Motivation and task engagement of young EFL learners in Indonesian primary schools: development and validation of a questionnaire

This study aimed to develop and validate a questionnaire to measure young learners’ motivation and task engagement in learning English. Drawing on theories by Ryan and Deci and Philp and Duchesne, instrument development included reviewing existing tools, designing context-appropriate items, consulting experts and children, revising items, and validating the questionnaire comprising six underlying factors. The instrument was administered to a convenience sample of 579 11-year-old fifth graders, 269 boys and 310 girls, in Indonesia to evaluate its psychometric attributes. Data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses using the jamovi application. The results showed that motivation had two factors, extrinsic and intrinsic, whereas task engagement included four factors, behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and social engagement. The model of motivation and task engagement had a good fit with data, as evidenced by fit indexes. Average Variance Extracted and Composite Reliability values confirmed the model’s validity and reliability. The instrument is thus valid for collecting data from fifth graders learning English. Findings can contribute to improving local practices and the wider field of English language learning in non-Western contexts.