Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) through an enriched teacher education program: cases of four Iranian pre-service EFL teachers

ABSTRACT

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has been extensively studied in science teacher education. However, scant research attention within the domain of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) has been paid to teachers’ PCK. With an interpretive qualitative design, the present study aimed to investigate whether pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ PCK could be developed through an enriched teacher education program in the Iranian context. The program, including 12 sessions for increasing four teachers’ knowledge of strategies, students, and curriculum, was enriched by providing the teachers with opportunities to present the content through effective strategies, reflect on teaching practices through viewing videos, and receive mentoring. The data were gathered through video-stimulated recall, semi-structured interview, field notes, and classroom observation. After qualitative data analysis, five major themes emerged. The findings indicated that enriched teacher education programs could help pre-service EFL teachers reflect on their pedagogical practices and develop their PCK; however, these programs would not be sufficient. In addition, analysing the observational data indicated that enriched teacher education programs could mainly influence pre-service EFL teachers’ knowledge of teaching strategies as one of the main subareas of PCK. Finally, pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research are offered.

KEYWORDS:

• Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)
• teacher education
• professional development
• pre-service EFL teachers

Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank four pre-service EFL teachers for their participation in the study. Also, the authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on the earlier drafts of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Seyyed Mohammad Reza Adel

Seyyed Mohammad Reza Adel has a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Ferdowsi University in Mashhad, Iran. He is currently an associate professor at Hakim Sabzevari University in Iran. His main research interest includes socio-applied linguistics. He has presented and published papers at many national and international conferences and leading journals. He has taught graduate and post-graduate courses for more than a decade. He has also supervised out some MA and PhD theses to completion.

Mostafa Azari Noughabi

Mostafa Azari Noughabi has a PhD in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Hakim Sabzevari University, Iran. He is currently a lecturer at Gonabad University, Iran. He has presented papers at national and international conferences and published in various journals including Current Psychology, Porta Linguarum, and English Teaching and Learning. His areas of research interest are teacher education, educational psychology, and second language assessment.