College English teachers’ metacognitive awareness and creative teaching: mediation by teaching reflection and moderation by creative thinking

With the acceleration of globalization and the ongoing reform of education, creative teaching has gained increasing prominence in higher education. In response to the growing demand for cultivating innovation in college English instruction, this study explores the mechanism through which teachers’ metacognitive awareness influences their creative teaching. Specifically, it examines the mediating role of teaching reflection and the moderating effect of creative thinking. This study conducted a one-and-a-half-year, three-wave longitudinal survey of 403 college English teachers at Chinese universities. The results indicate that teachers’ metacognitive awareness significantly and positively predicts their level of creative teaching, and teaching reflection partially mediates this relationship. Moreover, creative thinking plays a positive moderating role in the effects of metacognitive awareness on teaching reflection, metacognitive awareness on creative teaching, and teaching reflection on creative teaching. These findings deepen the understanding of how creative teaching develops among teachers and offer practical implications for promoting professional development and innovation capacity among college English teachers.