The development of measurement scales on self-learning of secondary students

This report is concerned with the development of measurement scales for self-learning of secondary students. Self-learning refers to a process whereby the learner participates actively in the act of learning, including planning, goal setting, progress monitoring, selecting learning strategies and controlling the learning environment. The capacity for self-learning has been accorded high priority in recent years by major education systems, particularly those in the Asia Pacific region. This study is motivated by the lack of measurement tools available for the study of self-learning in countries where Chinese is the main medium of instruction, including China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. The sample comprised 14,846 secondary students from Hong Kong secondary schools. Questionnaires with Likert items were administered to the students during class-time. Scales included students’ goal setting, academic motivation, self-efficacy, information processing strategies, monitoring and management of learning resources. Rasch modeling and confirmatory factor analysis were used to establish construct validity of these scales.