Adapting the Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale for Children

Although learning English as a foreign language (EFL) is compulsory in early education in many countries, research has mainly concentrated on cognitive aspects and the negative emotional experiences associated with language learning among young learners. Moreover, investigations into positive emotional experiences, specifically foreign language enjoyment (FLE) in the EFL context, have predominantly focused on adolescents and adults, with young learners receiving comparatively little attention. Thus, there is a growing need for a valid and reliable tool to assess FLE among children in their native languages, as the existing instruments are primarily designed for use in English. This study aims to adapt the Turkish version of the Foreign Language Learning Enjoyment Scale (Aydın et al., 2024) for children, resulting in the Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale for Children (FLES-C). The study involved 11 participants in the pilot phase, 189 for Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), 478 for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), 77 for concurrent validity testing, and 69 for the test-retest reliability assessment. Following the administration of a background questionnaire and the FLES-C, statistical procedures, including EFA, CFA, internal consistency analysis, concurrent validity checks, and test-retest reliability testing, were conducted. Findings revealed that the FLES-C is both valid and reliable, supporting a one-factor structure. Additionally, the scale showed a strong association with external criteria and exhibited high temporal stability.