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ELT Voices – India Volume 2 Issue 6 | December 2012
ISSN 2230-9136
© Ignite (India) Publishing, Bhavnagar, Gujarat – India
www.eltvoices.in
ELT Research Paper 2
Teacher’s Pedagogical Knowledge and Learner's Success in EFL Contexts Maasoumeh Azma English Department, Shahreza Branch, Islamic Azad University, IRAN Mohammad Reza Talebinejad English Department, Shahreza Branch, Islamic Azad University, IRAN
Maasoumeh Azma & Mohammad Reza Talebinejad: Teacher’s Pedagogical Knowledge and Learner's Success in EFL
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Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between
teacher’s pedagogical knowledge and student’s success. To this end, 197
students and 15 teachers were selected in the intermediate level. In order to
measure teacher’s pedagogical knowledge, the researcher used a test which is
valid and reliable. It consists of 16 multiple choice questions and the purpose of
this study is to measure teacher’s pedagogical knowledge. After collecting data,
the researcher used the descriptive as well as inferential statistics to interpret the
data. The results show a significant relationship between teacher’s pedagogical
knowledge and student’s success.
Keywords: Pedagogical knowledge, Student’s success, EFL
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Introduction
The term teacher cognition refers to “the unobservable cognitive dimension of
teaching- what teachers know, believe and think” (Borg, 2003, p. 81). In other words,
teacher cognition encompasses all the aspects which are related to the mental lives of
teachers, elements which affect teachers’ conception of teaching and the impact of all
these on the way teachers teach and justifications they provide for their teaching
decisions.
Interest in teachers’ mental lives and cognition started with the investigation of the
decisions teachers make in their classes (Shavelson & Stern, 1981). Reducing the
complexity of teachers’ cognition to decision making was part of the continuation of
behaviorist conceptions of teaching since this strategy “created an easy, almost quasi-
behavioral, unit of analysis that could be applied across multiple classroom settings,
content areas and levels of teacher expertise” (Freeman, 2002, p. 5). Research that
addressed teachers’ mental lives in a serious, comprehensive way started mostly
during the 1990s, and in language teaching, after 1996 (Borg, 2003).
Different terms are now used for the description of teachers’ knowledge base;
pedagogical content knowledge or PCK, regarded teacher knowledge as going beyond
what the training or the disciplinary content has offered and comprised of a
qualitatively different body of knowledge which also includes experience (Grossman,
1990).
Clandinin (1985) used the term personal, practical knowledge, which is the sum total
of a teacher’s professional, personal, as well as experiential history. Other
conceptualizations include experiential knowledge (Wallace, 1991), pedagogic
content knowledge (Shulman, 1987), local knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge
base (Van Driel, 1997).
Maasoumeh Azma & Mohammad Reza Talebinejad: Teacher’s Pedagogical Knowledge and Learner's Success in EFL
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Teacher cognition has been investigated from different perspectives in L2 teacher
preparation. Among the aspects of teachers’ pedagogic knowledge, teachers’
knowledge of grammar and instructional decisions relating to grammar teaching have
been addressed by Borg (1998) and Andrews (1994), while Burns (1992) and Tusi
(1996) deal with teachers’ beliefs and their approach to teaching L2 writing. Bartels
(1999) investigated kinds of skills and linguistic knowledge teachers resort to in
implementing their lesson plans in the class, a topic which is also addressed from a
different perspective by Baily (1996). Teachers’ beliefs and changes in teachers’
conceptions of teaching have been the topic of research in Smith (1996).
Of particular interest to the present paper, however, are the studies done on teachers’
pedagogical knowledge base (Gatbonton, 1999) Teacher’s pedagogic knowledge base
is defined by Mullock (2006) as the “accumulated knowledge about the act of
teaching, including goals, procedures, and strategies that form the basis for what
teachers do in classroom” (p.48). In this line of research, attempts are made to
discover the thought processes teachers go through as they assist their students in
mastering formal/communicative features of the L2. Gatbonton (1999), for example,
was interested in finding out what patterns of pedagogic thoughts experienced L2
teachers used and whether there is consistency in such thought patterns among
teachers. Using stimulated recall technique for 7 experienced teachers, she found that
there are 21 categories of pedagogical thoughts that respondents reported using, 8 of
which showed the highest frequency of occurrence.
