Research On Rural Junior High School English Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Pedagogical Content Knowledge(PCK)was first put forward in the 1980s.It is the core and the most effective element of teachers’ professional knowledge.It is also the key factor that affects teachers’ professional development.In recent years,the level of English pedagogical content knowledge has become the focus of researchers’ attention increasingly.More and more studies about English teachers’ PCK have been done by researchers at home.But the research of English teachers’ PCK has been paid less attention in rural junior high schools.Thus,this research takes the rural junior high school English teachers(RJHSETs)of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as an example.In this research,the current situation of English teachers’ PCK is investigated by means of questionnaire and interview.Three questions are put forward as follows:1.What is the current situation of rural junior high school English teachers’ PCK?2.Are there any significant differences among English teachers’ PCK based on different gender,educational background,majors,years of teaching and professional titles?3.What are the main sources of rural junior high school English teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge?The results of the research are presented as follows:firstly,the level of RJHSETs’ PCK keeps at a good level,but its development is unbalanced.Among the five components of PCK,knowledge of English pedagogy is mastered best,while knowledge of context is mastered relatively weak.Secondly,five dimensions of RJHSETs’ PCK are significantly correlated.There are some differences among RJHSETs’ PCK based on different types.However,they have no significant difference.Thirdly,the main sources of RJHSETs’ PCK include their experience and self-reflections in teaching,communication and cooperation with colleagues,participating outstanding teaching competition and training courses and so on.Based on the main findings,some related suggestions are put forward for improving RJHSETs’ PCK.This thesis,divided into six chapters,is organized as follows.Chapter one is the introduction part.It briefly discusses the background and significance of the research.Chapter two is literature review,which is about the definition of PCK,the definition of English teachers’ PCK and the components of English teachers’ PCK.At the same time,it also reviews the related researches of PCK at home and abroad.Chapter three includes research questions,subjects,instruments and data collection.Chapter four reports the results and discussions.Chapter five provides related suggestions for improving English teachers’PCK in rural junior high schools.Chapter six is the last part,which presents the main findings of the research and points out the limitations of the research.