DEVELOPMENT, VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF DEEP READING ABILITY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS

Abstract

This study describes the development, validity, and reliability processes of a Deep Reading Ability Questionnaire (DRAQ) for primary school pupils in English reading. An instrument with 30 items for measuring deep reading ability was developed and validated using item response data from three experts, 10 primary school teachers, and thirty primary school pupils in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China. The DRAQ consists of three dimensions (inferential, critical, and creative reading skills), with each dimension consists of 10 questions. Pupils responded on a five-point Likert scale (from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”) in order to effectively assess their deep reading skills. Item analysis was carried out to ensure content and face validity, followed by a reliability assessment measuring internal consistency using Cronbach’s Alpha. Content validity was confirmed by three experts in English education with a mean item-level content validity index (I-CVI) of 0.94. Ten non-English subject teachers also affirmed the clarity of all items, supporting face validity. A pilot study with 30 pupils indicated excellent internal consistency (α = 0.997). The DRAQ instrument reported in this study will be utilised in the real study to assess primary school pupils’ deep reading ability in English reading. These results underscore the robustness of the DRAQ for evaluating complex reading skills at the primary level. The DRAQ instrument developed can also serve to examine students’ deep reading skills in different subjects by replacing the English reading material with material from the other subject.