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Validating the language mindset inventory in Finland: a study of higher education students' language-learning
Matthew Billington1, Sonja Laine1, Kirsi Tirri1
1Department of Education, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Frontiers in Psychology
|August 29, 2025
Summary
This study validates the Language Mindsets Inventory (LMI) in Finland, finding language mindsets are more growth-oriented than general intelligence beliefs. The LMI subscales are distinct and should not be combined.
Area of Science:
- Educational Psychology
- Second Language Acquisition
- Mindset Theory
Background:
- Mindset research has expanded to learning domains, including foreign/second language (L2) acquisition.
- Few studies have examined language mindsets in Europe, and the Language Mindsets Inventory (LMI) lacks validation outside North America and Asia.
- This study addresses the need for L2 mindset research in a European context and instrument validation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate the Language Mindsets Inventory (LMI) in a Finnish higher education context.
- To assess the construct validity of the LMI using confirmatory and hierarchical factor analysis.
- To examine the orientation of students' language mindsets (fixed vs. growth) and their relation to beliefs about intelligence and giftedness.
Main Methods:
- Administered the LMI to over 300 university students in compulsory L2 courses in Southern Finland.
- Employed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and hierarchical factor analysis (HFA) to assess construct validity.
- Analyzed LMI data to determine language mindset orientations and correlations with general intelligence beliefs.
Main Results:
- The LMI's three subscales (general language, L2, and age-sensitive beliefs) represent distinct constructs, stratified by fixed (entity) and growth (incremental) mindsets.
- Students exhibited more growth-oriented language mindsets compared to their mindsets about general intelligence and giftedness.
- Language mindsets were more growth-oriented when measured by incremental LMI items than by entity (fixed) items.
Conclusions:
- The LMI is a valid instrument for assessing language mindsets in Finnish higher education.
- LMI subscale scores should not be combined due to the distinct nature of the constructs they measure.
- Further research is needed to understand why entity and incremental mindset items yield different results regarding mindset strength.
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