TITLE:
Construction and Validation of a Creative Teaching Competence Scale for EFL Teachers
AUTHORS:
Qiuyu Xu, Kailun Wu, Huang Zuo
KEYWORDS:
Creative Teaching Competence, EFL Teachers, Scale Development, Teacher Agency, High-Stakes Testing, Educational Ecology
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.17 No.4,
April
30,
2026
ABSTRACT: This paper aims to develop and validate a Creative Teaching Competence (CTC) scale for Chinese high school EFL teachers. The study uses expert review, pilot testing, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and subgroup comparisons to propose a three-factor structure consisting of Knowledge, Ability, and Beliefs/Affect. The main findings indicate a moderate overall CTC level, relatively stronger Beliefs/Affect than Knowledge, and significant urban-rural differences.