Strategic Competence as a Fourth-Order Factor Model: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

This article reports on an empirical study that tests a fourth-order factor model of strategic competence through the use of structural equation modeling (SEM). The study examines the hierarchical relationship of strategic competence to (a) strategic knowledge of cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in general (i.e., trait) and (b) strategic regulation of cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in a specific second language reading test (i.e., state) over a period of 2 months. There were 561 Thai university students who answered a trait strategic knowledge questionnaire prior to the midterm and final reading achievement tests, and immediately after completing each test, they answered a state strategic regulation questionnaire. It was found that on both occasions, strategic competence directly influenced trait metacognitive strategy use (MSU), which in turn regulated trait cognitive strategy use (CSU) and state MSU. State MSU in turn directly influenced state CSU. This article argues that the nature of strategic competence is highly complex, multifaceted and subtle at times, and that although SEM is enmeshed in the inferences, variance-based modeling is not necessarily a window into the vault of any particular mind.