool Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Competence in Language Teaching to Immigrant Children

The increasing immigrant population in different countries necessitates such measurement tools to identify teachers’ professional development needs and enhance educational success for immigrant children. This study aims to develop a scale to determine Turkish preschool teachers’ perceptions of their competence in teaching Turkish to Russian and Ukrainian immigrant children. The developed scale consists of four sub-dimensions: general language teaching, subject knowledge, teaching in multicultural classrooms, and collaboration with parents. Initially comprising 76 items, the scale draft was reviewed for construct validity based on expert and teacher feedback. After necessary revisions, researchers administered the scale to 672 teachers via Google Forms and analyzed the data. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) revealed a four-factor structure explaining 61.88% of the total variance. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) validated the EFA results and showed high model fit indices. The internal consistency coefficient for the entire scale was very high, and reliability analyses supported the scale’s validity. The final version consists of 72 items formatted as 5-point Likert-type statements that can effectively measure preschool teachers’ competence in language teaching to immigrant children and contribute to professional development programs. The scale’s significance lies in its comprehensive approach to measuring teachers’ competencies in teaching language to immigrant children during a critical period of language development. It considers not only language teaching skills but also cultural sensitivity, subject knowledge, and parent collaboration. The findings have implications for teacher education programs, policy development in multicultural education, and the design of targeted professional development interventions for educators working with immigrant populations.