DEVELOPMENT OF A SCALE FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF AUTONOMOUS LEARNING

Abstract

The major objective of this study is to develop a scale to measure learner autonomy in view of learning process. As prior studies have primarily focused on terminological and conceptual issues of learner autonomy, far too little attention has been paid to the development of scales to measure autonomous learning. In order to develop such a scale the study was conducted on prospective teachers' of a university in the western part of Turkey. The groups were determined by the random sampling method. A draft scale composed of 21 items was compiled for use in this study. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was applied to evaluate the factor structure of this scale. Item analysis was used to evaluate the consistency of each item within the entire scale and the distinctive quality of each item. The reliability of the scale was calculated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient for internal consistency. As a result of EFA, a three-factored structure composed of 14 items, which have factor load values above .30 and above was finalized. The scale's internal consistency coefficient, which was .78, indicated high reliability. The study results showed that this scale was an appropriate instrument to evaluate learners' autonomy within the autonomous learning process.