FACTOR ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER LEARNING SCALE FOR ASSESSING PHARMACY GRADUATES LANGUAGE COMPETENCIES

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/glr.2020(V-I).20      10.31703/glr.2020(V-I).20      Published : Mar 2020
Authored by : IqbalAhmad , M.Anees Ul HusnainShah , MuhammadArslanRaheem

20 Pages : 186-198

    Abstract

    The English Language Teacher Learning Scale (ELTLS) has been tested in different academic fields worldwide. However, there is no evidence about its validation in Pakistan. This study reports on validation of ELTLS in Pakistan. The 49 items scale was tested on a sample of 112 teachers from pharmacy departments. The process of validation consisted of two stages. First, the scale was piloted to check reliability Second. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify the factor structure of the scale. The four factors are teacher cognition, teacher emotion, teacher motivation, and contextual variables. The Principal Component Analysis was applied with orthogonal Varimox rotation method to test the four-factor scale. The results provided evidence for the reliability and validity of the scale. Hence, the scale may be used for assessing language teaching and learning among teachers and students in the field of pharmacy. It is recommended that ELTLS may be tested in other contexts.

    Key Words

    English Language Teaching, Higher Education, Exploratory Analysis, Psychometric Testing

    Introduction

    Effective communication is one of the most sought after and essential professional skills needed for individuals to be successful in the current 21st-century job market (Hulme, Snowling, West, Lervåg, & Melby-Lervåg, 2020). Pharmacy graduates also need to have quality language skills to perform better in the current competitive pharmacy professionals (Grabowski, 2015; Mesquita et al., 2010; Wallman, Vaudan, & Sporrong, 2013). The importance of English Language Teaching-learning cannot be disregarded in the reformation and development of language skills among pharmacy graduates (Cook, 2016; Stanley & Murray, 2013). Hence, the importance of using English language competency is very much focused on current pharmaceutical settings (Wallman et al., 2013). However, despite this realization, little evidence exists pertaining to psychometric validation of the ELTLS instrument in the field of pharmacy. Psychometric validation means validating a measuring instrument and assessing the reliability and validity of the measurement (Lee & Drajati, 2019; Oxford & Burry-Stock, 1995). The psychometric properties of a measuring instrument relate to the construction and validation of the assessment instrument. In this study, psychometric properties of an instrument are the reliability and validity of the assessment instrument used to evaluate the perspectives of principals, teachers and students in VTIs of Pakistan. The current study addresses this gap by assessing the psychometric features in the field of pharmacy education. The current existing adds to literature related to the context of language teaching and learning by extending the application of ELTLS into the context of pharmacy education. 

    The existing research on English language teaching and learning in relation to pharmacy education does not include established scales, and it only assessed one aspect of student language development such as attitude towards patients (Adrian, Zeszotarski, & Ma, 2015; Coroban, 2019; Mesquita et al., 2010).

    To remedy this gap, some researchers have used different scales in different social science fields for assessing the abilities of students about learning of English language skills(Echeverri, Brookover, & Kennedy, 2013; Syakur, Zainuddin, & Hasan, 2020).  However, these researchers argue that the scale results cannot be generalized to different socio-economic background, cultural contexts due to variations in language teaching and learning outcomes and experiences (Al-Sobhi & Preece, 2018; Tenney, Paiva, & Wang, 2020). Majority of the existing research studies related to the application of scales for assessing language teaching and learning have generally been limited to the traditional social sciences field.  These measures do not effectively cover the issues of language teaching, and learning in the field of pharmacy education rather covered alternative instructional delivery. Even the alternative did not include pharmacy concepts in the relation of language learning and teaching (Adrian et al., 2015; Dang, Truong, & Wade, 2019; Syakur, Junining, & Mubarok, 2020). This study specifically contributes to this gap by validating the ELTLS instrument for assessing the English language teaching and learning outcomes of students and also the factors influencing language teaching and learning implementation in the field of pharmacy education from developing country perspective. The results of this study contribute to the knowledge base of language teaching and learning research and the future design and implementation of language teaching practices. In contrast to previous studies which focused on the perspectives of students or teachers, this current study included both participants’ perspectives for the purpose of effectively addressing the long-standing gap in the methodological issues of English language teaching and learning in the field of pharmacy education by using valid measures developed to assess the perspectives of teachers and students in pharmacy institutes of higher education of Pakistan.

