A Study Of The TPACK Of Pre-service English Teachers

Digital technology has brought mankind into the era of knowledge economy and the society's need for talents has undergone profound changes,resulting in a higher demand for teacher's knowledge and skills,to which TPACK(Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge)is a timely response.As one of the important theoretical frameworks in the field of educational information technology,TPACK has made the greatest contribution to teacher education since it was put forward in 2006.However,although one of the original aims of this conceptual framework is to overcome techno-centrism,it is still quite common in both research ana practice to simply combine rather than integrate technology,pedagogy and content knowledge.Besides,the fact that most researches have been carried out in the educational information technology field has also undermined the value of TPACK in other disciplines.This study aims at understanding TPACK of pre-service English teachers through examining their conceptions,practices and mini lessons.The research participants are English education major juniors at a teacher education institution enrolled in an English teaching skills training course,for which they adopt the BOPPPS model to design and teach mini lessons.BOPPPS represents a sequence of classroom activities,including Bridge-in,Objective/Outcome,Pre-assessment,Participatory learning,Post-assessment,and Summary.The study examines pre-service English teachers,TPACK from three aspects,namely,conceptions,practices and mini lessons.Data sources include interviews,lesson plans,teaching videos,peer feedback,learner journals and teaching reflections,hoping to present a holistic and realistic picture of the changing TPACK of the pre-service teachers learning to teach in digital age.The phenomenographic analysis of TPACK conceptions reveals that pre-service English teachers hold five qualitatively different views about the relationship between English teaching and informational technology:competition,substitution,complement,integration,and transformation.Pre-service English teachers believe that the role of English teachers in digital age includes:knowledge provider,activity organizer,learning facilitator,and co-leamer.They select and use technology when they teach their BOPPPS mini lessons based on whether technology use is helpful to teachers,whether technology use is helpful for teaching,and whether technology use is helpful for learning.The analysis of pre-ervice English teachers' TPACK practice covers lesson designing and actual teaching.Triple E is used to analyze technology integration levels in 14 BOPPPS lesson plans.Along with Triple E,two other instruments—SAMR and TPACK-based Technology Integration Observation Instrument—are used to analyze the actual teaching of 7 mini lessons chosen from the 14 lesson plans.Triple E focuses on the relationship between learning objectives and technology use;SAMR focuses on whether the use of technology changes the function of learning tasks;TPACK-based Technology Integration Observation Instrument is used to examine such areas as curriculum goals and technologies,instructional strategies and technologies,technology selections,instructional use,and technology logistics.The Triple E analysis of the 14 BOPPPS lesson plans shows that the technology integration level in the final version is generally higher than that in the first version.The pre-service English teachers not only do better in Engage than in Enhance and Extend in their first version lesson plans in the first place,they also make more obvious progress in Engage in the final version than in the other two areas.In the process of revising their lesson plans,the pre-service English teachers gradually shift from focusing more on knowledge transmission to facilitating student learning.The main reason for less progress in Enhance and Extend than in Engage between first and final versions of the lesson plans is believed to be situational factors.The analysis of technology integration in teaching shows satisfying result in teaching,though the level is slightly lower than that in lesson plans,which shows a reasonable gap between designing and implementing.SAMR analysis reveals that technology use in most BOPPPS mini lessons are at Substitution level.TPACK-based Technology Integration Observation Instrument analysis shows a lower score in curriculum goals and technologies than in the other four dimensions.The relatively high level of technology integration in lesson plans and teaching is attributed to not only the explicit requirements of BOPPPS model for learming objectives,student participation,and teacher feedback but also the learning experience of pre-service English teachers,especially that in the teacher education program as well as their conceptions of language learning and teaching in digital age.The efficiency of classroom technology use depends on preparedness,adaptability and the ability to use English for instructional purposes.Further analysis conducted of 5 mini lessons to examine more closely the interaction in action between technology,pedagogy and content knowledge reveals that pre-service English teachers' technology selection and use is determined by instructional goals and strategies and that technology use in general plays a good supporting role in teaching and learning.