Teachers’ Classroom Interactional Competence: Scale Development and Validation

Abstract

Interactional competence has recently gained considerable attention in language education. As an aspect of this competence, classroom interactional competence has been in the limelight since Walsh’s (2006) delineation of this concept. However, there is no survey tool to measure teachers’ classroom interactional competence. To bridge this gap, the present study describes the development and validation of a teachers’ classroom interactional competence (TCIC) scale. An outline of the relevant literature related to classroom interactional competence is provided, along with the process of scale development and validation. An exploratory factor analysis of the data from a large sample of language teachers (N = 564) resulted in a 46-item scale that constituted nine factors, namely visual organizers, sociocultural interaction, questioning, interactional patterns, repair, language modification, turn taking, managerial interaction, and rhetorical script. The implications of the scale for the measurement and, in turn, the enhancement of teachers’ classroom interactional competence are discussed.