    Literature Review

    Developing an instrument representing different characteristics of teacher learning in ELT context for the current pharmacy education is important. There is a need to provide better language development opportunities for pharmacy graduates to enable them to perform as quality medical professionals(Kimberlin, 2006; Luiz Adrian, Zeszotarski, & Ma, 2015). Many studies have reported the application of different language-related scales to measure the students’ performance level in pharmacy (Bradshaw, Tomany-Korman, & Flores, 2007; Dilworth, Mott, & Young, 2009; Schwappach, Massetti, & Gehring, 2012). However, there is a lack of highly validated and reliable scales which could assess language teaching skills of the pharmacy graduates in the field of pharmacy. This issue exists in Pakistan, which possesses a large pharmacy industry. Hence, there is a need to develop and validate ELT related tools in the field of pharmacy. Furthermore, for the purpose of compensating the lack of an existing tool for measuring student’ language learning in ELT context, the existing tools need to be improvised and validated for assessing teacher learning in ELT in pharmacy education. Developing instrument and ensuring its reliability and validity is a challenging task in psychometric researchers (Aliakbari & Malmir, 2017; Hartmann & Siegrist, 2018). Standardized scales are important measuring tools for obtaining necessary information about service-learning implementation, programme evaluation and outcomes (Delgado-Ballester, Munuera-Aleman, & Yague-Guillen, 2003; Gagné et al., 2010). They can be easily coded and analysed. An important point about a questionnaire is related to its validity and reliability that how it measures students’ attitudes and skills and how accurately do students do self-evaluation on the basis of the questionnaire and its constructs (Crutzen & Peters, 2017; Gagné et al., 2015).

    In short, the above discussion and analysis of existing literature show that there is a lack of systematically developed instrument to test English Language Teacher Learning Scale in pharmacy context, especially in Pakistan. For a better understanding of the impact of language teaching to pharmacy graduates and their language learning experiences, it is essential to develop an instrument that helps in exploring the issues, factors and barriers to the application of such scales and their validation in pharmacy field. Researchers argue that good instruments help in identifying key beliefs, attitudes and perceptions on the target experiences(Breaugh & Colihan, 1994; Silva, do Céu Taveira, Marques, & Gouveia, 2015).  The discussion given above shows that most of the existing scales available are either developed in the developed world context or does not properly cover all the psychometric principles of scale development in terms of reliability and validity. Although there were some existing measures developed by earlier researchers in the field of pharmacy to capture language learning experiences of learners, however, these measures focused either on language learning outcomes from students’ perspective in the developed world context. These measures lacked the ability to measure the evidence for its use in pharmacy context, which is an important area—the existing scales which did not effectively meet the requirements of this study.


    Research Objectives

    1. To validate the four-factor structure of the English Language Teacher Learning Scale (ELTLS) through exploratory factor analysis.

    2. To determine the reliability of the scale in the context of the pharmacy field.

    Methods and Materials

    Sample

    This descriptive survey study was designed for assessing the ELTLS in the context of the pharmaceutical setting of Pakistan.  For data collection, all teachers from pharmacy departments of universities from all over Pakistan were approached out of which 112 teachers showed a willingness to participate in the study by giving sharing their perceptions through a survey questionnaire distributed to them. The participants were informed about the purpose, and the objectives of the study and their consent were also obtained prior to data collection.

     

    Measure

    The English Language Teacher Learning Scale (ELTLS) was used for data collection. The scale consisted of 50 items and four sub-scales, as shown in Table 1.

     

    Table 1. Sub-Scales of ELTLS

    S. No

    Sub-scales

    Number of items

    1

    Subscale one

    Ten items

    2

    Subscale two

    Ten items

    3

    Subscale three

    Eleven items

    4

    Subscale four

    Nineteen items

     

    Total

    Fifty items

     

    Data Screening

    Skewness and kurtosis tests were conducted to check the data normality(Doherty, Mitchell, & O'Neill, 2011). The value of kurtosis for the items was within an acceptable range of ?3?, and the value of skewness was also greater than?8? which was also within the acceptable range (Das & Imon, 2016; White, 2003). In addition, we also applied Shapiro-Wilk test to further ensure the normality of data which showed 0.92, p >.05, indicating a normal distribution in the groups. No prominent issue was found in the data.

