Validation of a scale to assess multiple document comprehension teaching and testing practices in English in bilingual middle schools.

Abstract

Nowadays, literacy is far from only knowing how to write and read, it extends to a process of“meaning-making”, mostly present in secondary and post-secondary school as stated by Colombi & Schleppegrel (2002). Due to the extensive number of texts and information that students are required to read in secondary and post-secondary contexts, multiple-documents literacy has been added to the catalogue of competencies students are to develop. In Mexico, multiple document comprehension has been present in the middle school curriculum since 2011 (Secretaría de Educación Pública [SEP], 2011b); thus, the need to integrate it to bilingual instruction. Overall, the importance of multiple document literacy is not equal to the amount of research that has been done on the topic, particularly when it comes to its application in bilingual middle schools and in relation to teaching and evaluation practices. The general objective of this study is to design and validate a scale to assess multiple document comprehension teaching and testing practices of teachers at bilingual middle schools. The study describes the design and validation of the scale based on the methodology proposed by Santaolària and Doval (2003). The Sociocognitive Interactive Model of Ruddel and Unrau (1994) and the Document Model Theory (Perfetti, Rouett, and Britt, 1999) functioned as the main theories to support the dimensions of the scales. The participants of the validation of the scale were 293 middle school teachers from schools located in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. This study provides a data collection instrument to an area of study that has scarcely been explored in Mexico and Latin America.