Language Attitudes of Teachers Scale (Lats)

This article examines the attitudes of 191 regular classroom teachers from three states toward children who are limited in their English proficiency (LEP). The 13-item Language Attitudes of Teachers Scale (LATS) was developed to investigate teachers' attitudes about linguistic diversity among their students. A principal components analysis produced three factors tentatively labeled Language Politics, LEP Intolerance, and Language Support. Internal consistency estimates of reliability (coefficient alpha) yielded .81 for the scale and ranged from .60 to .72 for the three subscales. A single item measuring respondents' attitudes about having an LEP child in the classroom correlated -.62 with the total LATS, providing modest support for construct validity.