Metacognition assessment - a literature review of specific instruments used to measure metacognitive awareness in adults

The assessment of metacognition has been a major research challenge over the years, especially because metacognition is a complex phenomenon encompassing both metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive skills and experiences. The assessment of metacognition is conducted in controlled settings, most commonly using a single scale-like instrument with clearly presented psychometric properties that measures a single dimension or several aspects of metacognition. Methodologically, the present research is an exploratory literature review, a systematization, which attempts to bring together researchers' concerns and findings on the effectiveness of self-report inventories in measuring metacognitive awareness. Over the past 30 years, 43 articles have been published using self-report inventories for adults suggesting that self-report provides a useful overview of two dimensions: metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive skills. However, research highlights that metacognitive processes measured by self-report subscales are unclear: the two factors of metacognition are not adequately correlated with metacognitive behavior, but the subscales correlate strongly between self-report and metacognitive tasks.