EFL Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge In Junior Middle School Grammar Instruction

The country’s everlasting future lies in education, while education depends on teachers. In 2010, National Medium- and Long-Term Plan for Education Reform and Development claimed the necessity of constructing high-quality teaching staff. And in 2014, Opinions of Ministry of Education on Implementing Plans for Training Outstanding Teachers proposed the requirement of promoting reform and innovation in education and optimizing teaching staff. These policies show the importance of improving teachers’ professionalism in the context of curriculum reform. Teacher knowledge is one of the most important elements that impacts on teacher professional development. Research showed teachers had to be equipped with not only a good command of subject matter knowledge and general pedagogical knowledge, but also a kind of knowledge that could help teachers integrate the above two in teaching practice to organize teaching in a way that is accessible to students. This kind of knowledge was what L. S. Shulman called “pedagogical content knowledge”(PCK). PCK is the core of teacher knowledge and can best distinguish expert teachers from novice teachers.Grammar teaching plays an important role in junior middle school English teaching. However, studies on PCK at home mostly focused on reading instruction while few on grammar instruction. Besides, previous studies tended to refer to Shulman’s framework that was for general education, neglecting the specialty of EFL teachers’ PCK.The present research mainly focused on the exploring of pre-service junior middle school EFL teachers’ PCK for grammar instruction. Based on the analytic frameworks of Grossman’s in teaching English as mother tongue and that of Andrews’ s in ESL teaching, and bringing in the concept of “teacher language awareness(TLA)”, this study attempted to come up with six components of EFL teachers’ PCK specifically for grammar instruction. The study mainly followed a qualitative approach, and a multiple case study was adopted. Data were mainly collected through classroom observation, supported by formal or informal interviews, stimulated recall and documentation to explore PCK for grammar instruction of two pre-service junior middle school teachers EFL attending their teaching practicum. Two research questions were answered: 1) How was these two pre-service EFL teachers’ PCK embodied and realized in junior middle school grammar instruction? 2) What are the factors that impact on the construction and development of their PCK for grammar instruction?The results revealed both of these two pre-service teachers showed to some extent the six categories of PCK for grammar instruction proposed in the hexagonal framework, and their PCK had both similarities and diversities. They both had a correct understanding of the purpose in teaching English grammar, which followed the spirit of National Curricular Standards, but there were still tensions between their teaching behaviors and teaching beliefs; their classes both followed the process of “presentation, practice and production”, but the activities and time allocation in each stage were different; as for knowledge about curriculum of grammar instruction, they could reorganize the textbook, relate the previous learning content with the present one, and add some teaching materials according to the teaching needs, but due to the difference in their teaching experiences, they were different in their familiarity with the textbook; in order to make their grammatical explanation easier for students to understand, they both used some pedagogical techniques, such as exemplification, elicitation, visual support, conceptual grouping, referring to students’ L1, etc., but their choices on the types of techniques and the reasons why they did so were different from each other; they both had some understanding about their students, like their interests and possible difficulties, but their predictions on students’ difficulties were not comprehensive and focused mainly on the written mistakes, paying little attention to other types of mistakes like pronunciation; as for knowledge about grammar, they both had a sound knowledge of grammatical rules and terminologies of grammar, could analyze grammar from learners’ perspectives and break down the grammatical points appropriately.Results also showed their PCK for grammar instruction was influenced by both personal and external factors. Personal factors include their experiences in English learning, English teaching education, and teaching practices. Regarding external factors, English educational context in China, the teaching and researching group they belonged to, and the community of practice made up by all of the student teachers attending the practicum had a profound impact on their PCK for grammar instruction.