BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Reliability and Validity Testing of the Chinese Version of the Self-Directed Learning Scale among Middle School Students
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China
- 2Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
- 3Shijiazhuang Finance and Trade School, Shijiazhuang, China
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Introduction: This study examined the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Self-Directed Learning Scale (SDLS) among 979 middle school students in China. Method: The scale was translated and culturally adapted using Brislin's and Beaton's cross-cultural procedures. Analyses conducted with SPSS 29.0 and Amos 26.0 included assessments of internal consistency, content validity, and structural validity. Results: The SDLS demonstrated strong reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.882; McDonald's ω = 0.887; CR = 0.887) and excellent content validity (S-CVI/Ave = 0.980). Exploratory factor analysis supported a one-factor structure (KMO = 0.895), which was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis (χ²/df = 4.422, CFI = 0.951, TLI = 0.927, RMSEA = 0.084). Discussion: The findings indicate that the Chinese SDLS is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing self-directed learning in adolescents. It provides a practical tool for learner profiling and educational planning within China's performance-oriented yet increasingly student-centered context.
Keywords: Self-directed learning, scale translation and adaptation, construct validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, cross-cultural validation, Chinese secondaryeducation, adolescent learner autonomy
Received: 06 Jun 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cheng, Ang, An, Li and Yu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mei Foong Ang, meifoong@upm.edu.my
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