Validity and reliability of an English translation of the Teacher Metacognition Inventory (TMI) with mathematics teachers in Singapore

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the validity of an English translation of the Teacher Metacognition Inventory (TMI) originally developed by Jiang et al. Teaching and Teacher Education, 59, 403-413, (2016) in China with a sample of mathematics teacher in Singapore. A total of 436 valid responses were collected from primary and secondary female and male mathematics teachers with various degrees of experience. This inventory measures teachers’ metacognitive knowledge about self and pedagogy, regulation on planning and monitoring, reflection and experiences. Whereas the original inventory had six dimensions and 28 items, a better fit was found with seven dimensions and 26 items. The extra dimension reflected a split of Teacher Metacognitive Experiences into positive and negative ones. The seven-dimension structure had good reliability and validity. The instrument was also invariant across gender, level (i.e., primary and secondary school teachers) and years of experience. Together, the results suggest that the TMI was an effective instrument and could be used to assess teacher metacognition in educational settings or for teachers to reflect on their metacognition and metacognitive practice, as suggested by the original developers of the scale.