Constructing and validating the foreign language attitudes and goals survey (FLAGS)

The present study describes the process that was followed in the construction and validation of the foreign language attitudes and goals survey (FLAGS), a new questionnaire based on qualitative data from Tragant and Muñoz [Tragant, Muñoz, C., 2000. La motivación y su relación con la edad en un contexto escolar de aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera. In: Muñoz, C. (Ed.), Segundas lenguas. Adquisición en el Aula. Ariel, Barcelona, Barcelona, pp. 81–105]. FLAGS was developed taking into account as much as possible the conditions in which language learners in Spain come into contact with English at secondary school and outside school. The following sections describe the pretesting and piloting phases of the survey involving internal reliability checks as well as analyses of response and construct validity. Going through these phases has allowed us to elaborate a final version of the survey including 41 items clustered around three attitudinal factors (‘General motivation’ and ‘Appeal for English’; ‘Attitudes towards instruction’ and ‘Language Self-efficacy’) and three goal orientations (‘Professional/Academic’, ‘Functional’ and ‘Xenophilic’). The paper ends with a claim to reconsider the concept of integrative motivation, which is absent in our data as well as in other late studies where English is a foreign language as well.