DEFINING THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE WRITING SENSITIVITY SCALE AND ANALYSING WRITING SENSITIVITY WITH REGARD TO DIFFERENT VARIABLES

This study aimed to develop the Writing Sensitivity Scale, to determine its psychometric properties and to investigate how sensitivity toward writing differed according to participants’ demographic characteristics. The research group of this survey study involved preservice Turkish language teachers studying at Akdeniz University, Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Dokuz Eylül University and Niğde University. In order to develop the instrument and to determine its psychometric properties, data were collected from 396 participants for the pilot study and from 375 participants for the main study. The Writing Sensitivity Scale involving 37 items is scored with a 5- point rating scale. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha analysis were carried out for data analysis. As a result of the analyses, the construct validity of the scores obtained through the Writing Sensitivity Scale and the reliability of the scale in terms of internal consistency can be considered high. In addition, common effects of the variables of sex and grade point average as well as the variables of sex and class level on writing sensitivity were significant. The main effects of the variables of grade point average and frequency of writing on writing sensitivity were significant as well. On the other hand, common effects of the variables of sex and frequency of writing; frequency of writing and frequency of reading books; and lastly frequency of writing and grade point average on writing sensitivity were not significant.