Teaching English Language

Teaching English Language

Justice and Fairness are not the Same Construct: Evidence from Revalidating the Teacher Classroom Justice Scale on University EFL Students in Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Department of English Language and Literature Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of English Language and Literature, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran
3 Department of Management, Frostburg State University, Frostburg, MD, USA
10.22132/tel.2025.473990.1675
Abstract
Teacher’s being just in distributing outcomes, enacting procedures, and communicating with students is among the practices enhancing L2 teachers’ pedagogical effectiveness and students’ emotional and academic experiences. Studying students’ perceptions of teacher classroom justice is of primary importance as it is among students’ first priorities and expectations. Nevertheless, such studies are greatly lacking in the L2 literature, which might be mainly because there is a shortage of student-perceived classroom justice scales specifically designed and validated in L2 education. To address this issue, we revalidated the Teacher Classroom Justice Scale (TCJS) originally developed by Estaji et al. (2023) on Iranian EFL instructors. This study employed a sample of 318 EFL students drawn from the same context as the instructors’ sample. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and reliability results provided strong empirical evidence that this scale has good psychometric properties to assess student-perceived classroom justice principles. To ensure its nomological validity, we examined its relationship with Chory’s Classroom Justice (CJ) measures (Chory, 2007; Chory-Assad & Paulsel, 2004b) which have been among the most frequently used measures of student-perceived classroom justice/fairness in non-L2 domains. Correlational results approved the Nomological validity of Teacher Classroom Justice Scale-Student Perceived (TCJS-SP), indicating this scale assesses a construct (i.e., classroom justice) associated with, but not identical to, the construct (i.e., classroom fairness) measured by Chory’s CJ measures. These findings contribute to the hypothesized relationship between justice and fairness and refinement of a valid classroom justice instrument to promote more empirical studies in L2 instructional contexts.
Keywords

Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 267-299). Academic Press.
Ambrose, M. L., & Schminke, M. (2009). The role of overall justice judgments in organizational justice research: A test of mediation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(2), 491-500. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013203
Bazvand, A. D., &, Rasooli, A. (2022). Students’ experiences of fairness in summative assessment: A study in a higher education context. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 72, Article Number 101118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2021.101118
Berti, C., Mameli, C., Speltini, G., & Molinari, L. (2016). Teacher justice and parent support as predictors of learning motivation and visions of a just world. Issues in Educational Research, 26(4), 543-560.
Bies, R. J., & Moag, J. F. (1986). Interactional justice: Communication criteria of fairness. In R. J. Lewicki, B. H. Sheppard, & M. H. Bazerman (Eds.), Research on negotiation in organizations (Vol. 1, pp. 43-55). JAI Press.
Chory, R. M. (2007). Enhancing student perceptions of fairness: The relationship between instructor credibility and classroom justice. Communication Education, 56(1), 89-105. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634520600994300
Chory, R. M., Horan, S. M., & Houser, M. L. (2017). Justice in the higher education classroom: Students’ perceptions of unfairness and responses to instructors. Innovative Higher Education, 42(4), 321-336. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-017-9388-9
Chory, R. M., Zhaleh, K., & Estaji, M. (2022). Perceptions of instructor injustice in COVID-19-imposed online courses: EFL students’ perceptions and experiences in focus. Communication Quarterly, 70(5), 469-494. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463373.2022.2090265
Chory-Assad, R. M. (2002). Classroom justice: Perceptions of fairness as a predictor of student motivation, learning, and aggression. Communication Quarterly, 50(1), 58-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463370209385646
Chory-Assad, R. M., & Paulsel, M. L. (2004a). Antisocial classroom communication: Instructor influence and interactional justice as predictors of student aggression. Communication Quarterly, 52(2), 98-114. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463370409370184
Chory-Assad, R. M., & Paulsel, M. L. (2004b). Classroom justice: Student aggression and resistance as reactions to perceived unfairness. Communication Education, 53(3), 253-273. https://doi.org/10.1080/0363452042000265189
Colquitt, J. A., & Rodell, J. B. (2015). Measuring justice and fairness. In R. S. Cropanzano & M. L. Ambrose (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of justice in the workplace (pp. 187-202). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199981410.013.8
Colquitt, J. A., & Shaw, J. C. (2005). How should organizational justice be measured? In J. Greenberg & J. A. Colquitt (Eds.), Handbook of organizational justice (pp. 113-152). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, C. O. L. H., & Ng, K. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 425-445. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.425
Colquitt, J. A., Long, D. M., Rodell, J. B., & Halvorsen-Ganepola, M. D. K. (2015). Adding the “in” to justice: A qualitative and quantitative investigation of the differential effects of justice rule adherence and violation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(2), 278-297. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038131
Colquitt, J. A., Scott, B. A., Rodell, J. B., Long, D. M., Zapata, C. P., Conlon, D. E., & Wesson, M. J. (2013). Justice at the millennium, a decade later: A meta-analytic test of social exchange and affect-based perspectives. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), 199-236. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031757
Cropanzano, R., Fortin, M., & Kirk, J. F. (2015). How do we know when we are treated fairly? Justice rules and fairness judgments. In M. R. Buckley, A. R. Wheeler, & J. R. B. Halbesleben (Eds.), Research in personnel and human resources management (pp. 279-350). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Cugueró-Escofet, N. & Rosanas, J. M. (2013). The just design and use of Management Control Systems as requirements for Goal Congruence. Management Accounting Research, 24(1), 23-40.
