Teachers' Content, Pedagogical, and Technological Knowledge, and the Use of Technology in Teaching Pronunciation

This study examined the correlations between three vital areas of teaching pronunciation in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes (i.e., content, pedagogical, and technological knowledge). This study also explored the relationships between teachers' majors, experience, and technology competence with using technology in teaching English pronunciation. Data was collected by using a questionnaire. The study tool was a model adapted from different studies. The participants of the study were sixty English language instructors at different Saudi universities. The result indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in the three constructs of the model based on the participants' technology competence. The results revealed that content knowledge had a small correlation with pedagogical knowledge, and with technological knowledge. Pedagogical knowledge had a strong positive correlation with technological knowledge.

The Impact of Sport Education on Chinese Physical Education Majors' Volleyball Content Knowledge and Performance

Purpose: The preparation of Chinese physical education teachers focuses strongly on movement competence and the development of knowledge about rules and techniques. What is missing are experiences that promote expertise in task design and progressions. The purpose of this study was to examine if participation in classes following the Sport Education model could enhance content expertise by placing students in situations where they were responsible for these tasks. Methods: One hundred and ten physical education majors from a university in central China participated in a semester-long course of volleyball taught using either Traditional Instruction or Sport Education. Pre- and post-course measures were recorded of participants' game performance, common content knowledge (CCK), and specialized content knowledge (SCK). Results: After controlling for pre-intervention scores, statistically significant differences were evident in the posttest scores between the instructional groups for all three measures. The binomial logistic regression model to ascertain the effect of course type on the likelihood that students would reach the benchmark depth of SCK produced statistical significance. Students in the Sport Education classes had 6.67 times higher odds to reach the benchmark than students in the Traditional Instruction classes. Conclusion: The accountability mechanisms specific to Sport Education that have been shown to enhance student motivation and promote knowledge and performance seemed to carry over into this setting. As students in Sport Education were responsible for designing much of their team training, this served to promote their ability to design and sequence tasks based on their team's needs. Implications for physical education teacher education are discussed.

A performance-based test to measure teachers' mathematics and science content and pedagogical knowledge

Developing an instrument to measure and compare mathematics and science content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical knowledge (PK) of teachers who graduated from Teacher Training University (TTU) with those of teachers who graduated from other universities in Iran was the primary purpose of this study. A total of 226 teachers were selected using a two-stage cluster random sampling, which included 84 teachers graduating from TTU and 142 teachers from other universities. The data were collected using mathematics, science CK, PK, and NEO tests to measure teachers' personality traits. The findings indicated a significant difference between the two groups of teachers in the CK tests, favoring TTU graduates. However, it was found that the two groups did not perform differently in the PK tests.

Analyzing the outcomes of a robotics workshop on the self-efficacy, familiarity, and content knowledge of participants and examining their designs for end-of-year robotics contests

Rapid advances in science and engineering, and pervasive adoption of resulting technological products, are influencing every aspect of human living and fueling a growing demand for a workforce that is adequately prepared for the emerging occupations in STEM fields. Educating students for success in the modern technology-rich workplace requires teachers who have the knowledge, comfort, capability, and training to adopt and integrate new technologies for classroom teaching and learning. Thus, to prepare high school teachers for incorporating robotics in their students' education and promoting their understanding of engineering concepts and technology applications, a four-week long robotics workshop was designed and conducted annually for three summers. Examination of changes in the workshop participants' levels of robotics self-efficacy, familiarity, and content knowledge, as well as analysis of outcomes of robotics capstone projects and end-of-year contests, is suggestive of study findings being promising for education researchers and professional development providers interested in leveraging the potential of robotics in STEM education.

The andragogical value of content knowledge method: the case of an adult education programme in Kwa-Zulu Natal Province of South Africa

The South African government has made a significant progress in the area of policy development and practice for Adult Education since independence in 1994. Still, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of adults without education. For example, KwaZulu-Natal, one of the provinces in South Africa, still recorded an increased number of illiteracy rate among adults, which further causes poverty and unemployment. The focus of this study is to explore the extend concept and ideas of andragogy are used by adult facilitators in delivering the content knowledge and how is andragogy effectively used in the knowledge transfer in Adult Education Programme in KwaZulu-Natal province. The study explores the concept of andragogy through the theoretical lens of the Theory of Andragogy. The qualitative research method was used for the study. The thematic data analysis revealed that the stakeholder involved in the planning and policymaking could do more to improve the curriculum by making it adult-friendly and adjusting the teaching method by considering the experience of adult learners during the teaching and learning process. This will make in support of the theory of andragogy which believe in the art and science of teaching an adult. It was also of importance that the study shows the level of involvement of adult learners in determining the learning method.

Developing Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) through Technology-Enhanced Content and Language-Integrated Learning (T-CLIL) Instruction

The emergence of innovative technologies and their increased integration in education, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, has popularized the concept of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) in the educational field. The aim of this study is to determine whether technology-enhanced content and language-integrated learning (T-CLIL) instruction, which involves integrating technology into the CLIL approach that simultaneously focuses on non-language-related educational content and the target language, can improve the TPACK of preservice English teachers in tertiary education in Thailand. The development of their TPACK was monitored through four subjective tests that were employed at predetermined intervals across the experimental program. Quantitative data obtained from these tests were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean scores, standard deviations, and percentages), as well as inferential statistics (using a repeated-measures analysis of variance in SPSS). The findings demonstrated that T-CLIL instruction enhances the TPACK of preservice teachers as indicated by the consistent increase in the mean scores for all seven TPACK elements across the four separate time intervals.

Do kindergarten teachers possess adequate knowledge of basic language constructs to teach children to read English as a foreign language?

