The validity and reliability of writing attitude scale for EFL learners in the Indonesian context

Lestari Setyowati, Sari Karmina, Sony Sukmawan, Latisha Asmaak Shafie

Abstract


Having a positive attitude in writing is very important since the positive attitude will make the students approach writing in a good way and will enable them to finish the writing task well. Thus, an appropriate instrument to measure the writing attitude is needed. Yet, scarce research is dedicated to investigating the validity and reliability of the writing attitude scale. This research is intended to investigate the validity and reliability of the writing attitude scale adapted from Podsen (1997) which was originally developed from the Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test (Daly & Miler, 1975b). The design of this study was an observational, non-experimental study with a cross-sectional design, in which the researchers focused on analyzing Podsen’s (1997) Writing Attitude Scale (WAS). The population of the study was 96 students who took the Essay Writing course in the English Department, at a public university in East Java. The data were in the form of numbers on an ordinal scale. The researchers used the Content Validity Ratio (CVR) to analyze the validity and Cronbach alpha to check the inter-item correlation coefficient in SPSS 25. The result of the study shows that the CVR analysis was 1, and all items in the questionnaire were valid (p=.000≤.000) as shown in the Pearson product-moment analysis. Secondly, the internal consistency of Podsen’s (1997) Writing Attitude Scale was high (r>.877). This implies that the instrument is applicable because it possesses validity and is highly reliable in measuring students’ writing attitudes.

Keywords


reliability; scale; validity; writing attitude

Full Text:

PDF

References


Agesty, E., Inderawati, R., & Eryansyah, (2021). Writing attitude and emotional intelligence as determinants in boosting EFL learners’ writing performance. English Review: Journal of English Education, 10(1), 245-254. https://doi.org/10.25134/erjee.v10i1.5370

Ayre, C., & Scally, A. J. (2014). Critical values for Lawshe’s content validity ratio: Revisiting the original methods of calculation. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 47(1), 79-86. https://doi.org/10.1177/0748175613513808

Badrasawi, K. J. I., Zubairi, A., & Idrus, F. (2016). The relationship between writing apprehension and writing performance: A qualitative study. International Educational Studies, 9(8), 134-143. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v9n8p134

Bulut, P. (2017). The effect of primary school students’ writing attitudes and writing self-efficacy beliefs on their summary writing achievement. IEJEE, 10(2), 281-285. https://doi.org/10.26822/iejee.2017236123

Cheng, Y. (2004). A measure of second language writing anxiety: Scale development and preliminary validation. Journal of Second Language Writing, 13(4), 313-335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2004.07.001

Cornwell, S., & McKay, T. (2000). Establishing a valid, reliable measure of writing apprehension for Japanese students. JALT Journal, 22(1), 114-139. https://doi.org/10.37546/JALTJJ22.1-6

Cortina, J. M. (1993). What is coefficient alpha? An examination of theory and applications. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(1), 98-104. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.78.1.98

Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed). Pearson.

Daly, J. A. (1978). Writing apprehension and writing competency. Journal of Educational Research, 72(1), 10–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1978.10885110

Daly, J. A., & Miller, M. D. (1975a). Apprehension of writing as a predictor of message intensity. Journal of Psychology, 89(2), 175–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1975.9915748

Daly, J. A., & Miller, M. D. (1975b). The empirical development of a measure of writing apprehension. Research in the Teaching of English, 9(3), 242–248.

Dhadhodara, N., & Joshi, B. (2017). The writing attitude of higher education students. Horizons of Holistic Education, 4(3–4), 111–120.

Erkan, D. Y., & Saban, A. I. (2011). Writing performance relative to writing apprehension, self-efficacy in writing, and attitudes towards writing: A correlational study in Turkish tertiary-level EFL. EFL Asian Journal, 13(1), 164–192.

Escobar-Pérez, J., & Cuervo-Martínez, A. (2008). Validez de contenido y juicio de expertos: Una aproximación a su utilización [Content validity and expert judgment: An approach to its use]. Avances en Medición, 6(1), 27–36.

Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and motivation. Edward Arnold Publishers.

