Rasch Analysis of the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ)

Abstract

A valid metacognitive awareness second language (L2) listening questionnaire is important for both researchers and teachers to facilitate the measurement of language learners’ ability to reflect on and direct their L2 learning. However, very few metacognitive awareness questionnaires have been validated, particularly in the area of L2 listening (cf., Vandergrift, Goh, Mareschal, & Tafaghodtari, 2006). The Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) (Vandergrift et al.) is one exception. However, very little information has been collected on the MALQ’s psychometric properties. To address this paucity, we administered the MALQ to a sample of 299 male Korean adolescent speakers of English. Using a modern measurement approach to scale validation (Rasch modeling), we found that with the exception of one subscale (Person knowledge) the subscales had good psychometric properties in that it was reliable and unidimensional.