차별문항기능 분석의 효과성 검증

An Examination of the Effectiveness of Differential Item Functioning: Japanese Learners’ Study-abroad Experience and Their Intercultural Communication Competence

This study aims to examine the applicability of differential item functioning (DIF), a widely used concept in psychology, to Korean language education. The use of two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) DIF as an analytic tool is also introduced and evaluated. Toward this end, data were collected from 122 Japanese female students to measure the effects of a study-abroad experience in Korea on their intercultural communication competence. A two-way ANOVA was used for the statistical testing of DIF. The results indicated that eight items functioned differently, depending on whether or not the students had undergone the experience of studying abroad in Korea. Through item content analysis, one item “foreign language phobia” was confirmed to be a bias item. Although there were no differences in the t-test and correlation results before and after the application of DIF, the reliability, t-value, and correlation coefficient for “foreign language phobia” changed. The results suggest that applying two-way ANOVA DIF to Korean language education research may increase the reliability and validity of questionnaire-based analyses.