Understanding what shapes English education pre-service teachers’ perceptions of preparedness to teach grammar

ABSTRACT

This study, located in a School of Education in South Africa, explores English Education pre-service teachers’ perceptions of preparedness to teach grammar and the influences that shape such perceptions. To understand the knowledge gap in English Education pre-service teachers’ readiness to teach grammar, the study employed an interpretive paradigm, qualitative approach, case study design and purposive sampling. Data was generated using open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Findings from the study revealed that the pre-service teachers of English believed that they were not ready to teach grammar upon graduation and their lack of preparedness was attributed to their prior negative experiences of learning grammar at school and on the focus of their teacher education programmes on pedagogical knowledge and not content knowledge. This paper argues that the knowledge gap between the thought and taught knowledge need to be addressed to enable pre-service teachers to leave teacher education programmes with confidence.

KEYWORDS:

• Grammar
• content knowledge
• pedagogical knowledge
• knowledge gap
• preparedness to teach

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter Oluwaseun Merisi

Dr Peter Oluwaseun Merisi, who obtained his PhD in English Education, has been a language teacher in primary and high schools in Nigeria for several years, and currently, he is a postdoctoral researcher and a contract lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Dr Merisi has supervised several postgraduate students (who have passed with distinctions) and served as a panel member for PhD proposal review committee at UKZN. Moreover, he has examined several postgraduate dissertations and peer reviewed articles in reputable journals.

Ansurie Pillay

Professor Ansurie Pillay, who has a PhD in English Education, has served as a teacher of English in high schools, a documentary film maker, and currently lectures to preservice teachers in the School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal. She supervises postgraduate students and has examined many postgraduate dissertations. While she researches and publishes in her field, she has also peer reviewed many articles, chapters and books. Prof Pillay has held many leadership roles at the university and, in 2017, won the University Distinguished Teachers Award.