Metacognitive Strategic Knowledge in Language-Related Situations

Metacognitive Strategic Knowledge in Language-Related Situations Abstract. Studying at a university requires a high degree of self-reliance. Self-regulatory skills and the ability to independently handle difficult situations are important for successfully completing a degree. In addition, foreign students are faced with language-based challenges demanding specific self-regulatory skills, such as dealing with comprehension problems in lectures. To date, assessing these skills has been difficult because of a lack of suitable instruments. The ScenEx Questionnaire purports to close this gap by measuring metacognitive strategic knowledge in everyday study situations by posing language-based challenges, presented as scenarios. Using a sample of 290 foreign students in their first semester, we assessed the psychometric quality of ScenEx. ScenEx shows a satisfactory internal consistency and good item fit. A confirmatory factor analysis confirms the structure of the scenarios and the overall score of the test. The procedure predicts the further development of language competence beyond the initial stage. ScenEx is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing strategic knowledge regarding linguistically difficult situations at the university.