The Research On Present Status And Countermeasures Of English Teachers' TPACK In Junior High Schools

In the 21st century of information age, the rapid development of information technology has greatly influenced education and set higher demands on teachers' professional development. English is an important subject of primary education in China. Information technology has produced a profound effect on English, including teaching goals, teaching content, teaching style and learning style. So teachers must integrate the ability of applying information technology into their own professional knowledge structure if they want to stay competent. In 2005, Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler from Michigan State University first put forward the concept of "technological pedagogical content knowledge"(TPCK, renamed TPCK as TPACK in the year of 2007) by building on Lee S. Shulman's formation of "pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)" .Its theoretical framework is composed of three kinds of core knowledge:content knowledge (CK), pedagogy knowledge (PK) and technology knowledge (TK), and four kinds of compound knowledge: pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), technological content knowledge (TCK),technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) and technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). TPACK is the knowledge base for teachers in information age, which directly influence teachers' ability of applying information technology. Based on TPACK knowledge framework, this research, combining with English subject, tends to investigate the present status of junior English teachers' TPACK. The research findings, theoretically, enrich TPACK knowledge framework;practically, prompt junior English teachers to reflect their knowledge structure and improve their knowledge structure. Additionally, this research also provides guidance for teachers' technological training to better promote teachers' professional development.The research at first briefly introduces the research background,research significance, research objectives and the structure of the thesis.And then it concerns itself with the literature review, including the research of teachers'knowledge, PCK and TPACK abroad and at home.Next, after referring to "pre-service teachers' teaching and technical knowledge survey" designed by Denise Schmidt and combining with research findings contributed by Leanna Archambault and Kent Crippen,the research designs a survey of junior English teachers' TPACK, taking 225 junior English teachers in Zongyang County, Anhui Province as research subjects. The data is collected by interview and questionnaire and then analyzed by SPSS 20.0. Lastly, according to the research results and existing problems, the author makes suggestions to improving junior English teachers' TPACK.Research findings show: (1) junior English teachers from Zongyang County, Anhui Province, do not have a good mastery TPACK in general.Among the three kinds of core knowledge of TPACK, CK, PK and TK,junior English teachers are more familiar with CK and PK than TK. Junior English teachers generally lack TK and only few teachers can fully apply information technology into teaching. Among the four kinds of compound knowledge of PCK, TCK, TPK and TPACK, it is obvious that junior English teachers have a good mastery of PCK. The lack of TK directly influence teachers' TPK, TCK and TPACK, which eventually affect junior English teachers' TPACK level. (2) The deficiencies of teachers'technological training, backward technology environment of junior high schools and traditional teaching mode are the main factors influencing junior English teachers' TPACK level. At last, combing the present status of junior English teachers' TPACK and influencing factors, the author offers specific suggestions to improving junior English teachers' TPACK from the following three aspects: education administrative department,teachers' educational technological training and teachers'self-improvement.