As it is with the teacher knowledge, there are various terms to describe a specific
aspect of teacher knowledge. The most commonly used terms in this regard include
“action oriented knowledge” (Carter, 1990), referring to the knowledge for immediate
use in teaching practices; “personal practical knowledge” (Marland, 2001), implying
that this knowledge is dialectical, situated, and dynamic; and “professional craft
knowledge” (Shimahara, 1998), viewing a specific component of knowledge as the
product of teachers’ practical experience. Fradd and Lee (1998) present a similar
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definition of teacher knowledge as “the repertoire of knowledge, skills, and
dispositions that teachers require to effectively carry out classroom practices” (pp.
761-762). These definitions signal that teacher knowledge is an inclusive concept,
covering various cognitions and perception, from conscious viewpoints to
unconscious intuitions.
Teacher knowledge also appears as a multidimensional concept. As Verloop, Van
Driel, and Meijer (2001) conclude, “in the mind of the teacher, components of
knowledge, beliefs, conceptions, and intuitions are inextricably intertwined” (p. 446).
II. Literature Review
A. The Nature of Knowledge in Research on Teacher Education
As reflected in the literature the concept of “knowledge” pertinent to research
programs exploring teachers and teaching can generally be divided into two main
categories, "teacher-generated knowledge", as a result of their personal experience, as
opposed to "teacher education research oriented teacher knowledge"(carter,1990).
However, epistemologically, it is intended to elaborate on knowledge in general and
teacher’s knowledge in particular i.e. considering the research features which focus on
or imply the very nature of knowledge comprising its forms, its justification reasons,
its differentiation from belief and opinion. Fenstermacher (1993) further holds that the
following questions are required to be answered to facilitate the epistemological
scrutiny:
1. What is known about effective teaching?
2. What do teachers know?
3. What knowledge is essential for teaching?
4. Who produces knowledge about teaching?
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Before going through a deeper exploration of the questions, a brief overview needs to
be presented. The first question intends to address the concept of knowledge in as it is
perceived in the conventional behavioral science –called formal knowledge. To
exemplify this form of knowledge one can recall the process-product studies of
teaching. The second question points to teacher knowledge acquired as a result of their
personal professional experience which includes practical, personal practical, situated,
local, rational, and tacit. The first two questions shed light on the epistemological
types of knowledge proposed in the research literature- formal knowledge and
practical knowledge. The third question on the other hand leads us to the knowledge
which is quintessential for teaching. To elaborate on this question one can refer to the
research program conducted by Lee Shulman and his colleagues. Nevertheless,
Shulman’s work does not tend to introduce a different type of knowledge in contrast
to those introduced in the two first questions. In fact the study aims at presenting the
forms and types of knowledge essential to a competent teaching. And finally the
fourth question directs us to investigate the difference between knowledge generated
by university-based researchers and that generated by participating teachers. To serve
as the exemplar in addressing the fourth question the work of Marilyn Cochran-Smith
and Susan Lytle is quite prominent. In the following subsections the above mentioned
four questions will be thoroughly explored.
B. EFL Teachers’ Pedagogical Knowledge:
According to Zhang’s study another salient theme about Chinese EFL teacher
knowledge is EFL teachers’ pedagogical knowledge. Pedagogical knowledge can be
subsumed into two categories: management of learning and management of resources
(Tsui, 2003). In this section, the participants’ conceptions of EFL teachers’
pedagogical knowledge will be reported, focusing on these two dimensions.
