Abstract
Pedagogical knowledge has been the subject of theoretical and empirical studies. However, no research has so far integrated the existing scholarship with data to develop and validate a framework for pedagogical knowledge in English language teaching informed by lifelong-learning, complex-system perspectives. In the absence of such research, we used a mixed method research design through a systematic review of the literature, semi-structured interviews with experienced teachers (N=10) and teacher educators (N=10), as well as a survey of 336 practising teachers in Iran to: (1) develop a framework for pedagogical knowledge; and (2) validate this framework by designing a self-assessment questionnaire for pedagogical knowledge. Our analyses yielded a nine-component model that included: knowledge of subject matter; knowledge of teaching; knowledge of students; knowledge of classroom management; knowledge of educational context; knowledge of democracy, equity and diversity; knowledge of tests/exams; knowledge of learning; and knowledge of (professional) self. Within this nine-factor framework, each component of pedagogical knowledge consists of a number of subcomponents. The proposed framework highlights the multidimensionality and complexity of pedagogical knowledge, and the mutually constitutive relationships among different knowledge domains.
Highlights
Despite substantial research on teaching over the past few decades, studies of teaching remain largely patchy and disjointed, leading to what Cochran–Smith and Villegas (2015: 8) have described as a ‘sprawling and uneven field’
Given that some aspects of pedagogical knowledge are specific to learning areas, we focused on the literature review on English language teaching
Understanding what constitutes pedagogical knowledge, poses several ontological, epistemological and methodological questions about the nature of the thinking mind, the relationship between embodied, articulated and unarticulated forms of knowing, the ways in which personal biographies, time, space and activity interact in the ongoingproduction of knowledge, and how one can best provide an account of pedagogical knowledge without reducing its personal and contextual complexities
Summary
Despite substantial research on teaching over the past few decades, studies of teaching remain largely patchy and disjointed, leading to what Cochran–Smith and Villegas (2015: 8) have described as a ‘sprawling and uneven field’. Despite the growing body of scholarship on pedagogical knowledge, part of the limitations of existing research in teaching to date is the way in which pedagogical knowledge is conceptualized either as a discrete construct with clear-cut boundaries or as a finished product that remains uniform across time, space and social context. The multiplicity of sources that contribute to teachers’ learning prompts our attention to the ongoing and open-ended processes by which teachers develop their individual, self-directed modes of learning in response to the particularities of their life situations (Su et al, 2018) It is within this broad spectrum of lifelong learning to teach that teachers, as active and reflective practitioners, build their interactive cognition and develop, amend and revisit their pedagogical knowledge. Conceptualizations of pedagogical knowledge, need to account for the evidence base that points to the complexities and dynamics of pedagogical knowledge and the multilevel and multidimensional processes of learning to teach
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