     

    Reliability and Validity 

    A pilot test was done for checking inter-item consistencies among all items and the variables the ELTLS (Cameron & MacKeigan, 2012). This helped to select and determine the difficulty level of the items of the scale. No items were found redundant, repetitive or ambiguous based on the perceptions of the participants. Cronbach’s alpha test was conducted to check the reliability of the scale, which was quite high being above .70 in all subscales, as shown in Table 2.

    Table 2. Reliability Statistics for ELTLS

    S. No

    Sub-Scales

    Number of Items

    Alpha

    1

    Teacher cognition and belief

    9

    .75

    2

    Teacher emotions

    10

    .79

    3

    Teacher motivation

    11

    .93

    4

    Contextual variables

    18

    .87

     

    Total

    49

    .95

    Results

    The main aim of this study was to explore and validate the dimension of ELTLS instrument in the context of pharmacy education. Sample adequacy was determined through various statistical applications, as discussed below. 

     

    Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

    Forty-nine item-scale was subjected to factor analysis on 84 respondents who participated in the study. EFA was used based on varimax method and principal component analysis (PCA) to explore the factor structure.

     

    Table 3. Sample Adequacy Test

    KMO Measure

    .91

    BTS measure

    Approximation of. Chi-Square

    1728.522

    DF

    148

    Level of significance

    .000

     

    The above table shows KMO value .91, which indicates that the sample is adequate for conducting factor analysis. Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity is .000 significant showing a strong relationship among the variables of the study which further supports the factor analysis

     

    Table 4. Communalities for Extraction

    Items No

    Initial

    Extraction

    1

    1.000

    .541

    2

    1.000

    .639

    3

    1.000

    .597

    4

    1.000

    .463

    5

    1.000

    .423

    6

    1.000

    .098

    7

    1.000

    .477

    8

    1.000

    .575

    9

    1.000

    .485

    10

    1.000

    .644

    11

    1.000

    .509

    12

    1.000

    .718

    13

    1.000

    .643

    14

    1.000

    .709

    15

    1.000

    .563

    16

    1.000

    .556

    17

    1.000

    .410

    18

    1.000

    .493

    19

    1.000

    .690

    20

    1.000

    .702

    21

    1.000

    .589

    22

    1.000

    .642

    23

    1.000

    .660

    24

    1.000

    .419

    25

    1.000

    .522

    26

    1.000

    .613

    27

    1.000

    .594

    28

    1.000

    .664

    29

    1.000

    .712

    30

    1.000

    .721

    31

    1.000

    .728

    32

    1.000

    .670

    33

    1.000

    .652

    34

    1.000

    .688

    35

    1.000

    .726

    36

    1.000

    .689

    37

    1.000

    .662

    38

    1.000

    .712

    39

    1.000

    .749

    40

    1.000

    .564

    41

    1.000

    .670

    42

    1.000

    .652

    43

    1.000

    .688

    44

    1.000

    .726

    45

    1.000

    .689

    46

    1.000

    .662

    47

    1.000

    .712

    48

    1.000

    .749

    49

    1.000

    .564

     

    Table 4 shows the communalities for extraction for the variables expressing the percentage of variance explained by the extracted factors. The table shows the variable of teaching material has the highest .749% variance, which is explained by the extracted factors in the commonalities list. PCA method was used for the purpose of extraction.

