Development and Validation of a Motivation Scale for English Listening

Motivation is crucial in the pace and success of language learning, and the effect of motivation on language learning has been extensively studied. Many scales have been developed to measure the motivation levels of the students. However, there are a limited number of studies conducted to specifically measure the motivation towards English language listening in the EFL context. Motivation has become an important factor that increases success in listening in terms of metacognitive control of listening processes and comprehension outcomes. This study aims to develop a motivation scale specifically for assessing English listening skills among secondary school students. A 25-item questionnaire with five sub-factors has been developed as a result of an exploratory factor analysis of the responses provided by a sample of 294 Turkish secondary school students. Sub-factors have been named as "effort," "self-confidence," “travel and friendship," "unwillingness," and “lack of interest." These factors explain 56.938% of the total variance. Cronbach Alpha value of the scale is 0.898. The values of item-total and item-remaining correlation are significant (p < 0.01). Moreover, the item discrimination value obtained from the difference between mean points of 27% of the lower and upper groups is significant. Confirmatory factor analysis shows that the goodness of fit indexes is acceptable (RMSEA=0.047; AGFI=0.86; SRMR=0.060; CFI=0.91; NNFI=0.89, χ2/sd 1.55). The data also revealed evidence of the reliability and validity of the instrument. The potential uses of the questionnaire and implications for further research are discussed.