The term ‘management of learning’ is employed in a wider sense than the term
‘classroom management’ (Tsui, 2003). Although management of learning primarily
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involves classroom management, it is also concerned with out-of-classroom
management. Classroom management refers to aspects of classroom organization, for
example, using pair or group work, maintaining discipline, and dealing with daily
business (e.g., collecting assignments). Out-of-class management refers to what
teachers do before or after class to facilitate students’ learning. The data shows that
most of the findings are concerned with classroom management.
For classroom management, previous studies indicate that the ability to conduct
effective classroom management is an important quality of an effective language
teacher (Arends, 1998; Gray, 2001). All of the seven teacher-participants also
perceived effective classroom management to be an essential quality of a Chinese EFL
teacher.
C. Major Theoretical Framework in Student’s Success
Persistence and educational attainment or achieving the desired degree or educational
credential is important in student success. These perspectives emphasize to varying
degrees the importance of academic preparation and the quality of student experiences
during schools. There are Tinto’s (1986) and Braxton’s (2003) framework of high
school student departure. These theoretical perspectives are sociological,
organizational, psychological, cultural, and economic, all of which contribute to
student’s success in college.
Tinto’s (1975) interactionalist theory was the dominant sociological perspective,
having attained near paradigmatic status (Braxton, 2003; Johnson 1997; Pascarella &
Terenzini 2005).
III. Statement of the Problem
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The question of what knowledge, attitude, behaviors and skills teachers should
possess is the subject of much debate in many cultures. The importance of good
teachers is no secret. Schools and their communities have always sought out the best
teachers they could get in the belief that their students success depends on it. One of
the most crucial types of teacher’s knowledge base which directly influences the
outcome of the instruction is acquired and formed partly through the teacher education
programs teacher training courses, and actual classroom experience.
The question of how teachers learn to teach is clearly basic to the enterprise of teacher
education. Only recently, however have researchers begun to systematically frame and
study this question. For the most part attention in teacher’s education has traditionally
been focused on what teachers need to know and how they can be trained, rather than
on what they actually know or how that knowledge is acquired. The perspective, in
other words, has been from the outside, external to the teachers who are learning and
the processes by which they are educated. This study therefore is intended to shed
some light at the way learners perceives the teacher’s assumed pedagogical
knowledge.
IV. Research Questions
With regard to what was said above, this study tried to seek answers to the following
question:
1. What is the relationship between the teachers’ assumed pedagogical knowledge and
the learner’s success in EFL courses?
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V. Methodology
A. Participants
First of all, the researcher selected fifteen teachers at intermediate levels at language
schools. Then, the researcher selected 100 female students that their native language is
Persian. They participated in a Test, which is a reliable and valid test.
B. Instrumentation
This study made use of the following materials for data collection.
C. Teacher’s pedagogical knowledge Questionnaire
In order to measure teacher’s pedagogical knowledge, the researcher used a test which
is valid and reliable. It consists of 16 multiple choice questions and the purpose of this
study is to measure teacher’s pedagogical knowledge. The reliability was estimated
through a pilot test which administered in an English institute. 5 participants with
master degrees answered the questions and the result shows the questions are reliable.
VII. Results
A. Descriptive statistics of the scores
The following table shows the basic information about student’s grades. This
information includes average, standard deviation, minimum and number of students in
each class. The lowest score is 58 in class k and the highest score is in class L, E and
D.
Table 4.1. Descriptive statistics of EFL classes
CLASS Mean Std. deviation Minimum Maximum N items
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A 80.37 8.75 60.75 92.50 15
B 86.3 5.46 78.0 95.0 10
C 80.73 10.08 61.0 92.0 22
D 88.36 11.01 60.0 100.0 11
E 91.50 7.85 70.09 100 18
F 90.18 2.64 85.0 95.0 11
G 85.43 7.68 70.0 97.0 22
H 84.42 4.81 77.0 92.50 12
I 89.62 9.12 72.0 99.0 8
J 81.7 7.39 70.0 91.0 7
K 84.38 11.49 58.0 99.0 21
L 84.06 8.98 70.0 100.0 16
M 89.0 8.73 78.0 98.0 11
N 89.93 5.43 82.0 98.0 15
O 84.17 13.66 60.0 98.0 23
The following figure shows clearly the mean scores of different classes. Classes E and
A attained the highest mean and the lowest mean of all groups respectively.
