The construct validation of self-ratings of communicative language ability

Abstract

The trait structure of an experimental self-rating test of communicative language ability was investigated through the use of MTMM design and CFA procedure. The language abilities we attempted to measure comprised three main traits: grammatical competence, pragmatic competence, and socio linguistic competence. Three different question types were used. The subjects were 116 non-native English speakers from the Salt Lake City area. The results of this study indicate that self-ratings can be reliable and valid measures of communicative language abilities. The obtained reliabilities were much higher than had been expected, and all the self-rating measures had strong loadings on a general factor. In addition, some measures proved to be reasonably good indicators of specific language abilities. The measures of grammatical com petence appear to be better indicators of this trait than are the measures of pragmatic and sociolinguistic competence. Of the three question types used, the most effective appears to be that which asked about subjects' perceived diffi culty with various aspects of the language. The least effective question type was the so-called can-do question.