Dalbert, C., & Stoeber, J. (2002). Gerechtes Schulklima [Just school climate]. In J. Stoeber (Eds.), Skalendokumentation “Persönliche Ziele von SchülerInnen” (Hallesche Berichte zur Pädagogischen Psychologie Nr) (Vol. 3, pp. 32-34). Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Department of Educational Psychology.
Dalbert, C., & Stoeber, J. (2005). The belief in a just world and distress at school. Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal, 8(2), 123-135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-005-1835-2
Derakhshan, A. (2022). The “5Cs” positive teacher interpersonal behaviors: Implications for learner empowerment and learning in an L2 Context. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/9783031165276
Deutsch, M. (1975). Equity, equality, and need: What determines which value will be used as the basis of distributive justice? Journal of Social Issues, 31(3), 137-149. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1975.tb01000.x
Deutsch, M. (1985). Distributive justice: A social-psychological perspective. Yale University Press.
Di Battista, S., Pivetti, M., & Berti, C. (2014). Engagement in the university context: Exploring the role of a sense of justice and social identification. Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal, 17(3), 471-490. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-014-9255-9
Ehrhardt, N., Pretsch, J., Herrmann, I., & Schmitt, M. (2018). Observing justice in the primary school classroom. Zeitschrift Für Erziehungswissenschaft, 19(1), 157-190. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-015-0664-0
Estaji, M., & Zhaleh, K. (2021a). Exploring Iranian teachers’ perceptions of classroom justice and its dimensions in EFL instructional contexts. Language Related Research, 12(3), 277-314. https://doi.org/10.29252/LRR.12.3.10
Estaji, M., & Zhaleh, K. (2021b). Teachers’ perceptions, experiences, and challenges of incorporating justice in English as a foreign language classrooms. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 52(3), 251-269. https://doi.org/10.24425/ppb.2021.137889
Estaji, M., & Zhaleh, K. (2022a). Experiences, causes, and solutions for injustice in Covid-19 online classes: Evidence from university EFL students in Iran. LEARN Journal: Language Education and Acquisition Research Network, 15(2), 436-467. https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/LEARN/article/view/259936
Estaji, M., & Zhaleh, K. (2022b). Iranian EFL teachers’ expectations and perceptions about teacher classroom justice training. TEFLIN Journal, 33(2), 272-291. http://dx.doi.org/10.15639/teflinjournal.v33i2/272-291
Estaji, M., & Zhaleh, K. (2022c). The enactment of classroom justice through explicit instruction: Deciphering the changes in English as a foreign language teachers’ perceptions and practices. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 821763. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.821763
Estaji, M., Zhaleh, K., & Berti, C. (2023). Developing and validating a teacher classroom justice scale for the Iranian EFL context. Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics, 14(1), 18-40. https://doi.org/10.22055/RALS.2023.18066
Frisby, B., Tatum, N., Galy-Badenas, F., & Bengu, E. (2022). Testing the applicability of the instructional beliefs model across three countries: The role of culture as a theoretical parameter. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research51(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2021.1990109
Goldman, B., & Cropanzano, R. (2014). “Justice” and “fairness” are not the same thing. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(2), 313-318. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1956
Gorard, S. (2012). Experiencing fairness at school: An international study. International Journal of Educational Research, 53(3), 127-137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2012.03.003
Gordon, M. E., & Fay, C. H. (2010). The effects of grading and teaching practices on students’ perceptions of grading fairness. College Teaching58(3), 93-98. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567550903418586
Grace, C. C. (2017). Exploring the potential for and promise of incorporating distributive and procedural justices into post-secondary assessment of student learning. Teaching in Higher Education, 22(3), 304-317. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2016.1248388
Grazia, V., Molinari, L., & Mameli, C. (2024). Contrasting school dropout: The protective role of perceived teacher justice. Learning and Instruction, 89, Article Number 101826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2023.101826
Hair, J. F., Black, W., Babin, B., & Anderson, R. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Prentice-Hall.
