Development and psychometric evaluation of a multidimensional scale of willingness to communicate in a foreign language

This study aims to develop and validate a multidimensional scale of willingness to communicate in a foreign language. Multidimensional random coefficient multinomial logit model was employed to analyze the scale. Likelihood deviance test and information criteria showed that a three-dimensional model fits significantly better than a two-dimensional model and the two-dimensional model fits significantly better than a unidimensional model. A four-dimensional model, however, did not improve model fit. Low and moderate correlations among the three dimensions supported the multidimensionality of the scale. Further evidence for the validity of the scale was derived from correlation with an English proficiency test used as an external criterion.