High school English language arts teachers' conceptualizations of pedagogical content knowledge

Highly effective teachers are seen as having a wealth of content and pedagogical knowledge. Articulating the relationship between content and pedagogy within an individual subject area is essential to improving the practice of teachers who either lack this knowledge, spend years attempting to develop a level of expertise without a framework, or leave the profession entirely despite their potential to develop this expertise. The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which experienced and effective English language arts teachers articulated their pedagogical content knowledge. Pedagogical content knowledge consists of the ways in which teachers approach both content and pedagogy in relation to their subject-specific practice, and is reflected in how teachers implement subject-specific representations of knowledge in ways that maximize student learning.;This 10-week study utilized a qualitative research approach. Study participants consisted of 12 high school English language arts teachers and teacher mentors who had ail been identified as highly effective secondary English language arts practitioners. Using an interview protocol, each study participant discussed with the researcher his or her articulation of subject matter, learners, curricular organization, and topic relevance. The researcher transcribed and analyzed these data. Data analysis included three stages of coding: open, axial, and selective. Data were further organized and analyzed using qualitative research software.;The study's results indicated that teachers articulated their pedagogical content knowledge largely in terms of specific strategies they implemented to represent knowledge in ways that maximized student learning. Study participants, however, failed to articulate a deep theoretical understanding of pedagogical content knowledge. This study's findings support previous case study research of secondary English language arts teachers' articulation of specific instructional practices that maximize student-opportunities. Future research is needed to gain a more in-depth understanding of teachers' articulation of high school English language arts teachers' theoretical understanding of pedagogical content knowledge.