On the Construct Validity of the Persian Version of Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Scale: The Case of Iran

Teacher efficacy may relate to their effectiveness in terms of class management, instructional strategies, and student achievement. Some questionnaires have been used to capture teachers' efficacy. The most frequently used one is the Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Scale. The study examined the construct validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Scale (POSTES) with an available sample of 536 Iranian teachers of English. Their age ranged from 20 to 64 years. The data, ordinal in nature, were submitted to Bayesian confirmatory factor analysis, as computed in AMOS. Convergence Statistic (CS) was 1.0008, which was well below 1.002, the critical value, thereby demonstrating construct validity of the instrument. The reliability of the scale turned out to be high (α = .94). Given the fact that POSTES was both valid and reliable, it is safe to hold that this questionnaire is useful for obtaining information regarding Iranian English teachers' sense of self-efficacy.