A Study On Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Of Pre-service English Teachers

The unexpected visitor COVID 19 drove teachers throughout China to start the journey of online teaching.Based on Shulman’s pedagogical content knowledge(PCK),Mishra and Koehler of Michigan State University in 2005 first proposed the concept of technological pedagogical content knowledge,whose abbreviation is TPACK.TPACK is made up of seven components.As for key components,they are technological knowledge(TK),content knowledge(CK)and pedagogical knowledge(PK);in terms of mixed components,they are pedagogical content knowledge(PCK),technological content knowledge(TCK),technological pedagogical knowledge(TPK)and technological pedagogical content knowledge(TPACK).With the rapid development of TPACK,scholars abroad and at home pay more attention to it.At the same time,relevant researches are gradually increasing in China.However,a majority of researches focus on investigating in-service junior or senior English teachers’ TPACK level and there are few researches on TPACK level of pre-service English teachers.According to the theory of teachers’ professional development,by using questionnaire as research instruments,the researcher investigated 123 postgraduates from Guangxi Normal University,Fujian Normal University and Yunnan Normal University,who specialize in English subject teaching.The questionnaire for pre-service English teachers’ TPACK was drafted based on the pre-service teachers’ teaching and technology knowledge questionnaire by Schmidt(2009),which contains 28 items in total.With the help of SPSS 26.0,descriptive data analysis,mean score analysis and independent t-test analysis are illustrated.In order to investigate pre-service English teachers’ TPACK level,the researcher had an interview with them.Two research questions are going to be answered:(1)What is the general level of pre-service English teachers’ TPACK?(2)What deficiencies do pre-service English teachers have in their TPACK?The result interprets that:(1)The mean score of pre-service English teachers’ TPACK is3.45,which shows that their TPACK level is at an average degree.(2)As for three key components of TPACK framework,CK(3.61)>PK(3.34)>TK(2.68);as for four mixed components of TPACK framework,TCK(3.83)> PCK(3.61)> TPACK(3.58)> TPK(3.51).That is to say,it is more possible for pre-service English teachers to make progress in technology,content and pedagogy knowledge.Nevertheless,the ability to integrate technology,content and pedagogy knowledge in teaching needs to be improved.From the perspective of pre-service English teachers,universities and university teachers,the researcher comes up with the following suggestions to enhance the TPACK level of pre-service English teachers.(1)As for pre-service English teachers,they should strengthen technological knowledge,for example,how to insert hyperlink in Power Point.More importantly,they have to cultivate the awareness of life-long learning.(2)As for universities,relevant courses and speeches on TPACK are supposed to be set up.(3)As for university teachers,they ought to attach importance to their TPACK level and deepen the connection between professional courses and TPACK.