An Investigation Into Pre-service English Teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge(TPACK)

With the rapid advancement of information and technology,some topics such as technology integrated course,internet plus education have been in furious discussion within the field of education.Meanwhile,based on the pedagogical content knowledge(PCK)model raised by Shulman(1986),Koehler and Mishra(2006)later put forward a new framework,that is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge(TPCK),nowadays commonly entitled as TPACK,a kind of knowledge structure comprising three core components of technological knowledge(TK),Pedagogical knowledge(PK)and content knowledge(CK)and the interaction of them as technology integration basis,which has caught great attention among the scholars.Similarly,an increasing number of teachers realize the importance of enriching their knowledge and advancing professional skills in line with the constantly changing context.Therefore,pre-service teachers as prospective power in education sphere in the near future have no reason to reject the indispensability of acquiring TPACK.Through a close review of the literature,it is found that the current research into TPACK mainly focuses on the understanding and evaluation of TPACK framework,TPACK measurement,TPACK development strategies and teachers' TPACK within a specific subject domain especially in science.Even among a few theoretical and empirical studies which set English teachers as participants,most of them concentrate on in-service teachers,while some English postgraduate students at normal university as prospective teachers who are different from the former ones in teaching experience and teaching roles are frequently neglected.For this reason,this study sets out to investigate the English pre-service teachers' TPACK level.To achieve this goal,two questions are to be addressed:1)What is the competency level of English pre-service teachers in terms of TPACK and TPACK sub factors?Why is it so?2)Are there any significant differences among the English pre-service teachers in TPACK when such variables as grade and study field are considered?If so,what might be the possible reasons?In an attempt to answer these questions,altogether 178 English postgraduate students at Central China Normal University are involved in this study,including students of foreign linguistics and applied linguistics from three grades(grade one,grade two and grade three),students of English language and literature from the three grades,and M.Ed from two grades(grade one and grade two)by means of combination of questionnaires and interviews.The results reveal that:(1)Postgraduate students as pre-service teachers vary in respect to the seven dimensions of TPACK framework.More specifically,technological content knowledge(TCK)tops the list and is followed by pedagogical knowledge(PK),content knowledge(CK),technological pedagogical knowledge(TPK),pedagogical content knowledge(PCK),technological pedagogical content knowledge(TPACK),with technological knowledge(TK)at the bottom.It is evident that in respect of knowledge structure,they master richer single-dimensional knowledge except TK than multi-dimensional one and that more efforts deserve to be made on technological knowledge and technology-integrated knowledge.Based on the interview data,it is found that the high marks on TCK,and CK might have something to do with their autonomous learning to advance English proficiency,supervisors' instruction and peers' sharing,and abundant digital learning resources.The relatively high scores on PK may be attributed to the lectures organized by the English department and the participation in various teaching practices.The low scores on TK and on technology integrated knowledge,however,relate to their personal perception and lack of technological training.(2)The descriptive statistics display significant difference of TPACK when such variable as grade level is considered.Generally speaking,students in grade three achieve the highest score,followed by those in grade one and in grade two.Meanwhile,statistical difference only appears between grade three and grade two,with the former one outperforming the latter one in TCK and TPK.And the subjects in grade one exceed those in grade two in TPK.Grounded on the interview data,the possible reasons are as follows:firstly,many students in grade one graduated from normal universities and they conduct teaching practices,so their TPK is still fresh;Secondly,students in grade three have longer duration of learning and teaching experience and most of them make preparation for job hunting,so in this process their English level and pedagogical competence might be promoted.(3)The results demonstrate that significant difference lies in the variable of study field.On the whole,students of English language and literature performs the best,followed by those of foreign linguistics and applied linguistics,and M.Ed.Significant difference exists between the first group and the third group concerning CK,TCK,PCK,TPK and PK.Through the interview with the participants,this result is attributed to the following potential reasons:first,postgraduates of English language and literature are more frequently exposed to English and almost all of them have at least one kind of teaching experience;second,the questionnaire is finished in the format of self-report,which has disadvantage per se,so subjectivity may lead to failure to reflect the exact abilities and knowledge;third,students of English education have the experience of teaching practicum and their understanding of teaching is conducted in standard junior or senior high schools with the guidance of cooperating teachers,so in this process they encounter various hardships and confusion,while a majority of students of English language and literature work as tutors or substitute teachers at vocational schools and they lack professional supervision.Consequently,the former group are negative towards their perceived knowledge than the latter one do.To promote pre-service teachers' TPACK,such strategies as offering technology-integrated teaching methods courses,trying to conduct teaching practicum in formal schools,raising self-learning initiative and advancing instructors' TPACK are worthy of trying out.