     

    Table 5. Total Variance Explained

    Component

    Initial Eigenvalues

    Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings

    Total

    % of Variance

    Cumulative %

    Total

    % of Variance

    Cumulative %

    1

    20.665

    42.173

    42.173

    20.665

    42.173

    42.173

    2

    3.994

    8.151

    50.324

    3.994

    8.151

    50.324

    3

    2.688

    5.485

    55.810

    2.688

    5.485

    55.810

    4

    2.076

    4.238

    60.047

    2.076

    4.238

    60.047

    5

    .985

    .938

    63.485

     

     

     

    6

    .966

    .9196

    66.681

     

     

     

    7

    .877

    .911

    69.492

     

     

     

    8

    .755

    .962

    72.054

     

     

     

    9

    .714

    .977

    74.530

     

     

     

    10

    .783

    .910

    76.740

     

     

     

    11

    .760

    .859

    78.699

     

     

     

    12

    .665

    .866

    80.465

     

     

     

    13

    .612

    .858

    82.123

     

     

     

    14

    .659

    .850

    83.673

     

     

     

    15

    .615

    .758

    85.131

     

     

     

    16

    .614

    .753

    86.384

     

     

     

    17

    .566

    .754

    87.538

     

     

     

    18

    .558

    .739

    88.677

     

     

     

    19

    .521

    .763

    89.740

     

     

     

    20

    .483

    .785

    90.725

     

     

     

    21

    .426

    .670

    91.595

     

     

     

    22

    .410

    .637

    92.432

     

     

     

    23

    .399

    .614

    93.245

     

     

     

    24

    .335

    .684

    93.929

     

     

     

    25

    .318

    .649

    94.577

     

     

     

    26

    .309

    .630

    95.207

     

     

     

    27

    .280

    .571

    95.778

     

     

     

    28

    .255

    .521

    96.299

     

     

     

    29

    .235

    .480

    96.779

     

     

     

    30

    .228

    .465

    97.244

     

     

     

    31

    .199

    .406

    97.650

     

     

     

    32

    .196

    .400

    98.051

     

     

     

    33

    .178

    .364

    98.415

     

     

     

    34

    .176

    .358

    98.773

     

     

     

    35

    .140

    .286

    99.060

     

     

     

    36

    .125

    .254

    99.314

     

     

     

    37

    .109

    .222

    99.536

     

     

     

    38

    .199

    .203

    99.738

     

     

     

    39

    .173

    .149

    99.888

     

     

     

    40

    .155

    .112

    100.000

     

     

     

    41

    .132

    .133

    100.000

     

     

     

    42

    .102

    .108

    100.000

     

     

     

    43

    .152

    .143

    100.000

     

     

     

    44

    .159

    .112

    100.000

     

     

     

    45

    .118

    .166

    100.000

     

     

     

    46

    .133

    .191

    100.000

     

     

     

    47

    .032

    .020

    100.000

     

     

     

    48

    .037

    .027

    100.000

     

     

     

    49

    .018

    .045

    100.000

     

     

     

     

    Table 5 indicates the number of factors extracted using the PCA method. Based on EFA, four crucial factors emerged: teacher cognition and belief, teacher emotions, teacher motivation, and contextual realities. The first component ‘teacher cognition and belief’ has the highest variance (42.17 %) of the total variance. The second factor ‘teacher emotions’ explains 8.15% of the total variance. The third factor ‘teacher motivation’ explains 5.48 of the total variances. The fourth variable ‘contextual realities’ explains 4.23 in the variance. The four dimensions collectively explain 60.04 of the total variances.

     

    Table 6

    S. No

    Component

    1

    2

    3

    4

    1

    .542

     

     

     

    2

    .605

     

     

     

    3

    .526

     

     

     

    4

    .580

     

     

     

    5

    .584

     

     

     

    6

    .438

     

     

     

    7

    .685

     

     

     

    8

    .696

     

     

     

    9

    .570

     

     

     

    10

    .701

     

     

     

    11

     

    .534

     

     

    12

     

    .729

     

     

    13

     

    .769

     

     

    14

     

    .797

     

     

    15

     

    .619

     

     

    16

     

    .696

     

     

    17

     

    .671

     

     

    18

     

    .679

     

     

    19

     

    .623

     

     

    20

     

     

    .785

     

    21

     

     

    .729

     

    22

     

     

    .772

     

    23

     

     

    .786

     

    24

     

     

    .584

     

    25

     

     

    .419

     

    26

     

     

    .641

     

    27

     

     

    .650

     

    28

     

     

    .750

     

    29

     

     

    .774

     

