A Validity and Reliability Study of the Scale for Attitude Towards Classroom as a Learning Environment

This study aims to develop an attitude scale that will reveal preservice teachers’ attitudes towards classroom as an educational environment. Two references were applied in the process of writing the items to be included in the draft form of the scale: relevant literature and students’ opinions. 50 items were written in line with these two references, but upon the experts’ suggestions necessary corrections were taken into consideration and a draft form with 45 items was developed. Draft form of the scale was applied to a total of 473 students consisting of 361 females and 112 males who were studying at different levels of various teaching programs in the fall term of 2018-2019 academic year at Gazi Faculty of Education in Gazi University. Validity and Reliability analyses were done on the set of data obtained through the application of draft form. On the set of obtained data, exploratory data analysis (EDA) was carried out first for construct validity and then confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted. Exploratory data analysis (n 1 =263) and confirmatory factor analysis (n 2 =210) were performed in two separate groups. The results of exploratory data analysis (EDA) revealed that the scale consisted of 32 items and 4 sub-dimensions. The results of confirmatory factor analysis which was conducted following exploratory data analysis revealed that adaptive values regarding the model were RMSEA, .066; χ2/df=2.1; SRMR=.05; IFI=.91; CFI=.91. These values regarding the scale which were obtained as a result of confirmatory analysis show that the structure of the scale was confirmed.


Introduction
Learning can take place anytime, anywhere, so the environments where learning takes place vary to a great extent. Hence, environments which are involved in the learning process and which are formed through the interaction of place, time, infrastructure, equipment and psycho-social factors affecting the learning process can be defined as learning environment (Acat, 2005). Learning environment comprises of all factors affecting learning process. Learning environment refers to schools which are special places constructed for education and which are home to majority of educational and teaching activities whose main purpose is to form and develop behaviours (Bursalıoğlu, 1991). School is an institution which societies identify with the notion of education and educational services. The major feature that distinguishes school from other institutions is that it works for the sake of human beings and has the ability to make them different (Bostancı, 2009). One of the most important components of education is classroom environment where education is conducted.
Classroom is a communal life space where educational and teaching activities are carried out in line with pre-established purposes (Aydın, 2012). Classroom is a system of relations which is second most important thing in a student's life after his / her family. In the classroom, while new behaviours are added to what students already gained in their families, bad behaviours and wrong information are changed. On one hand, students are provided with the opportunity to socialize through enculturation, on the other hand necessary conditions are created for the students to realize and improve their potentials and to individualize (Demirtaş, 2012). Classroom environment consists of the combination of personality traits of the students in the classroom, students' attitudes towards school and class, their habits of studying and resting, their cultural background from the family, the relations between the students, physical conditions of the classroom and student-teacher interaction (Eryaman, 2007;Erden, 1998).
Students' feelings and thoughts as individuals are considered to be of great importance in today's education system. Therefore, students' feelings and thoughts regarding the classroom environment in which they study need to be taken into consideration (Saban, 2004). In today's world, when teachers' and students' roles, teaching strategies and methods, testing and evaluation techniques are questioned, classroom environment as a learning environment is to be examined thoroughly (Tuncer, Bal, Özüt ve Köse, 2012) because students would not feel good in a negative, unpleasant or undesired learning environment, and they would not want to be in such an environment. Moreover, such environments lower students' academic success and increase their tendency to resort to undesired behaviours (Blum, 2005).
Classroom environment is a very comprehensive term that includes all stages from the planning of learning-teaching process to its completion. This term includes a number of components such as rules applied in the classroom; the clarity of these rules and how they are set; communicative Educational Policy Analysis andStrategic Research, V 15, N 3, 2020 © 2020 INASED environment in the classroom; teachers' and students' expectations; methods and techniques used in the learning process; innovation, variety and differences of these methods and techniques; whether students are involved in decision-making process; physical features of the classroom; characteristics of students and teachers; classroom atmosphere (social, emotional and psychological interactions in the classroom) (Kurt et al., 2013;Mesa, 2012;Riedler & Eryaman, 2016).
Studies aiming to determine how students' perceptions of classroom environment influence their cognitive and affective qualities reveal that an important part of the variance regarding learning outcomes is explained with perceptions regarding classroom environment (Dorman, 2001).
About four hours of time spent at school are spent in classrooms defined as shared living space (Demirtaş, 2005). A number of variables regarding classroom need to be taken into consideration in order for the time spent in the classroom to be quality and as desired, and in order for the teaching and learning process to reach the aimed success. In general, positive attitude towards classroom atmosphere and classroom as a learning environment plays an important role in the shaping of perceptions of quality in school life (Gillen, Wright and Spink, 2011). Positive attitudes towards classroom are also closely related with student success. Safe classrooms, warm, supportive and nonhostile atmosphere provide better opportunities for learning and encourage participation and success (Fraser and Fisher, 1982;Goh and Fraser, 1998;Adelman and Taylor, 2005). In this regard, students' attitudes towards classrooms as a learning environment should be examined systematically and sufficiently. One of the best ways to determine students' opinions about this issue is to use assessment tools which can determine their feelings. It is highly important to develop assessment tools that have the necessary psychometric qualities defined to this end. Thus, determining preservice teachers' attitudes towards classroom as a learning environment will help preservice teachers to understand their students better when they start teaching and to take a more active role in their students' developing positive attitude towards classroom. In this regard, this study aims to develop an assessment tool which has necessary psychometric qualities in order to determine preservice teachers' attitudes towards classroom as a learning environment.

