Inclusive teaching practices in bilingual education (IT-BE) in Spanish monolingual regions: design and validation of an assessment tool

Abstract

[EN]This paper describes the process followed for designing and validating an instrument for assessing the degree of inclusion within the teaching practices of English/Spanish bilingual instruction at the primary school level. The relevance of this tool, designed to be applied in monolingual regions of Spain, is justified by the need to understand the strategies that teachers use to offer an education that responds to the needs and characteristics of all students. An initial version, comprising 34 items, was subjected to a content analysis that resulted in a tool consisting of 27 items divided into 6 dimensions: Methodology, Linguistic aspects, Materials and resources, Groupings, Collaboration among teachers and families, and Assessment. The resulting questionnaire was administered to a pilot sample of 218 in-service primary school teachers. The internal consistency analysis reported a high reliability index of.905 and construct validity, through a confirmatory factor analysis, established a good fit of the model (RMR 0.01, GIF .0954). In conclusion, the Inclusive Teaching Practices in Bilingual Education (IT-BE) questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the difficulties involved in implementing inclusive teaching practices in bilingual education.