    30

     

     

    .789

     

    31

     

     

     

    .776

    32

     

     

     

    .712

    33

     

     

     

    .741

    34

     

     

     

    .711

    35

     

     

     

    .639

    36

     

     

     

    .718

    37

     

     

     

    .634

    38

     

     

     

    .845

    39

     

     

             

    .512

    40

     

     

     

    .685

    41

     

     

     

    .651

    42

     

     

     

    .634

    43

     

     

     

    .711

    44

     

     

     

    .718

    45

     

     

     

    .634

    46

     

     

     

    .545

    47

     

     

     

    .551

    48

     

     

     

    .622

    49

     

     

     

    .685

     

    Table 6 shows the factor loadings for the variables based on the rotation method. Variables below .40 were suppressed in the analysis. The rotated component matrix showed 49 items scale loading on four components:10 variables (items) from 1-10 loaded on factor ‘teacher cognition and belief’; Items 11-19 loaded on factor ‘teacher emotions’; Items 20-30 loaded on factor ‘teacher motivation’; Items 31-49 loaded on factor ‘contextual realities.

     

    Table 7. Factor Loadings, Inter Item Total Correlation, Mean and Standard Deviation

    Item No

    Factor

    Loadings

    Inter Item Total Correlations

    MEAN

    SD

    1

    Teacher Cognition and Belief

    .542

    .683

    2.37

    .975

    2

    .605

    .714

    2.57

    .959

    3

    .526

    .725

    2.39

    .970

    4

    .580

    .648

    3.01

    1.223

    5

    .584

    .593

    2.32

    .944

    6

    .438

    .411

    3.78

    .974

    7

    .685

    .454

    2.38

    .909

    8

    .696

    .563

    2.54

    .968

    9

    .570

    .660

    3.32

    1.060

    10

    .701

    .616

    2.41

    .986

    11

    Teacher Emotions

    .534

    .612

    2.45

    .975

    12

    .729

    .692

    2.34

    .993

    13

    .769

    .542

    2.14

    .873

    14

    .797

    -.608

    3.79

    .978

    15

    .619

    .642

    2.74

    1.042

    16

    .696

    .547

    2.44

    1.018

    17

    .671

    .531

    2.46

    .945

    18

    .679

    .595

    2.30

    .899

    19

    .623

    .737

    2.73

    .943

    20

    Teacher Motivation

    .785

    .717

    2.86

    1.135

    21

    .729

    .658

    2.46

    .975

    22

    .772

    .713

    2.57

    .903

    23

    .786

    .712

    2.77

    .989

    24

    .584

    .564

    2.83

    .973

    25

    .519

    .572

    2.45

    .929

    26

    .641

    .728

    2.46

    .960

    27

    .650

    .737

    2.41

    .942

    28

    .750

    .755

    2.59

    .998

    29

    .774

    .767

    2.54

    .975

    30

    .789

    .769

    2.61

    1.155

    31

    Contextual Realities

    .776

    .780

    2.57

    .920

    32

    .712

    .733

    2.55

    .926

    33

    .741

    .717

    2.80

    1.122

    34

    .711

    .478

    3.19

    1.137

    35

    .639

    .733

    2.40

    .909

    36

    .718

    .777

    2.73

    1.057

    37

    .634

    .746

    2.75

    .961

    38

    .845

    .505

    2.59

    .957

    39

    .512

    .438

    3.55

    1.153

    40

    .685

    .364

    1.93

    .930

    41

    .651

    .733

    2.55

    .926

    42

    .634

    .717

    2.80

    .922

    43

    .711

    .578

    3.19

    1.137

    44

    .718

    .733

    2.40

    .909

    45

    .634

    .777

    2.73

    .957

    46

    .545

    .746

    2.75

    1.061

    47

    .551

    .505

    2.59

    .957

    48

    .622

    .538

    3.55

    1.153

    49

    .685

    .464

    1.93

    .930

     

