Review of the MSLQ 1 Running head: REVIEW OF THE MSLQ Review of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire

The purpose of this report is to provide a detailed overview of the development and initial validation of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The MSLQ is an 81-item, self-report instrument designed to measure college students ' motivational orientations and their use of various learning strategies (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991). This report reviews the history of the MSLQ, the nature of the instrument, its intended purpose, the population for whom it was developed, scoring procedures, and the ways in which the scores can and have been used. Additionally, this review includes a detailed commentary on the adequacy of the instrument development procedures, including reliability and validity evidence gathered. Furthermore, this report provides an abbreviated reference list of empirical studies that employed the instrument and describes, in detail, how the instrument was used in two different investigations. Finally, the report ends with an overall qualitative assessment of the MSLQ. History of the MSLQ Prior to the MSLQ, much of the research on college student learning focused on individual differences in learning styles—constructs that were weakly correlated to students’ study behavior and course achievement. Additionally, many of the study skills inventories wer