Assessing Self-Efficacy for Self-Regulation of Academic Writing: Development and validation of a scale

<jats:p> Abstract. Academic writing is a complex and demanding activity that plays an important role in self-regulated learning settings within higher education. Self-efficacy and self-regulation are crucial factors for success and failure in academic writing. Because of the lack of adequate instruments, assessment of these factors is still limited. This paper introduces a scale for the assessment of self-efficacy for self-regulation of academic writing (SSAW). We deductively developed the SSAW scale and then conducted three studies in order to test and validate the scale. The first study ( N = 121) resulted in a brief scale with good psychometric properties. The second study ( N = 660) showed the scale’s factorial validity. The third study ( N = 188) provided evidence for the convergent validity of the SSAW scale. In sum, these studies yield a reliable, valid, and economic scale. The results are discussed with regard to the usefulness of the SSAW scale for research and practice in higher education. </jats:p>