A Study On TPACK Of Junior High School English Teachers And Analysis On Its Influencing Factors

The rapid development of information technology has significantly and profoundly impacted the ongoing reform of education.The deep integration of information technology and teachers’ professional development has become a trend.Kohler and Mishra(2005)put forward the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge Framework,which integrates technological knowledge into the professional knowledge structure of teachers,obtaining the knowledge structure that teachers should possess under the educational informatization.This study investigates the status quo of TPACK among junior high school English teachers in Hohhot and its surrounding areas,and analyzes the influencing factors that hinder the development of TPACK among local English teachers,so as to put forward effective suggestions for TPACK improvement of junior high school English teachers to promote the professional development of junior high school English teachers.This study focuses on three research questions:(1)What is the status quo of English teachers’ TPACK in junior high schools?(2)Are there any differences among junior high school English teachers’ TPACK with educational background,period of service,training experience and region?(3)What are the factors influencing TPACK of junior high school English teachers? To answer these questions,this study adapts Schmidt et al.’s questionnaire to suit the characteristics of the English discipline and develops a questionnaire on TPACK for junior high school English teachers.151 junior high school English teachers were invited as the research participants,and 8junior school English teachers were selected for interviews and classroom observation.The results were analyzed in detail.The results show that:(1)The TPACK level of junior high school English teachers in Hohhot and its surrounding areas is medium.The mean values from low to high are TK,TCK,TPK,TPACK,CK,PCK,PK,with the mean values of technological knowledge related dimensions significantly lower than those of non-technological knowledge related dimensions.(2)There are certain differences in the TPACK of junior high school English teachers in Hohhot and its surrounding areas in terms of educational background,period of service,training experience,and region.Firstly,the PK of inexperienced junior high school English teachers is significantly lower than that of experienced junior high school English teachers,while the TK and TPK of inexperienced junior high school English teachers are significantly higher than those of experienced junior high school English teachers.Secondly,the higher the education level of teachers,the higher their CK and PK levels.Thirdly,the TK,PCK,TCK,TPK,and TPACK of junior high school English teachers who have participated in modern educational technology training are higher than those who have not participated in such training.Finally,urban teachers are higher than rural teachers in the seven dimensions of CK,PK,TK,PCK,TCK,TPK,and TPACK.(3)The factors that affect TPACK of junior high school English teachers can be divided into internal factors and external factors.Internal factors include insufficient cognition of TPACK among teachers and weak application awareness of TK among teachers.External factors include imperfect mechanism of educational technology training and imperfect informatization teaching environment in schools.Based on the above research results,this paper offers suggestions for improving the development of TPACK level among junior high school English teachers from the perspectives of education department,schools,and teachers,in order to provide certain reference for further research on TPACK of junior high school English teachers.