Graham, S. (2006). Writing. In P. A. Alexander & P. H. Winne (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (2nd ed., pp. 457-478). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

Graham, S., Berninger, V., & Fan, W. (2007). The structural relationship between writing attitude and writing achievement in first and third grade students. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 32(3), 516–536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2007.01.002

Hall, A. H., Toland, M. D., & Guo, Y. (2016). The writing attitude scale for teachers (WAST). International Journal of Quantitative Research in Education, 3(3), 204–221. https://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJQRE.2016.077801

Hashemian, M., & Heidari, A. (2012). The relationship between L2 learners’ motivation/attitude and success in L2 writing. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 70, 476-489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.01.085

Jabali, O. (2018). Students’ attitudes towards EFL university writing: A case study at An-Najah National University, Palestine. Heliyon, 4(11), e00896. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00896

Kimberlin, C. L., & Winterstein, A. (2009). Validity and reliability of measurement instruments used in research. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy: AJHP, 65(23), 2276 –2284. https://doi.org/10.2146/ajhp070364

Lawshe, C. H. (1975). A quantitative approach to content validity. Personnel Psychology, 28(4), 563–575. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1975.tb01393.x

Mohajan, R. (2017). Two criteria for good measurements in research: Validity and reliability. Annals of Spiru Haret University, 17(3), 58-82. https://doi.org/10.26458/1746

Ni’mah, U., Kadarisman, A. E., & Suryati, N. (2016). The roles of writing attitudes and writing apprehension in EFL learners’ writing performance. LET: Linguistics, Literature, and English Teaching Journal, 6(2), 1-13.

Pajares, F., & Valiante, G. (2006). Self-efficacy beliefs and motivation in writing development. In C. A. MacArthur, S. G. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds), Handbook of writing research (pp. 155-168). Guilford Press.

Pallant, J. (2016). SPSS survival manual: A step-by-step guide to data analysis using IBM SPSS. McGraw-Hill.

Podsen, I. J. (1997). Written expression: The principal’s survival guide. Eye on Education.

Pratama, S. D., & Astuti, U. P. (2021). EFL students’ writing apprehension and how it is related to students’ writing performance. Jurnal Pendidikan, 6(8), 1246-1253. http://dx.doi.org/10.17977/jptpp.v6i8.14956

Richmond, V. P., & Dickson-Markman, F. (1985). Validity of the writing apprehension test: Two studies. Psychological Reports, 56(1), 255-259. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1985.56.1.255

Rose M. (1984). Writer’s block: The cognitive dimension: Studies in writing & rhetoric. Southern Illinois University Press.

Setia, M. S. (2016). Methodology series module 3: Cross-sectional studies. Indian Journal of Dermatology, 61(3), 261-264. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5154.182410

Setyowati, L., & Qibtiyah, M. (2017). The eighth graders writing attitude toward EFL writing in Indonesian context. International Journal of Languages, Education and Teaching, 5(3), 422–433. https://doi.org/10.18298/ijlet.2034

Setyowati, L., & Sukmawan, S. (2016). EFL Indonesian students’ attitude toward writing in English. Arab World English Journal (AWEJ), 7(4), 365-378. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2898636

Setyowati, L., Sukmawan, S., & Latief, M. A. (2018). Solving the students’ problems in writing argumentative essay through the provision of planning. Celt: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching & Literature, 17(1), 86-102. https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v17i1.1140

Singh, K. K. M., Fu, D. L. E., Chu, I. L. Y., Ngor, P.Y., Seng, C. Y., & Abd Hamid, N. A. (2021). Motivational orientations of learning Japanese as a foreign language among undergraduates in a public university in Malaysia. Asian Journal of University Education, 17(3), 255–270.

Suárez-Alvarez, J., Pedrosa, I., Lozano, L. M., García-Cueto, E., Cuesta, M., & Muñiz, J. (2018). Using reversed items in Likert scales: A questionable practice. Psicothema, 30(2), 149–158. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2018.33

Sujarweni, W. (2014). Metodologi penelitian [Research methodology]. Pustaka Baru Press.

Taber, K. S. (2018). The use of Cronbach’s alpha when developing and reporting research instruments in science education. Research in Science Education, 48, 1273–1296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-016-9602-2

Taherdoost, H. (2016). Validity and reliability of the research instrument: How to test the validation of a questionnaire/survey in a research. International Journal of Academic Research in Management (IJARM), 5(3), 28-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3205040

Tavakol, M., & Dennick, R. (2011). Making sense of Cronbach’s alpha. International Journal of Medical Education, 2, 53–55. https://doi.org/10.5116/ijme.4dfb.8dfd

Wagiyo, S. (2021). The correlation between students’ writing attitude and composition performance. Scientia: Jurnal Hasil Penelitian, 6(1), 22-35. https://doi.org/10.32923/sci.v6i1.1860

Wang, X., & Cheng, Z. (2020). Cross-sectional studies: Strengths, weaknesses and recommendations. Chest Journal, 158(1), S65-S71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2020.03.012




DOI: https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v10i3.28462

Article Metrics

Abstract view : 0 times
PDF - 0 times

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Print ISSN: 2355-2794, Online ISSN: 2461-0275

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


View Journal Stats