K-12 English teachers' ChatGPT-based digital literacy : scale development and validation

Abstract

Recent research underscores the vital role of English teachers in AI-assisted English teaching, yet elementary and secondary school English teachers' digital literacy using ChatGPT for instruction remains largely unexplored. This present research attempted to construct and validate a measurement to evaluate K-12 English teachers' ChatGPT-based digital literacy (ETCDL), addressing the lack of instruments that consider the unique features of English instruction at the primary and secondary schools and the characteristics of ChatGPT-assisted instruction. Drawing on the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, as well as the Digital Literacy of Teachers framework, this research contained 288 Chinese prospective and in-service English instructors. Psychometric analysis, involving confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling, validated the reliable 19-item ETCDL scale with four dimensions. The ETCDL scale provides researchers and educators with an effective tool to assess K-12 English teachers' digital literacy in ChatGPT-enhanced contexts, with domain- and context-specific items.