Domain-general grit and domain-specific grit: conceptual structures, measurement, and associations with the achievement of German as a foreign language

Abstract

Abstract The study examined the underlying structures, psychometric properties, and predictive validity of the following domain-general and domain-specific grit scales: The (L2) Grit Scales and the Long-term (L2) Grit Scales. Seven hundred German-as-a-FL learners from six secondary schools in China filled in the four grit scales and a scale measuring self-perceived German proficiency. Two hundred and eighty-nine out of them participated in a subsequent German exam and their German teachers rated their German proficiency. The main results are as follows: (1) both domain-general grit and L2 grit represented a unitary first-order construct with two correlated but distinct factors, namely, consistency of interest and perseverance of efforts; (2) only the Grit Scale and the L2 Grit Scale showed sound psychometric properties; (3) both domain-general grit and L2 grit were positively correlated with L2 achievement; (4) domain-general grit completely lost its predictive power on L2 achievement when combined with L2 grit in the same regression models. Our findings resonate with prior calls for prioritizing L2-specific grit research over domain-general grit research in L2 contexts.