An Analysis of the internal and external structure of the Teacher Assessment Literacy Questionnaire

Assessment literacy refers to teachers' knowledge and skills in educational assessment. It is a prerequisite for sound assessment practices of student learning in the classroom. In an attempt to quantify teachers' assessment literacy, Plake and Impara (1992) developed Teacher Assessment Literacy Questionnaire (TALQ) consisting of 35 multiple-choice items related to basic concepts and principles in educational assessment. This study analyzed the internal and external structure of the TALQ. The internal structure was explored through item analysis and reliability analysis. The external structure was explored through confirmatory factor analysis, regression analysis, and correlational analysis. Preservice teachers (N = 259) enrolled in an educational measurement course at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman completed the TALQ. The item analysis showed that the TALQ was effective in discriminating between the different levels of the preservice teachers' assessment literacy. The scores of the TALQ had an adequate internal consistency reliability coefficient. The confirmatory factor analysis suggested that the TALQ measures a unitary construct of the assessment literacy. Regression analysis showed that gender, attitude toward educational measurement, and self-perceived confidence in educational measurement collectively and significantly correlated with assessment literacy. A significant positive relationship was also found between TALQ's scores and academic achievement scores in the course. Percentile ranks were extracted as norms for the raw scores of the sample on the TALQ. These results indicate that the TALQ provides valid and reliable score interpretations of the assessment literacy of the preservice teachers in Oman.