A Comparative Study On Novice And Expert English Teachers’ TPACK In Junior High Schools

In modern society,with the rapid development of information technology,great changes have taken place in people’ working and life.Technology also has had a great influence on education.As a result,information-orientated education requires all teachers in the new era to be equipped with technological ability.Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge is the basic knowledge for teachers in the information age.In 2005,based on Pedagogical Content Knowledge(PCK),proposed by Shulman in 1986,Mishra and Koehler put forward the concept of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge for the first time,abbreviated as TPACK.TPACK has three core elements(Technological Knowledge,Content Knowledge and Pedagogical Knowledge),four composite elements(Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Technological Content Knowledge,Technological Pedagogical Knowledge and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge)and one external element(Context).As the core of teachers’ knowledge structure in the technical environment,the essence of TPACK is to describe the teachers’ technology integration process.Therefore,this study only focuses on the technology and related-technology elements(TK,TCK,TPK and TPCK)in the framework of TPACK.Furthermore,less domestic researches on TPACK are related to English subject at present.A teacher’s growth always goes through the transition from the novice teacher to the expert teacher.As a result,this study selects 10 novice teachers and 10 expert teachers as the research subjects,trying to answer three questions: what is the general cognitive situation of English teachers’ TPACK in junior high schools? which level is novice and expert English teachers’ TPACK at respectively? what are the differences between novice and expert English teachers’ TPACK?By analyzing the data and results from questionnaires,classroom observations and interviews,the author draws three conclusions: English teachers in junior high schools all have realized the importance of technology in teaching;expert teachers’ TPACK is at integration level while novice teachers’ is at the application level,and they all have not reached innovation level;expert teachers’ TPK,TCK,TPCK levels are higher than the novice teachers’,but their TK level is lower than novice teachers’.This study suggests that English teachers need to develop their TPACK by improving technology and integration knowledge.At the same time,schools and education departments need to improve both internal and external conditions and give more support to teachers’ TPACK development.