Development and Initial Validation of the L2-Teacher Grit Scale

• Published in: TESOL quarterly Vol. 55; no. 1; pp. 156 - 184
• Main Authors: Sudina, Ekaterina, Vernon, Tony, Foster, Henry, Del Villano, Heather, Hernandez, Shoshannah, Beck, Daniel, Plonsky, Luke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 01.03.2021
• Subjects: Construct Validity; English (Second Language); Factor Structure; Gender Differences; Language Teachers; Measures (Individuals); Predictive Validity; Resilience (Psychology); Teacher Persistence; Test Construction; Test Reliability; Test Validity
• ISSN: 0039-8322
• DOI: 10.1002/tesq.581

Grit--"perseverance and passion for long-term goals" (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007, p. 1087)--has attracted the attention of researchers in fields ranging from psychology to business to education (e.g., Robertson-Kraft & Duckworth, 2014; Robins, 2019). Continuing the line of research that explores the domain specificity of grit (e.g., F. T. C. Schmidt, Fleckenstein, Retelsdorf, Eskreis-Winkler, & Möller, 2017), this study introduces the L2-Teacher Grit Scale (L2TGS) developed to measure grit specifically among English language teachers (N = 202). The results demonstrated, first, that the L2TGS possessed sufficient internal-consistency reliability ([omega] = 0.77). A subsequent principal components analysis revealed a two-component structure (POV = 50.87%), thus yielding evidence in favor of construct validity. A one-tailed Pearson's test for positive correlation between Duckworth and Quinn's (2009) domain-general Grit--S and L2TGS scores established concurrent validity of the new measure (r[subscript c] = 0.84). Lastly, the L2TGS exhibited a stronger predictive validity, explaining approximately 21% of the variance in L2-teacher retention-related scores compared to the Grit--S, which was a statistically nonsignificant predictor accounting for 4% of the total variance. Of note, female teachers had higher levels of grit than male teachers. In sum, our findings indicate support for an occupation-specific approach to grit.