A Construct Validation of Attitude and Self-Efficacy as Factors in ESL Learning Demotivation

Abstract

Recent interest in the field of second language (L2) learning and teaching has increasingly elucidated the issue of demotivation. Nevertheless, researchers have noted the lack of comprehensive measurement criteria to assess the factors of demotivation. In particular, Attitude and Self-Efficacy are salient yet overlooked factors important for assessing students’ L2 learning demotivation. Hence, the present study tested the validity and reliability of a survey instrument designed to assess these two factors. A survey instrument containing students’ Attitude and Self-Efficacy measurement items was distributed to 422 undergraduate students to gather data. The average variance extracted from students’ Attitude and Self-Efficacy indicated convergent validity values of 0.779 and 0.713, respectively. Furthermore, the heterotrait-monotrait ratio was computed to justify the discriminant validity of both factors (0.473). Composite reliability was also computed to justify the internal consistency of the scale items for each factor (0.961; 0.957). Overall, all constructs being tested achieved their designated assessments. Thus, the present study supports that students’ Attitude and Self-Efficacy are salient factors impacting English language learning demotivation.