Exploring the digital natives among pre-service teachers in Turkey: a cross-cultural validation of the Digital Native Assessment Scale

Abstract

This study aims to explore the digital natives among a sample of pre-service teachers and in the process, examine the validity of a Turkish adaptation of the digital native assessment scale (DNAS) [Teo, T., & Fan, X. (2013). Coefficient alpha and beyond: Issues and alternatives for educational research. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 22(2), 209-213]. Five hundred and fifty-seven participants completed a survey questionnaire in Turkish measuring their responses on the DNAS, developed from a proposed four-factor research. Confirmatory factor analysis and multiple indicators, multiple causes modelling were used to analyse the data and an acceptable fit was found, suggesting that the DNAS is a valid measure for participants who are older living in another culture. While the pre-service teachers had mostly regarded themselves as digital natives, significant differences were only found by years of computer use and perceived competence but no significant differences were found for gender and age.