Method
Data of the research were collected in line with survey model. In general, survey models aim to research and explain an existing situation or reality as it is. Survey model is a research approach based on the idea of examination of all the data from present or past regarding an object, a phenomenon, a case or an individual (Balcı, 2015). The main concern of this study was to describe preservice teachers' attitudes towards classroom as a learning atmosphere as they were.

Population and Sample
Population of the study consists of 5418 students studying different teaching programs at different grades at Gazi Faculty of Education in Gazi University in the fall term of 2018-2019 academic year. As for the difficulty of reaching the whole population, sample was taken. Draft form of the scale was applied on a volunteer basis to a total of 473 students consisting of 361 females and 112 males studying in various teaching programs that were randomly selected.
Reference values in literature were taken into consideration while deciding how many students the draft form of the scale had to be applied to. Cattell (1978) suggests that in factor analysis, the number of participants should be three to six times more than the number of items while Gorsuch (1974) maintains that the number of participants should be at least five times more than the number of items. As for the sample size, Kline (2005) suggests that the number of participants should be at least 100, according to Hutcheson and Sofroniou (1999) this number should be at least 150 to 300, while Cattell (1978) suggests that the number of participants should be at least 250. Regarding the size of sample, it is suggested that 100 participants would be weak, 200 would be average, 300 would be good, 500 would be very good, and 1000 participants would be excellent (Comrey and Lee, 1992;Tabachnick and Fidell, 2007;Field, 2013). In the light of all this literature review, it can be maintained that the size of sample is in the suggested range.

Scale Development Process
In the development of the scale, the steps suggested in literature were followed (DeVellis, 2014;Cohen and Swerdlik, 2013). In this process, literature review was carried out first and students' opinions about this issue were taken via short compositions. Opinions from a group of four experts on the items in the item pool which was formed through this method were taken in order to provide content validity. In line with experts' suggestions, a draft form with 45 items was created. The draft form, which was created to collect proof regarding validity and reliability in the scale development process, was applied to a group of 263 students and analyses were conducted based on the set of collected data. Both exploratory data analysis and reliability analysis were carried out via SPSS 22.0.
On the other hand, Lisrel 8.5 (Linear Structural Relation Statistics Package Program) was used for confirmatory factor analysis. In order to obtain proof for construct validity on the data processed via SPSS 22.0 and Lisrel 8.5, and to determine whether applying factor analysis to the set of data is suitable, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test and Bartlett Sphericity test were conducted first. Varimax rotation was applied in the analysis. 13 items whose factor load values were below .45 and which took values close to each other in multiple factors were omitted from the scale (DeVellis, 2014;Field, 2013).
In order to determine the confirmation of construct of the scale which consists of 32 items and four sub-dimensions obtained as a result of exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis Educational Policy Analysis andStrategic Research, V 15, N 3, 2020 © 2020 INASED 237 was carried out on the set of data obtained from a different group of 210 students. Findings of the analyses were examined and interpreted with regard to fit index values accepted in the literature. In order to obtain proof regarding the reliability of the scale, Cronbach's Alpha reliability co-efficient and total correlation of the items in the scale were calculated.
The items whose total correlation values were below 0.30 and which had negative values were omitted from the scale. In order to determine distinctiveness of each item in the scale regarding identification of preservice teachers' attitudes towards classroom, t-test was applied for independent groups in the comparison of group high-low 27% group scores. In addition, Spearman-Brown co-efficient of internal consistence was calculated for two equal halves of the scale.