Figure 4.1. The mean scores of EFL classes
In order to investigate the normal distribution of scores in different classes a
Kolomogrov-Smirnov test was performed and the results, as indicated in Table 4.2,
showed that in all groups the measured significance level was higher than the assumed
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level of significance (i.e., 0.05), so it can be concluded that there was no significant
difference among participants regarding their scores.
Table 4.2. Kolmogorov-Smirnov about Score
Teacher A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
Kolmogorov-Smirnov
Z .92 .70 .81 .66 .91 .66 .57 .37 .46 .51 .82 .69 .99 .75 1.1
Sig. .36 .706 .52 .77 .36 .77 .89 .99 .98 .95 .51 .71 .27 .61 .12
The normal distribution of scores paved the way for performing a one-way ANOVA
to find whether there is significant difference between mean scores of all groups. The
results showed that there is a significant difference (F = 2.26, p < .05) among the
means of all classes (see Table 4.3).
Table 4.3. ANOVA on the means of all groups
Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups 2655.959 14 189.711 2.261 .007
Within Groups 17371.999 207 83.923
Total 20027.958 221
B. Analysis of Questionnaires
In order to test the first null hypothesis of study, 15 EFL teachers were selected and
they were given pedagogical knowledge questionnaire that was a five-point Likert-
type questionnaire.
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The effect size or eta squared, according to table 4.4, was large (eta squared = 0.31).
It means that its magnitude is large enough to interpret that the relationship between
teachers' perception of pedagogical knowledge and students' success was meaningful.
In other words, the more knowledgeable the teacher is, the more successful the
students are.
Table 4.4. Directional Measures
Value
Nominal by Interval Eta SUCCESSFUL .312
C. Reliability analysis
In order to calculate the reliability of the questionnaires, Cronbach's alpha formula
was used. The results are shown in the following table.
Table 4.5. Reliability Analysis
Questionnaire N of Items Cronbach's Alpha
student’s motivation 13 .640
student’s perception of teacher’s pedagogical
knowledge
20 .900
Teachers 16 .804
In order to see whether there is a relationship between teachers’ assumed pedagogical
knowledge and the learner’s success in EFL courses, a Chi-square was performed and
the results, as shown in Table 4.6, indicated that the value of Chi-square is significant
at the level of .05. Therefore, there is a significant relationship between teachers'
pedagogical knowledge and learners' success in EFL courses and the first null
hypothesis of study was rejected.
The results showed that
Table 4.6: Chi-Square Tests
Value Df Sig
Pearson Chi-Square 21.691 10 .017
N 223
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students' motivation questionnaire did not attain the satisfactory level of reliability (r =
.64). The students' perception of teachers' pedagogical knowledge (r = .90) and
teachers' questionnaires (r = .80) showed to be reliable.
VIII. Discussion
In this study, 194 female intermediate students were filled two questionnaires of
student’s perception toward teacher’s pedagogical knowledge and student’s
motivation. In addition, 15 teachers were filled teachers' pedagogical knowledge
questionnaire. The correlation between these questionnaires was analyzed by the
SPSS. The major findings are discussed below.
Based on the calculated Cronbach’s Alpha for the questionnaire, we can rely on the
reliability of them. The results of chi-square showed that there is a correlation between
students' success and teachers' pedagogical knowledge. In other words, the more
knowledgeable the teachers are, the more successful the students are. Therefore, the
first null hypothesis of study was rejected. In addition, based on correlation, we come
to the conclusion that there is a significant correlation between student’s motivation
and their perception toward teachers. Thus, the second null hypothesis of study was
also rejected.
Among the aspects of teacher’s pedagogical knowledge, teachers’ knowledge of
grammar and instructional decisions relating to grammar teaching have been
addressed by Borg (1998; 1999) and Andrews (1994), and they found that teachers'
knowledge of grammar helped to improve teachers' satisfaction of their job as well as
students' motivation in learning subject matters. The results of this study confirmed
the findings of their studies.
