A Study On Senior High School English Teachers’ Development In The Framework Of TPACK

In the digital era, the PCK framework can no longer fully illustrate English teachers’knowledge for effective teaching. The proposal of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework has laid a theoretical and practical foundation for teacher development in the age of information. It emphasizes that teachers should deeply and interdependently integrate technology, content and pedagogy for effective English instruction.The following are the two research questions in this study: 1). what is the current level of senior high school EFL teachers’ TPACK? 2). how do contextual factors influence senior high school EFL teachers’ TPACK development?At the beginning of the thesis, a literature review of the origin and development of TPACK is provided. Secondly, the author investigates 50 English teachers’ TPACK by giving a questionnaire based on Schmidt’s TPACK scale. Finally, depth interviews are given to four exemplary English teachers in the two schools.The results drawn from the data analyses of the questionnaire and the interview show:1). the present English teachers’ TPACK is poor in structure, teachers are more confident in their PK and PCK but less confident in their TK and CK; and there exist demographic disparities such as age, gender and educational background. 2). contextual factors can influence English teachers’ TPACK development at the macro, meso and micro levels.National policies, English teachers’ interpersonal influences such as leaders, colleagues and students, and introspective factors such as English teachers’ beliefs, self-efficacy and motivation related to TPACK have contributed positively to their TPACK development. On the other hand, regional disparities, lack of institutions, excitation mechanisms, and technical support related to TPACK have been the barriers in English teachers’ TPACK development.This study suggests: 1). the developmental trainings should be diversified,menu-typed and normalized. 2). the positive contextual factors should be enhanced while the negative contextual factors should be weakened. The concept of technology-integrated English teaching should be propagated and the institutions and excitation mechanisms related to TPACK development should be more complete; at the same time, English teachers’ learning community related to TPACK should also be cultivated and sustainable learning platforms and technical support related to TPACK development should be provided.Lastly, the limitations of the present study is discussed and suggestions for future work are given.