Psychometric properties of the short version of the Foreign Language Learning Enjoyment Scale in the Classroom...

Enjoyment in foreign language learning has become an important construct in educational research and second language acquisition; however, psychometric evidence for instruments assessing this construct in Latin American contexts remains limited. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the short version of the Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale in the Classroom (EDALEC) in Peruvian youth.

Using an instrumental design, 967 participants of both sexes were recruited and randomly divided into two independent subsamples to conduct exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The psychometric properties of the instrument were evaluated through factor analyses, measurement invariance across sex, convergent and discriminant validity, and reliability analyses.

The exploratory factor analysis, supported by parallel analysis, identified a three-factor structure comprising Teacher-induced enjoyment, Personal enjoyment, and Social enjoyment. The confirmatory factor analysis supported this structure and demonstrated excellent model fit (χ ² = 48, df = 24, CFI = 0.999, TLI = 0.998, RMSEA = 0.040, SRMR = 0.008). The instrument also demonstrated configural, metric, scalar, and strict measurement invariance across sex. Convergent validity was supported by Average Variance Extracted values above the recommended threshold, whereas discriminant validity was confirmed through heterotrait-monotrait ratio values below .85. Reliability estimates ranged from α = 0.77-0.92 and ω = 0.75-0.88, indicating adequate internal consistency across the three dimensions.

The findings provide evidence of structural validity, measurement invariance, and internal consistency for the short version of the EDALEC in Peruvian youth. This instrument may be useful for assessing foreign language enjoyment in Latin American educational contexts.