Findings regarding Validity of the Scale
Findings obtained as a result of the exploratory data analysis and confirmatory factor analysis conducted to test the construct validity of the scale are as follows:

Exploratory Data Analysis
As a result of the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Barlett Spehericity tests that were conducted to determine suitability of the set of data obtained from the pilot study for factor analysis, the KMO value was calculated to be .95. As a result of Barlett test, Barlett Sphericity value was found as [X 2 = 5904,856; p<.001]. In Kaiser Meyer Olkin (KMO) Test, values below 0.50 are regarded as unacceptable, values between 0,51 and 0,70 as average, between 0,71 and 0,80 as good, between 0,81 and 0,90 as very good, and over 0,91 as excellent Çokluk, Şekercioğlu and Büyüköztürk, 2010;Field, 2013;Tabachnick and Fidell, 2007). Varimax upright rotation method was used to determine the subfactors of the scale. 0.45 value was taken as the reference value for undercut point (Seçer, 2015). As a result of Varimax rotation four factors the eingenvalues of which were higher than 1 were determined.
These four factors explained 62.49% of the total variance. The size of variance rate is shown as evidence for the strength of factor structure. In social sciences, if between 40% and 60%, this value is accepted as sufficient (Şencan, 2005;Tavşancıl, 2014). The scree plot graph formed according to eigenvalues of the factors is given in Figure 1 Table 1.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis
After the exploratory data analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out to determine whether the structure of the scale was confirmed. Values obtained from the confirmatory factor analysis were evaluated in line with the generally accepted fit indices. There is no absolute consensus among researchers on the criteria to be taken into consideration regarding fit indices (Munro, 2005;Wetson & Gore, 2006). Values examined overall for model fit are X 2 / df, CFI, IFI, SRMR and RMSEA values (Hu and Bentler, 1999;İlhan and Çetin, 2014;Brown, 2015;Kline, 2016).

Findings regarding the Reliability of the Scale
Regarding the reliability of the scale, Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients were obtained for the whole scale and its sub-dimensions, and total item test correlations were calculated for each item in the scale. Then, independent samples t-test was carried out in order to determine significance of the difference between the average scores of groups of the upper 27% and lower 27%. In addition to these analyses, Spearman-Brown coefficient of internal consistence was calculated for the two equal halves of the scale. Moreover, as another indicator of the internal consistence, correlation coefficients of sub-dimensions of the scale were calculated with each other and with the overall scale. Results of the reliability analysis are given in Table 3 and Table 4.
Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, V 15, N 3, 2020 © 2020 INASED  Table 3 shows that Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of the whole scale is .96 and reliability coefficients of its sub-dimensions are .95, .90, .88' and .84 respectively. According to Özdamar (1999), if Cronbach's alpha internal consistence coefficient of the scale is within the range of 0.80≤ α <1.00, the scale is highly reliable. Therefore, the feature measured by the current scale is homogeneous and all items in the scale measure the same feature (Tavşancıl, 2014). In the Table, total item correlation coefficients calculated for each item in the scale vary between 0.48 -0.77.
The result that total item correlations are positive and high (0,30 and higher values) reveals that items exemplify similar behaviours and internal consistence of the test is high (Büyüköztürk, 2006 sub-dimensions are given in Table 4.   Table 4 reveal average and high-level positive relation for the whole scale and between its sub-dimensions at α=0.01 significance level, ranging between 0,49 and 0,92.
Results of the validity and reliability analyses regarding the scale reveal that there are a total of 32 items in the scale; 13 of them are negative and 19 are positive. The maximum score that can be received from "Scale for Attitude towards Classroom", which is a five-point Likert scale, is 160, and the minimum score that can be received is 32.

Conclusion, Discussion and Suggestions
This study aims to develop an assessment tool in order to determine preservice teachers' Regarding the reliability of the scale, Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficients were calculated both for the whole scale and for its sub-dimensions. In line with the results of the exploratory data analysis, 13 items were omitted from the scale since they did not comply with the criteria determined in the literature. Sub-dimensions in the scale which consisted of four sub-dimensions and 32 items were named "Classroom as a boring learning environment," "Classroom as positive learning environment," "Classroom as peaceful environment," and "Classroom as necessary learning environment," respectively.
It can be observed that this four-factor structure explained 62,49% of the total variance. Attitudes are regarded as one of the most important psychological characteristics determining individuals' behaviours and their social perceptions (Kağıtçıbaşı, 2008). Determining students' attitude levels towards specific psychological objects (teachers, classes, school, teaching materials etc.) within the education system is desirable because students' feelings and thoughts about the learning environment may have positive or negative influences on their development and academic life (Tatar, 2006;Sarı and Cenkseven, 2008).
Classroom environment is one of the most important factors that affect students' learning.
Students learn better when they think that the learning environment is positive and supportive (Dorman, Aldridge and Fraser, 2006). Such an environment will provide opportunities to develop relevant contents, clear learning aims and feedback, and social skills as well as strategies which will help students to be successful (Weimer, 2009). Therefore, the behaviours which students will show under particular circumstances can be predicted through measuring their attitudes (Vogel & Wanke, 2016). The way to do it is using the assessment tools with the necessary psychometric qualities.
Determining learner attitudes towards the classroom will enable preservice teachers to consider all the factors related to the classroom atmosphere when they start teaching and help them show more empathetic behaviours towards their students. Developing assessment tools to that end will contribute to revealing the current situation and enriching the related literature.
In line with the findings of the research, recommendations for further studies and for researchers studying on this subject are as follows: