EFL teachers’ generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) literacy: A scale development and validation study

The application of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in second language education (L2) has recently drawn significant scholarly attention. Nonetheless, in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL), the fundamental dimensions of GenAI literacy and its psychometric properties remain poorly defined. Without clarifying the factor structures and dimensionality of GenAI literacy, EFL teachers face challenges in effectively leveraging GenAI in their teaching. To address this gap, our study aimed to develop and validate a GenAI literacy scale for the Chinese EFL context, involving 603 EFL teachers. Specifically, a tentative scale comprising 38 five-point Likert items was administered to participants. Through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), the final scale was refined, evincing 32 items categorized into five dimensions: “GenAI Knowledge”, “GenAI Use”, “GenAI Evaluation”, “GenAI Design”, and “GenAI Ethics”. Moreover, statistical analysis also verified the scale's convergent validity and reliability in measuring the construct of GenAI literacy. We anticipate that this EFL teachers' GenAI literacy scale will guide teachers and teacher educators in enhancing GenAI capabilities for professional growth. It can also inspire them to innovate teaching with AI tools, thereby offering them fresh insights into GenAI literacy and its sub-components in the rapidly evolving landscape of AI-integrated EFL education.