Herr, R. M., Deyerl, V. M., Rathmann, K., & Diehl, K. (2024). Perceived unfairness in university settings: Findings from a qualitative study among students in Germany. Education Science, 14, Article Number 827. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/educsci14080827
Homans, G. C. (1961) Social behavior: Its elementary forms. Harcourt, Brace, and World.
Hooper, D., Coughlan, J., & Mullen, M. R. (2008). Structural equation modelling: Guidelines for determining model fit. The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 6(1), 53-60.
Horan, S. M., Chory, R. M., & Goodboy, A. K. (2010). Understanding students’ classroom justice experiences and responses. Communication Education, 59(4), 453-474. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2010.487282
Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cut-off criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6(1), 1-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
Jiang, L., Zhao, B., Guo, J., Sun, W., & Hu, W. (2024). Perceived teacher unfairness and school bullying victimization of senior-grade pupils: The mediating effect and gender difference of the sense of school belonging. Social Psychology of Education, 27(3), 1337-1356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-023-09861-4
Karriker, J. H., Williams, M. L., & Williams, L. J. (2017). Direct and indirect assessments of organizational justice: Homogeneity or harmony? Journal of Organizational Psychology, 17(3), 52-68.
Kazemi, A. (2016). Examining the interplay of justice perceptions, motivation, and school achievement among secondary school students. Social Justice Research, 29(1), 103-118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-016-0261-2
Khany, R., Aliakbari, M., & Hajizadeh, A. (2018). ELT teachers' content and educational literacy threshold (CELT): A synthetic approach. Teaching English Language12(1), 173-198. https://doi.org/10.22132/tel.2018.66317
Kim, T. Y., & Leung, K. (2007) Forming and reacting to overall fairness: A cross-cultural comparison. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 104(1), 83-95.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2007.01.004
Kirkman, B. L., & Shapiro, D. L. (2001). The impact of team members’ cultural values on productivity, cooperation, and empowerment in self-managing work teams. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32(5), 597-617. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022101032005005
Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed). Guilford Press.
Laeeque, S. H., & Ali, M. (2024). Teacher injustice and classroom citizenship behavior of Pakistani nursing students: A moderated mediation model. Psychological Reports127(3), 1453-1479. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941221138474
Laeeque, S. H., & Saeed, M. A. (2023). Linking teacher injustice, conscientiousness, and academic dishonesty via classroom connectedness: A moderated-mediation model. Youth & Society55(6), 1098-1114. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X221082974
Lankiewicz, H. (2014). Teacher interpersonal communication abilities in the classroom with regard to perceived classroom justice and teacher credibility. In M. Pawlak, J. Bielak, & Mystkowska-Wiertelak, A. (Eds.), Classroom-oriented research. Second language learning and teaching (pp 101-120). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00188-3_7
Leventhal, G. S., Karuza, J. & Fry, W. R. (1980). Beyond fairness: A theory of allocation preferences. Justice and Social Interaction, 3(1), 167-218.
Mazzoli Smith, L., Todd, L., & Laing, K. (2018). Students’ views on fairness in education: the importance of relational justice and stakes fairness. Research Papers in Education, 33(3), 336-353. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2017.1302500
Mercer, S., & Dörnyei, Z. (2020). Engaging language learners in contemporary classrooms. Cambridge University Press.
Mercer, S., & Gkonou, C. (2020). Relationships and good language teachers. In C. Griffiths, & Z. Tajeddin (Eds.), Lessons from good language teachers (pp 164-174). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108774390.016
Molinari, L., & Mameli, C. (2018). Basic psychological needs and school engagement: a focus on justice and agency. Social Psychology of Education, 21(1), 157-172. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-017-9410-1
Murillo, F. J., & Hidalgo, N. (2017). Students’ conceptions about a fair assessment of their learning. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 53, 10-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2017.01.001
Nazari, N., Karimpour, S., & Ranjbar, M. (2023). “To promote justice is to care”: Pedagogy of care and socially-just instruction among Iranian English language teachers. System, 11, Article Number 103128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2023.103128
Osborne, J. (2014). Best practices in exploratory factor analysis. CreateSpace Independent Publishing.
