Turkish adaptation of the duable discontinuity scale between university and school mathematics for pre-service middle school mathematics teachers: a study of validity and reliability

Pre-service teachers often perceive a "double discontinuity" between school mathematics and university mathematics. The first discontinuity can be defined as the belief that there is no coherence between school mathematics and university mathematics, which is part of the well-known problematic transition from school to university. The second discontinuity refers to the belief that university mathematics has low relevance to the prospective teachers' future professional practice. This study aims to adapt the scale originally developed by Andreas Eichler and Viktor Isaev, titled "Beliefs of Prospective Mathematics Teachers Towards a Double Discontinuity," into Turkish and to conduct validity and reliability analyses in the Turkish sample. A total of 399 students enrolled in Mathematics Teacher Education programs at various universities in Türkiye participated in the study. The process of scale adaptation involves not only translating the scale into another language but also conducting the necessary procedures and analyses to ensure its validity and reliability in a different linguistic and cultural context. In this regard, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to determine model-data fit within the Turkish cultural context. The data were analyzed using SPSS and LISREL 8.80 software. The findings of the study indicate that the scale maintains its original structure and serves as a valid and reliable measurement instrument for the Turkish sample.