Self-efficacy for self-assessment: Development and validation of the SEESA-AW scale for argumentative writing

Abstract Self-assessment, or students’ evaluation of their own learning or performance in academic tasks, is a self-regulatory process that is intertwined with learners’ cognitive, behavioral, and motivational processes. Among the motivational beliefs that have been studied in relation to self-assessment is self-efficacy, which refers to beliefs about one's capability to learn or perform a specified task successfully. The current study describes the development and validation of the Self-Efficacy for Self-Assessment in Argumentative Writing (SEESA-AW) scale to measure college students’ self-efficacy beliefs for self-assessment in the domain of argumentative writing with two samples of undergraduate college students (N=335 and N=662). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed three factors (grammar & mechanics, cohesiveness/flow, the presentation of arguments) that explained 65.4% of the variance. Evidence is also provided for convergent validity of the scale with regard to other writing self-efficacy scales. Educational implications are discussed.