The contribution of teacher knowledge to learning outcomes at the beginning stages of literacy acquisition is of growing concern because the ability to provide quality instruction is central to successful literacy acquisition, particularly for pupils with dyslexia. To date, the majority of research has focused on teachers of English as a first language. Yet, English is the most widely taught foreign language today. The present study extends the exploration of teacher knowledge by probing two heretofore unexamined groups of teachers who are responsible for teaching beginning stages of literacy in English as a foreign language: regular class teachers who are non-native English-speaking (N = 96) and native English-speaking teachers (N = 24) working in the kindergarten setting in Hong Kong. As these two teacher groups serve as gatekeepers of beginning English as a foreign language literacy for kindergarten children in Hong Kong, it is crucial to gather information about the depth and quality of their teacher knowledge. This information can be instrumental to improving the quality of beginning literacy instruction in English and assisting early identification of dyslexia. Both groups completed the basic language constructs survey (Binks-Cantrell, Joshi, & Washburn, Annals of Dyslexia, 62, 153-171, 2012a). Results showed while native English teachers performed significantly better than non-native English teachers, total percentage correct scores were below 50%, except for phonological awareness tasks. All teachers scored higher in items requiring syllable as opposed to phoneme manipulation. Only teacher type predicted teachers' performance on the survey. The need for quality instruction, particularly for children at-risk for dyslexia or those struggling at the beginning stages of literacy acquisition, is addressed.

Discovering the impact of reading coursework and discipline-specific mentorship on first-year teachers' self-efficacy: a latent class analysis

Teacher self-efficacy is critical because it predicts teachers' future behavior and impacts teacher turnover. Most teachers begin their career with moderate to high self-efficacy for teaching, but often experience a sharp decline during the first year of teaching. After the first year, their self-efficacy begins to increase but rarely rises to the level it was prior to beginning teaching. Therefore, examining first-year teachers' self-efficacy is extremely important. Previous research generally depicts teachers as a homogeneous group, relying on variable-centered approaches and including self-efficacy as a scaling score, which may not be applicable at the individual level. Simply extending findings from the variable-centered analyses is insufficient. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to examine the heterogeneous profiles of first-year teachers' self-efficacy from the 2011-2012 Schools and Staffing Survey and to investigate how self-efficacy profiles are related to teacher training at the individual level. Using latent class analyses, we found three statistically distinctive classes within self-efficacy: high, moderate, and low. Regardless of teaching assignments, teachers who completed reading content courses during preparation programs and received discipline-specific mentoring during their first year dominated a higher level of self-efficacy. We conclude that these two factors are essential to preparing and retaining high-quality teachers.

How do undergraduate STEM mentors reflect upon their mentoring experiences in an outreach program engaging K-8 youth?

BACKGROUND

Many university students are becoming involved in mentoring programs, yet few studies describe the impact of mentoring on the mentor. Additionally, many studies report that students graduating from college are not prepared to enter the workforce in terms of key career skills and/or content knowledge. Herein, we examine the impact of our program, NE STEM 4U (Nebraska Science, Technology, Engineering and Math for You), in which undergraduate (UG) mentors engage K-8 youth in after-school STEM experiments. The UGs reflected upon their experiences using post-mentoring evaluations, 12- and 24-week interviews, and exit surveys. Many of the questions asked of the mentors related directly to their own professional development, such as self-evaluation of communication, organization, and problem-solving skills, while other questions related to content knowledge and reflection.

RESULTS

Post-mentoring, UGs reflected on the delivery/teaching significantly more (p ≤ 0.001 for each) than other variables (i.e., their own content knowledge gains, the students' content knowledge gains, scaffolding the lessons, or overall professional growth). By analyzing the evaluations and interviews together, some significant, self-reported gains emerged. For example, 94.15% of the UG reported that the experience was beneficial to their education. Additionally, UG mentors self-reported significant gains (p ≤ 0.01 for each) moving from 12- to 24-weeks in the program in the categories of organization, STEM content knowledge, preparedness to teach, and engagement in the program. However, UG did not report significant gains in dependability. Importantly, when mentors ranked themselves at 24-weeks, they were blinded to (unaware of) the ranking they gave themselves at 12-weeks.

CONCLUSIONS

This study helps to fill a gap in the literature by providing insight into the gains UG mentors report attaining after mentoring to K-8 students. These data suggest that participation by UGs in this program promoted self-reflection as well as self-reported gains related to career preparedness and STEM content knowledge.

Providing English foreign language teachers with content knowledge to facilitate decoding and spelling acquisition: a longitudinal perspective

This quasi-experimental study adds to the small existing literature on orthographic-related teacher knowledge in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context. The study examined the impact of a course on English orthography on predominantly non-native-speaking EFL preservice and inservice teachers' orthographic content knowledge, and the extent to which these teachers retained orthographic-related content knowledge four months after participating in a semester course on the topic. In addition, the study examined the relationship between participants' acquired orthographic-related content knowledge and EFL spelling. Both groups of teachers that studied in the course improved on overall orthographic-related content knowledge, both immediately following the course and longitudinally. Preservice and inservice participants showed similar levels of orthographic knowledge prior to course participation and both showed significant improvements compared to controls following course participation. Participants also retained knowledge four months after course completion. Overall, the inservice teachers scored higher on orthographic-related knowledge, possibly as a result of the immediate application of their newly acquired knowledge. An unexpected finding was a lack of interaction between acquired orthographic-related content knowledge and pseudo word spelling scores. Possible methodological limitations, such as number of participants as well as the length and scope of the course, may explain this outcome. This paper also discusses practical implications of this study for EFL decoding and spelling instruction.