Examining the Psychometric Properties of the Motivational Scale of Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire for English Learning Among Chinese Secondary Students

Abstract

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Motivational scale of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire in a sample of 656 Chinese secondary students in an English learning context. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis results suggested that a five-factor motivational structure fit the data better as opposed to the original six-factor motivational model reported by Pintrich and his colleagues. Reliability coefficients of these five motivational subscales (i.e., intrinsic value, extrinsic goal orientation, control of learning beliefs, self-efficacy for learning and performance, and test anxiety) were in the adequate to good range. All motivational subscales except test anxiety were positively correlated with metacognitive regulation and/or students’ self-rated English proficiency. The second-order CFA further provided empirical evidence to consider a common and broad motivational factor that can be inferred from the five subscales.