Development and Validation of the Language Barrier Scale for Primary School Students

Abstract

This study aims to develop a scale which examines difficulties that migrant and refugee students face in the primary school period, the initial stages of their involvement in education process, and in other saying the possibility of communication difficulties that students are exposed to at school through distinction mechanisms. As a result of the questionnaire applied to 271 teachers totally with the simple random sampling method, the reliability of the measurement method was found to be 0.961. As a result of the Explanatory Factor Analysis, it was seen that 39 items constitute a 4-factor (Deprivation, Labeling, Exclusion and Acceptance). Then, the data were compiled by applying the scale to 112 teachers again for Confirmatory Factor Analysis. According to the findings it was determined that the goodness of fit values was at a good level, and the factor structure was validated. The study concluded that “language- related difficulties” and “language barrier” are two different phenomena. In order to understand the language barrier as a phenomenon that, gives continuity to language-related difficulties, there is a need for a perspective that puts the student at the center and evaluates them within their own conditions. And in this context, a perspective that questions the performance-based climate of the school needed, too.