    Table 7 shows that loadings for the first factor - ‘teacher cognition and belief’ (items 1-10) has loadings ranging from.438 to .701, which showed a good correlation among the variables. The mean for these variables ranged from2.34 to 3.01, and lower standard deviation showed homogeneity in the responses for this factor. Loadings for the second factor - ‘teacher emotion’ (items 11-19) has loadings which ranged from .534 to .797 showed a good correlation among the variables. The mean for these variables ranged from 2.14 to 3.79, and the low standard deviation also indicated a strong homogeneity in the responses for this factor. The third factor -‘teacher emotion’ (items 20-31) has loadings which ranged from .519 to .789 indicated a good correlation. The mean for these variables ranged from 2.41 to 3.19, and the low standard deviation showed strong homogeneity in the responses for this factor. Loadings for the fourth factor - ‘contextual realities’ (items 31-49) has loadings ranged from .614 to .845, which indicated a strong correlation among the variables. The mean for these variables ranged from 2.40 to 3.55, and the low standard deviation showed a strong homogeneity among the responses of the factor. 

    Discussion

    Health professionals are required to be highly prepared for addressing the ever-increasing needs of patients and desperate population because they encounter a diverse community in the interconnected world. The role of the English language is also increasing as health professionals alongside as the medium of communication between health professionals and the patients worldwide. Hence, they need to be highly effective in communication skills, especially the English language in the current health market. The aim of this paper was to determine the psychometric features of ELTLS in the field of pharmacy education in the  Pakistani context. The field of pharmacy supports the development of English language communication among students regarding their interaction with a global patient community. The global pharmacy standards also support the development of language skills, especially English, as a means of communication between patients and professionals.  According to the world sustainable development goals, language competency is an essential skill needed for both teachers and students in all fields of education, and effective communication is considered to be the most coveted and sought-after professionals’ skills in the 21st-century job market. This skill is considered a highly desirable skill for students in order to become a lifelong learner and also a useful professional. This also confirms the health education policy that fully supports the promotion of language skills among pharmacy students on a priority basis. The scale was purposefully developed to assess teacher’s language teaching and to learn for promoting language skills of pharmacy graduates. 

    The scale was found to be highly reliable for measuring language teaching and learning in many other fields of education, such as social sciences and nursing. However, there was little evidence of its application and validation in the field of pharmacy in Pakistan. Findings of the present research showed overall higher reliability for the scale, which was at an acceptable level providing sufficient evidence with good reliability among high education teachers and pharmacy students in Pakistani universities. Additionally, the Cronbach’s alpha of all the four sub-scales in the instrument was also above .70, which is also an acceptable level for a scale to be truly reliable. In earlier studies, the reliability level of the scale was below this threshold point. However, this study provided the evidence having stronger reliability coefficient. The variability in the data might have contributed to this. It is predicted that future applications of the scale in a different field may bring different results. Hence, future work is recommended for assessing reliability and concurrent validity of the scale and its sub-scales in other fields using a large sample base. Against the estimation of previous studies, the actual reliability evidence of the ELTLS was found higher in the context of pharmacy. Hence, it is stated that the instrument can be highly useful for assessing language teaching and learning not only among teachers but also students in other fields of education. Thus, ELTLS is recommended to explore language competencies among pharmacy students and also language teaching capabilities of teachers. This study confirmed the utility of the instrument to evaluate language skills and proficiency assessment among teachers and students in the field of pharmacy.  

    Although the ELTLS was found to be highly reliable and valid scale for assessing English language teaching and learning abilities of teachers and its application for promotion of language skills among pharmacy professionals in the Pakistani context, however, for data collection, the scale was administered to participants from universities in one province. It is possible that the results may be reliable and valid if used for data collection from other provinces due to high cultural, geographical and socio-economic variations. Therefore, it is suggested that in future studies, the instrument may be used for data collection in other provinces for more comprehensive and diverse results. Future validation studies may opt for larger samples and gender perspectives for getting more robust evidences for its reliability and validity. Confirmation factor analysis may also be used for construct validation of the instrument.  In this study, the ELTLS was used as a post-measuring scale to assess teachers’ English language teaching and to learn to pharmacy students in higher education institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. The time and socio-linguistics variability might have affected the process of data collection and its results. Therefore, it is suggested that future studies should focus on a more focused sample in terms of sociolinguistic aspects. Students’ perspectives, in terms of gender, could be another area to look at while collecting data. This will provide more realistic data related to teachers’ language teaching and learning in other fields of study using the current ELTLS instrument.  

