Publication Details
Abstract
The measurement of students' perceptions towards communicative English is essential for understanding language acquisition barriers and designing effective pedagogical interventions. This article presents the development and validation of a comprehensive Perception towards Communicative English (PCE) Scale for undergraduate students in West Bengal, India. The scale was constructed through a multi-stage process involving extensive literature review, expert validation, and statistical testing. Initially, 60 items across 11 dimensions—including attitude, context, skill enhancement, exposure, scholastic competence, self-confidence, employability, global competence, social support and pressure, socio-cultural factors, and language anxiety—were developed. Content validity was established through expert evaluation using Kappa statistics (κ > 0.75), indicating substantial inter-rater agreement. The scale was administered to 639 undergraduate students from 16 colleges across four districts of West Bengal. Reliability analysis yielded a Cronbach's alpha of 0.887, demonstrating good internal consistency. Split-half reliability showed a correlation of 0.776 between halves, with a Spearman-Brown coefficient of 0.778. Factor analysis using principal component extraction with varimax rotation revealed a four-factor structure explaining 58.855% of total variance. The final 44-item scale comprises four dimensions: Cognitive Perception (17 items, α=0.759), Affective Perception (13 items, α=0.752), Behavioural Perception (9 items, α=0.834), and Confidence in English Communication (5 items, α=0.834). The validated PCE Scale offers researchers and educators a reliable instrument for assessing undergraduate students' perceptions towards communicative English in the Indian context, with implications for curriculum development and language policy formulation.