IV. Learning and Life Skills: Revised Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Revised MSLQ)

Background

The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was developed using a social cognitive framework by Pintrich and his colleagues (Duncan & McKeachie, 2005; Pintrich, Smith, Gracia, & McKeachie, 1991, 1993). This social cognitive view of motivation and cognition postulates that cognitive strategies can be acquired and regulated by the students and that motivation is dynamic and contextually bounded (Duncan & McKeachie, 2005). Under this framework, motivation can be regulated through various motivational beliefs such as goal orientation, self-efficacy, perception of task difficulty, task value beliefs, and personal interest in the task. Despite the MSLQ having been widely used around the world in many different languages and countries with diverse samples and settings, different factor structures emerge from different research studies with junior high school and college students (Pintrich & De Groot, 1990; Pintrich et al., 1993).

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to examine the psychometric properties of the MSLQ for junior high school students. The MSLQ for junior high students is a 44 item self-reported instrument consisting of three motivational beliefs subscales, one Cognitive Strategy subscale and one Self-regulation subscale. A total of 780 students from eight secondary schools in Singapore completed the MSLQ. In the first sample, there were 393 students who completed the junior high school version of the MSLQ. A second sample of 387 students completed the modified MSLQ. This study showed that the original junior high school version of the MSLQ measurement model needed to be revised. The modified MSLQ measurement model was confirmed via CFA with a second sample with two other competing models. Convergent and discriminant validity was supported. Multigroup analysis demonstrated invariance of the factor forms, factor loadings, factor variances and covariances, and error variances across gender. In summary, this current study contributes significantly to the validation of the MSLQ for junior high students in the Asian context.

Scales and Subscales

Intrinsic value (5 items), self-efficacy (6 items), test anxiety (4 items), learning strategies (10 items, include 6 items on cognitive strategies and 4 items on self-regulation), and lack of self-regulation (3 items).

References

Duncan, T. G., & McKeachie, W. J. (2005). The making of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Educational Psychologist, 40, 117-128. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4002_6

Pintrich, P. R., & De Groot, E. (1990). Motivational and self-regulated learning components of classroom academic performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 33-40. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-0663.82.1.33

Pintrich, P. R., Smith, D. A. F., Garcia, T., & McKeachie, W. J. (1991). A manual for the use of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning.

Pintrich, P. R., Smith, D. A. F., Garcia, T., & McKeachie, W. J. (1993). Reliability and predictive validity of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ).    Educational and Psychological Measurement, 53, 801-813.

Citation

Liu, W. C., Wang, C. K. J., Koh, C., Chye, S., Chua, B. L., & Lim, B. S. C. (2012). Revised Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire for secondary school students.          The International Journal of Research and Review, 8, 19-32.