Measuring Chinese English as a Foreign Language Learners’ Self-Efficacy in Vocabulary Learning: Instrument Development and Validation

Abstract

Vocabulary is paramount to the successful learning of a foreign language; however, students’ self-efficacy in learning vocabulary has been given scarce attention. This article reports the process of the development and validation of the Questionnaire of English Vocabulary Learning Self-Efficacy (SEVL) for Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Data were collected from 439 senior secondary students. Evidence for the psychometric properties of the SEVL is presented. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ensured the internal consistency of the students’ responses to the SEVL model. Then, four aspects of construct validity were identified, including the content, structural, external, and generalizability aspects. The SEVL can serve as an evaluation tool to capture EFL learners’ vocabulary learning self-efficacy and as a research tool to gauge the associations between vocabulary learning self-efficacy and other achievement-related outcomes.

Keywords

• self-efficacy
• validity
• English vocabulary
• senior secondary school students