MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCE: VALIDITY AND ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES IN DIVERSE CULTURAL CONTEXTS

Abstract

Multicultural competence is a multidimensional construct encompassing awareness, knowledge, and skills that reflect holistic learning in culturally diverse contexts. However, assessing this competence still faces several limitations, such as unclear conceptual components, the interchangeable use of “multicultural competence” and “cross-cultural competence” without clearly distinguishing their meanings, and the bias in self-report methods that may not accurately reflect actual behavior. Effective assessment thus requires a well-defined conceptual framework and empirical evidence to support valid interpretation. This paper adopts Messick’s unified concept of validity, which emphasizes the consideration of multiple aspects-content, substantive, structural, generalization, relations with other variables, and the consequences of score use-alongside Kane’s argument-based validation framework, which organizes inferences leading to decisions based on assessment results and systematically gathers evidence to support each step of the reasoning chain. Appropriate assessment strategies should be diverse and integrative, incorporating various methods such as self-report, situational judgment test, behavioral observation, measurement invariance analysis across cultural groups, and stakeholder participation. These strategies aim to ensure accurate, reliable, and culturally responsive evaluations. This article proposes a comprehensive assessment approach that reflects the complexity of multicultural competence and supports the development of valid, practical, and applicable tools aligned with global competence goals in the 21st century.