Design and Validation of a Culturally Sensitive Information Literacy Assessment Instrument for Nigerian Secondary School Students

This study designed, validated, and standardised a culturally sensitive information literacy assessment instrument for use with senior secondary school students across Nigeria. Existing information literacy assessment tools have been developed primarily in Western educational contexts and lack the cultural, linguistic, and contextual validity required for accurate measurement in Nigerian secondary school environments. A sequential mixed-methods design was employed across three phases: qualitative item generation through focus groups with teachers and students in six states representing all geopolitical zones; quantitative pilot testing of 80 draft items with a sample of 640 students; and large-scale validation with a national sample of 1,500 students. Item response theory modelling, confirmatory factor analysis, and differential item functioning analysis were used to evaluate and refine the instrument. The final validated instrument demonstrated robust psychometric properties, cultural relevance, and equivalence across gender, geopolitical zone, and school type. This instrument constitutes an original research contribution to assessment methodology in Library and Information Science. Keywords: information literacy, assessment instrument, validation, secondary school, Nigeria.