Abstract
The present research, enlightened by the dynamic approach to language learning, aimed to trace the co-development of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ perseverance of effort (PE) and consistency of interest (CI), the two subdomains of grit, over a course time. To this aim, a factor of curves model (FCM) was employed to trace the covariance of the subdomains of L2 grit longitudinally over time; to explore how changes in PE and CI are affected by their initial states; and to what extent the variations in PE and CI are explained by the underlying global factor of L2 grit. For data collection, the L2 grit scale was used with 1,384 adult EFL learners in four measurement occasions. The data were analyzed in Mplus with FCM in three steps. The results showed that firstly, in analyzing the direction of change in PE and CI, a higher mean was estimated in the growth (the slope) than the intercept. Evidence was also found for inter-individual variation. Secondly, the covariance between the intercept and slope of each subdomain was explored and for both the results revealed a negative covariance of the slope and intercept. Thirdly, the covariance of the intercepts and the slopes of the two subdomains was positive and significant. Fourthly, the variance of the intercept and slope of each subdomain proved to be explained to a large extent by the underlying global factor of L2 grit. These findings were discussed in the light of the potential variables associated with L2 grit and its related literature.
Highlights
A non-cognitive skill and a personality construct recently introduced and shown to be promising in life success as well as academic success is grit (McCain, 2017)
The results showed that the constraints considered in the second model did not significantly reduce the model fit compared to the first model [configural model; Δχ2(df) = 15.82(6)(for consistency of interest (CI)); Δχ2(df) = 17.68 (8) p = 0.09; ΔCFI = 0.004 p = 0.07; ΔCFI = 0.004 p = 0.08]
The successful estimation of primary growth curves relies on the consistency of higher associations of repeated indicators at adjacent occasions than correlations at non-adjacent measurement occasions (Lorenz et al, 2004)
Summary
A non-cognitive skill and a personality construct recently introduced and shown to be promising in life success as well as academic success is grit (McCain, 2017). It has been defined along two dimensions of perseverance of effort (PE) and consistency of interest (CI; Duckworth et al, 2007). How grit relates to academic outcome is moderated by the nature of the performance domain. High levels of continuous effort and deliberative practice are needed for success and how performance is to be rewarded is relatively clear (Credé et al, 2016)
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