Dependability of Preservice Clinical Teaching Scores using Generalizability Theory

Francis Ankomah^1,2*Ruth Keziah Annan-Brew³Kenneth Asamoah-Gyimah³Regina Mawusi Nugba³Eric Anane⁴George Oduro-Okyireh⁵

• ¹Department of Education and Psychology, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
• ²Patton College of Education, Ohio University, Athens, United States
• ³University of Cape Coast, Department of Education and Psychology, Cape Coast, Ghana
• ⁴University of Cape Coast, Institute of Education, Cape Coast, Ghana
• ⁵Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Kumasi, Ghana

The core of teacher training is to prepare preservice teachers to engage in teaching practices that enhance acquisition of 21st century skills. Clinical teaching forms an integral part of the training of teachers in general. The processes involved in assessing preservice teachers clinical teaching experiences are not immune to errors, therefore, when not well executed may compromise the validity and reliability of the scores derived. Our study applies Generalizability theory (G-theory) to examine the sources of error in a clinical teaching practice from a university in Ghana. We adopted the three-facet partially nested random balanced design, with occasion nested in rater nested in person, all crossed with items denoted by (o: r: p) × i, design to investigate clinical teaching observation involving 20 items, 107 raters, 2 occasions, and 208 preservice teachers. Person-by-item interaction and the residual were the major sources of error. The generalizability and dependability coefficients were .91 and .90, respectively. We concluded that preservice teachers' teaching competencies with high precision though the assessment process was characterized by some errors. The study made useful recommendations to key stakeholders.