Localizing the 5Cs Scale in China: when teacher credibility outperforms confirmation in high-stakes thesis writing

This study localizes the Iranian-developed 5Cs Scale within the Chinese context and examines how positive psychology-informed teaching behaviors are associated with English major undergraduates' empowerment in high-cognitive-load thesis writing courses. Through translation, back-translation, and cultural adaptation, a 49-item Chinese version of the 5Cs Scale was developed and administered to 446 third-year English majors from two universities in China. Reliability, validity, and structural equation modeling analyses were performed. The scale demonstrated excellent reliability and sound structural validity. The findings reveal a differentiated pattern of statistical associations: teacher credibility showed the strongest association with perceived course impact; teacher care showed the strongest association with perceived course meaningfulness; and teaching clarity showed the strongest association with perceived course competence. Notably, in the context of Chinese thesis writing, teacher credibility emerged as the strongest and most consistent statistical predictor across all three empowerment dimensions-a pattern that contrasts with previous findings from the Iranian EFL context, where confirmation was the strongest predictor. The localized 5Cs Scale offers a valid instrument for future research, and the findings-particularly the difference in the relative predictive strength from confirmation to credibility-highlight the context-dependent nature of positive teacher interpersonal behaviors and warrant further longitudinal and experimental investigation.