Validating a situational judgment test of intercultural competence for use with education professionals

Abstract

Given the growing importance of intercultural competence (IC) as part of the know-how of (future) education professionals, the present study sought to develop a tool that would validly assess this competence in the target population. The proposed 9-item instrument, labeled the Brief Test of Intercultural judgment (BTIJ), adopts the format of a situational judgment test (SJT) and targets the ability to accurately interpret others’ behavior in the face of cultural differences, as an arguably essential aspect of IC. The test was developed based on Cushner and Brislin’s culture-universal assimilator and psychometrically scrutinized with a sample of 245 preservice teachers and education specialists. Item homogeneity surfaced as an issue, yet the test’s convergent-discriminant validity was largely confirmed by findings of small-to-moderate positive associations with verbal intelligence, knowledge of different cultures, and experience with foreign languages. Moreover, in a subsample of n=34 participants, the test was positively related (r=.43) to performance on a real-life task requiring intercultural communication in the educational context. The BTIJ is thus regarded as a promising tool for assessing IC in education professionals, bearing the common advantages and limitations of an SJT-type measure. Recommendations for further investigations and improvements of the instrument are provided.