Rasegh, A., Zandi, H., Firoozi, T., & Rasooli, A. (2023). Teachers’ conceptions of classroom justice: An empirical study. Social Psychology of Education, 26, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-022-09735-1
Rasooli, A., DeLuca, C., Cheng, L., & Mousavi, A. (2023). Classroom assessment fairness inventory: a new instrument to support perceived fairness in classroom assessment. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2023.2255936
Rasooli, A., DeLuca, C., Rasegh, A., & Fathi, S. (2019). Students’ critical incidents of fairness in classroom assessment: An empirical study. Social Psychology of Education, 22(3), 701-722. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2019.1593105
Rasooli, A., Zandi, H., & DeLuca, C. (2018). Re-conceptualizing classroom assessment fairness: A systematic meta-ethnography of assessment literature and beyond. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 56, 164-181.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2017.12.008
Rasooli, A., Zandi, H., & DeLuca, C. (2019). Conceptualizing fairness in classroom assessment: Exploring the value of organisational justice theory. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 26(5), 584-611.https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2019.1593105
Rasooli, A., Zandi, H., & DeLuca, C. (2023). Measuring fairness and justice in the classroom: A systematic review of instruments’ validity evidence. School Psychology Review, 52(5), 639-664. https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2021.2000843
Ren, P., Wang, Y., Liang, Y., Li, S., Wang, Q. (2023). Bidirectional relationship between bullying victimization and functions of aggression in adolescents: The mediating effect of teacher justice. Journal of Adolescence, 95(6), 1245-1257. https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12198
Resh, N. (2009). Justice in grades allocation: Teachers’ perspective. Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal, 12(3), 315-325. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-008-9073-z
Resh, N., & Sabbagh, C. (2016). Justice and education. In C. Sabbagh & M. Schmitt (Eds.), Handbook of social justice theory and research (pp. 349-368). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3216-0_19
Rezai, A. (2022). Fairness in classroom assessment: Development and validation of a questionnaire. Language Testing in Asia, 12, Article Number17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-022-00162-9
Sabbagh, C., & Schmitt, M. (Eds). (2016). Handbook of social justice theory and research. Springer.
Sadeghi, M., Jalali, V., & Fatehi Rad, M. N. (2023a). Delving into English for medical purpose teachers and medical students' perceptions of fairness in the classroom: A qualitative study. International Journal of Medical Reviews10(3), 571-579. https://doi.org/10.30491/IJMR.2023.407831.1257
Sadeghi, M., Jalali, V., & Fatehi Rad, N. (2023b). Developing and validating a model of EFL teacher classroom fairness. International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 11(47), 115-127. http://doi.org/10.30495/JFL.2023.707776
Schmidt, T. A., Houston, M. B., Bettencourt, L. A., & Boughton, P. D. (2003). The impact of voice and justification on students’ perceptions of professors’ fairness. Journal of Marketing Education25(2), 177-186. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475303254024
Sonnleitner, P., & Kovacs, C. (2020). Differences between students’ and teachers’ fairness perceptions: Exploring the potential of a self-administered questionnaire to improve teachers’ assessment practices. Frontiers in Education, 5, Article Number 17. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.00017
Soodmand Afshar, H., Fazelimanie, A., & Doosti, M. (2017). Developing an inventory to investigate current professional development needs of Iranian EFL teachers. Teaching English Language11(2), 161-194. https://doi.org/10.22132/tel.2017.53187
Sun, R. (2022). EFL learners’ perceptions of classroom justice: Does teacher immediacy and credibility matter? Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article Number 925441. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.925441
Tofighi, S., & Ahmadi Safa, M. (2023). Fairness in classroom language assessment from EFL teachers’ perspective. Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills), 42(2), 81-110. Https://doi.org/10.22099/tesl.2023.46825.3173
Tyler, T. R., & Bies, R. J. (1990). Beyond formal procedures: The interpersonal context of procedural justice. In J. Carroll (Ed.), Applied social psychology and organizational settings (pp. 77-98). Erlbaum Associates.
Wallace, M. P. (2018). Fairness and justice in L2 classroom assessment: Perceptions from test takers. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 15(4), 1051-1064.  http://dx.doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2018.15.4.11.1051
Wallace., M. P., & Qin, C. Y. (2021). Language classroom assessment fairness: Perceptions from students. LEARN Journal: Language Education and Acquisition Research Network, 14(1), 492-521.
Yang, D. (2021). EFL/ESL students’ perceptions of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice: The impact of positive teacher-student relation. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article Number 755234. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.755234
Zhaleh, K., Estaji, M., & Berti, C. (2022). Conceptualizing classroom justice in second/foreign language education: past, present, & future directions of research & practice. Journal of Critical Applied Linguistics Studies (JCALS), 1(1), 32-49. https://doi.org/10.22034/jcals.1.1.32
Volume 19, Issue 1
January 2025
Pages 41-80

  • Receive Date 18 August 2024
  • Revise Date 29 October 2024
  • Accept Date 24 January 2025