Reexamining the “L2 Grit Scale” Construction Process

A Conceptual Replication of Teimouri et al. (2022)

Abstract

Teimouri et al. (2022) created an influential second language (L2) grit scale that researchers have been using to investigate grit in second language acquisition (SLA) research. Based on Duckworth et al.’s (2007) domain-general grit scale, they drafted 20 L2 grit items which they piloted on 35 first language (L1)-Persian English learners. The authors then used the data to reduce the items from 20 to 12 to test on 191 new L1-Persian English learners. After analyses, they finally reduced the items to 9 comprising two components: perseverance of effort and consistencyof interest. In our study, we investigated whether we could reproduce the scale’s item-reduction from 20 to 9. We had 580 L1-English learners of Spanish take the original 20-item, L2 grit survey. Different from Teimouri and his colleagues, our analyses did not lead us to the same 9 items; rather, 17 were retained with three factors. Through post-hoc tests, we explored whether Teimouri et al.’s final 9-item, L2 grit model with two constructs would fit our new data using structural equation modeling. While it fit, parameter-estimates indicated the two constructs may be mirror opposites, which may problematize score interpretation and construct definition, leading us to reflect on the three-factor solution as perhaps a better fit for our data. Grit may certainly be important for L2 learning, as researchers are finding by using the 9-item scale. However, researchers should be aware that the field may not have a definitive way to measure L2 grit. Thus, we claim that researchers should continue to investigate how to best measure L2 grit, explore alternatives, and publish their data with their L2 grit research, so that the scales can be better examined and scores from them better interpreted.