In a similar way, Ariogul (2007) investigated how language teachers are influenced by
three background sources: teachers’ prior language learning experiences, prior
teaching experience, and professional coursework in pre- and in-service education.
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The findings of study revealed that those three sources helped them in the process of
decision-making and instruction. The results of the present study also confirmed the
findings of Ariogul (2007) study.
In a study by Black (2008) the role of content and pedagogical knowledge of teachers
as well as the changes in both types of knowledge as a result of professional
development was investigated. It was found that participants did not have a deep
understanding of the content. They also exhibited limited pedagogical content
knowledge. Classroom observations of teachers’ instructional practices before and
after professional development showed very little difference in their content
knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. The results of the present study
confirmed Black's (2008) study in such a way that limited knowledge of subject
matter significantly declined the students' performance.
Jones and Marland (2004) prepared cognitive tools and frameworks to enhance
teachers' pedagogical knowledge in primary school technology education. The
increase in the contents of pedagogical knowledge resulted in enhanced teacher
knowledge about technology including the nature of technology, areas of technology
and specific technological knowledge, changed pedagogical approaches, enhanced
teacher student interaction, refinement of appropriate learning outcomes, critical
decision making, improved teacher confidence, and enhanced student learning. The
results of the present study also approved the findings of Jones and Moreland (2004).
Adediwura and Tayo (2007) investigated the relationship between Nigerian students’
perception of teachers’ knowledge of subject matter, attitude to work and teaching
skills on students’ academic performance. The result showed that students’ perception
of teachers’ knowledge of subject matter, attitude to work and teaching skills has a
significant relationship on students’ academic performance. Therefore, the results of
this study also confirmed what Adediwura and Tayo (2007) found in their study.
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The results from Schulman's (1987) study were interpreted as meaning that teacher’s
pedagogical knowledge is important in student’s success. Furthermore, there is a
relationship between student’s perception and their motivation. This is the point that
was significantly showed in this study.
IX. Conclusions
In order to enhance learners' performance in an EFL course, learners need to get
information from a reliable source. The results of the present study was significantly
supported the idea that the teacher's pedagogical knowledge would influence students'
success in EFL courses. The teachers' knowledge of subject matter has a positive
relationship with learners' own achievement in the class.
To sum up, EFL teachers' knowledge of the language skills and components would
play a significant role in improving learners' knowledge, and success.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Maasoumeh Azma received her B.A. in TEFL from Shiraz Azad University, Shiraz, Iran in
2007. She furthered her university studies on English education for an M.A. degree in TEFL
and earned her M.A. degree from Shahreza Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran in 2012.As
an EFL teacher, she has been teaching English to Iranian EFL learners in several language
schools since 2007.She is currently teaching English courses at different universities and
language schools in Shiraz. This paper is based on her Master’s thesis.
Mohammad Reza Talebinejad is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Islamic
Azad University, Shahreza Branch. He is also an associate faculty member at Sheikhbahaee
University, Iran. Dr. Talebinejad received his B.A. in English Language and Literature,
University of Isfahan in 1975. He then got his MA in TEFL from the University of Texas at
Austin, USA in 1977. For his doctoral degree, Dr. Talebinejad was admitted to the University
of Sheffield, UK, where he did his PhD in Applied Linguistics in 1994.
He has widely published in Iranian as well as International professional journals such as
Metaphor and Symbol, English Teaching Forum, Language Testing, IJAl, Language and
Translation, Journal of Social Sciences, The International Journal of Humanities, and other
local and international journals. Dr. Talebinejad has presented papers in International
conferences such as AILA, 2000; Atiner, 2011; RAAM, 2002, 2001 in Paris and Tunis,
EUROSLA, Switzerland, 2006; Multicultural Conference, 2007, China. In addition, Dr.
Talebinejad has authored/coauthored eight books in related fields and ESP.