The Chinese assessment of physical literacy: Based on grounded theory paradigm for children in grades 3–6

Abstract

The aim of this study is to construct and validate “physical literacy self-assessment questionnaire” (PLAQ) for Chinese students in grades 3–6. This study uses qualitative and quantitative methods to construct evaluation indicators of PL and determine the weights of each indicator. The 60 items of original PLAQ was based on literature review and interviews, and administered to 1179 primary students graded 3–6 in China. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) are used to optimize the structure and verify the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. The model of PLAQ is composed of 4 first-level indicators, 10 second-level indicators and 35 third-level indicators. The results of EFA and CFA resulted in a 44-items, 4-factor questionnaire. EFA item loadings ranged from 0.558 to 0.896, and Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.818 to 0.892. The results of CFA show that the constructed model fits well, and PLAQ has good convergent validity and discriminative validity. The PLAQ appeared to be reliable and valid that can be used as an assessment tool for students in grades 3–6. PLAQ can be used as a guide for the development of PL. Additionally, PLAQ gives us a shared understanding about what PL is and how it can be developed by Chinese children. However, studies on the accuracy and generalizability of the PLAQ should be conducted to improve it in the future.

Validity, Reliability, and Feasibility of Physical Literacy Assessments Designed for School Children: A Systematic Review

“…After an exploratory factor analysis, 16 items with low loadings were deleted and 44 items were retained. A confirmatory factor analysis then confirmed the structure (physical competence, affective, knowledge and understanding, physical activity) of the 44 reduced items [ 35 ].…”

“…Five additional assessments that were not included in the prior reviews met our inclusion criteria. These include the Adolescent Physical Literacy Questionnaire (APLQ) [ 32 ], the Physical Literacy in Children Questionnaire (PL-C Quest) designed for primary school-aged children [ 33 , 34 ], the Physical Literacy self-Assessment Questionnaire (PLAQ) [ 35 ], and the Portuguese Physical Literacy Assessment Questionnaire (PPLA-Q) designed for adolescents in Grades 10–12 (aged 15–18 years) [ 36 , 37 ]. One PhD thesis was also identified; Dong [ 38 ] developed the Perceptions of Physical Literacy for Middle-School Students (PPLMS).…”

“…The PLAQ (one article located [ 35 ]) used a grounded theory approach with students, parents, teachers, and experts to develop their physical literacy evaluation indicators for Chinese children in Grades 3–6, but they did not report a literature review; therefore, this was rated as partially meeting evidence for test content [ 35 ]. Internal structure was investigated using a factor analysis in a large sample ( n = 1179) of Chinese children from randomly selected primary schools [ 35 ]. After an exploratory factor analysis, 16 items with low loadings were deleted and 44 items were retained.…”

“…If they choose the printable handout, they will have to transfer the results to each student’s individual account.” “For each fitness item, teachers simultaneously assessed as many students as they deemed feasible” [ 27 ] “.. most prevalent administrative concern was amount of class time spent completing PFL with 43% reporting that it took an unreasonable amount of time” [ 27 ] “teacher resources were useful, relevant, and easy to use and access, easy to register students and enter and interpret data and results in online system” [ 52 ] “Teachers’ lowest ratings (45%) were that PFL assessments—especially those for movement and fitness skills—took a reasonable amount of time to complete (on average 4–6 classes) “ [ 52 ] 6. PLAQ NR Seated survey N/A NR Available in paper [ 35 ] Pen and paper Physical Literacy Assessment for Youth instruments (PLAY) 7. Basic < 5 min [ 28 ] Skills assessment Pylons (cones) Large wall, tennis ball, soccer ball Based on experienced assessor [ 28 ] Freely available https://play.physicalliteracy.ca/play-tools/playbasic Pen and paper “If the teacher was looking for a physical literacy score and administered the entire test, it would be extremely time consuming” [ 53 ] Online assessment requires students to be enrolled electronically in system [ 53 ] 8.…”

Development and validation of Child-Friendly School Environment Questionnaire from Chinese culture

“…The main category was extracted by merging the initial categories with the same concept connotation. Additionally, the initial category was the merging of the initial concepts with the same connotation ( Wang and Fu, 2022 ). The results of keyword extraction and categorization were displayed in Table 2 .…”