Variations in novice and experienced L2 teachers’ pedagogical cognitions and the associated antecedents in tertiary-level online instructional contexts

Abstract

Some strands of research on teacher cognition have remained predominantly cognitive and overlooked the socially-mediated nature of teachers’ thoughts. One such strand is the research on teachers’ pedagogical knowledge base, defined as the thought units/categories underlying teachers’ instructional performance. To address this gap, the present study investigated L2 teachers’ pedagogical knowledge base with a specific focus on online reading instruction at a tertiary education level and the antecedents of such pedagogical thoughts. To this end, three novice and three experienced teachers were recruited as participants. A complete online instructional session per teacher was video-recorded and used as a stimulus for inspecting their pedagogical thought units (PTUs) and the antecedents driving/shaping the thoughts. The findings revealed striking differences in the pedagogical thought categories (PTCs) of the two groups. The results further demonstrated that experienced teachers’ pedagogical knowledge was informed by both cognitive and social sources, whereas novice teachers’ thoughts were more cognitively oriented. In particular, experienced teachers highlighted prior teaching experiences, students’ feedback, and colleagues’ advice as the mediators guiding their PTUs. In contrast, novice teachers relied on knowledge from research-based theories and teacher education courses to inform their pedagogical thoughts.

Keywords:

• Novice teachers
• experienced teachers
• pedagogical knowledge base
• pedagogical thought
• online classes
• reading

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohammad Nabi Karimi

Mohammad Nabi Karimi works as an associate professor in the department of foreign languages, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran. His areas of interest include L2 Teacher Education/Development, Psychology of Language, Teachers/Learners’ Beliefs/Cognitions. He has published in a number of international journals.

Fatemeh Asadnia

Fatemeh Asadnia is a PhD graduate of Applied Linguistics. She is currently working as a visiting lecturer at Kharazmi University. Her areas of research interest include computer assisted language learning (CALL), teacher education, and ESP. She has co-authored some articles in national journals and has presented papers at international conferences.