    Testing and validating the psychometric features of ELTLS in the field of pharmacy education was important due to its worldwide application and its importance for the language teachers in all educational settings. It was important to validate the 49 items scale in the Malaysian context to further improve the scale due to the importance of effective language proficiency for the respective teachers.The analysis of ELTLS revealed a four-factor model using varimax rotation. These factors were teacher cognition and belief, teacher emotion, teacher motivation, and contextual realities.The EFA approach applied to determine the psychometric features of the scale showed that the four-factor structure of ELTLS is a reliable and valid scale that can be used across disciplines and cultures. The ELTLS could also be used to assess pharmacy teachers’ attitude towards language learning in the field of pharmacy. The results of the study further revealed that the scale could be used for assessing the attitude of both male and female teachers about the importance of language and its application in pharmacy. Pharmacy teachers may also use this scale to modify the pharmacy education programs across the countries for the improvement of effective language use among the pharmacy students. 

    Future Direction

    Based on the findings of the present, it is recommended that further research should test the psychometrics of the current scale in other fields and contexts. Future studies could be conducted using confirmatory factor analysis in order to test the hypothesized model of the present four-factor structure. The results of this research study are surely hoped to encourage language researchers to conduct further studies and teachers of English language for considering the scale for enhancing language skills of pharmacy students. Since the results of the present research were representative of a smaller group of public sector higher education institutions based on a convenience sample approach. Hence, the results have limited generalizability which requires more robust studies in the future. The findings of the current study support the usefulness of ELTLS as a reliable and valid scale. It is also a psychometrically sound measure for assessing language learning among pharmacy students. A stronger four-factor model emerged in the context of Pakistani pharmaceutical field. Based on EFA testing for the four factors dimensional scale, it is suggested that the results of this study may be tested in another educational fieldd to further improve the psychometric features of the scale. 

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Cite this article

    APA : Ahmad, I., Shah, M. A. U. H., & Raheem, M. A. (2020). Factor Analysis of English Language Teacher Learning Scale for Assessing Pharmacy Graduates' Language Competencies. Global Language Review, V(I), 186-198. https://doi.org/10.31703/glr.2020(V-I).20
    CHICAGO : Ahmad, Iqbal, M. Anees Ul Husnain Shah, and Muhammad Arslan Raheem. 2020. "Factor Analysis of English Language Teacher Learning Scale for Assessing Pharmacy Graduates' Language Competencies." Global Language Review, V (I): 186-198 doi: 10.31703/glr.2020(V-I).20
    HARVARD : AHMAD, I., SHAH, M. A. U. H. & RAHEEM, M. A. 2020. Factor Analysis of English Language Teacher Learning Scale for Assessing Pharmacy Graduates' Language Competencies. Global Language Review, V, 186-198.
    MHRA : Ahmad, Iqbal, M. Anees Ul Husnain Shah, and Muhammad Arslan Raheem. 2020. "Factor Analysis of English Language Teacher Learning Scale for Assessing Pharmacy Graduates' Language Competencies." Global Language Review, V: 186-198
    MLA : Ahmad, Iqbal, M. Anees Ul Husnain Shah, and Muhammad Arslan Raheem. "Factor Analysis of English Language Teacher Learning Scale for Assessing Pharmacy Graduates' Language Competencies." Global Language Review, V.I (2020): 186-198 Print.
    OXFORD : Ahmad, Iqbal, Shah, M. Anees Ul Husnain, and Raheem, Muhammad Arslan (2020), "Factor Analysis of English Language Teacher Learning Scale for Assessing Pharmacy Graduates' Language Competencies", Global Language Review, V (I), 186-198
    TURABIAN : Ahmad, Iqbal, M. Anees Ul Husnain Shah, and Muhammad Arslan Raheem. "Factor Analysis of English Language Teacher Learning Scale for Assessing Pharmacy Graduates' Language Competencies." Global Language Review V, no. I (2020): 186-198. https://doi.org/10.31703/glr.2020(V-I).20