Summary of Journal 1

Improving Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) of Pre-Service English Language Teachers

By Ceylan Yangın Ersanli in 2016

A.      Background of Research

The rapid developments in the area of digital technologies put the use of technology in the heart of nearly every aspect of individuals’ lives. This broad use of technology has many positive effects on people’s everyday lives. Education is not an exception. The teaching and learning environments are re-designed accordingly allowing to Internet access. Nearly all of the students have their personal computers. They are digital natives and can effectively use the Internet resources. In the light of these technological developments it appears that there is a high expectancy for pre-service English language teachers’ meaningful application of their technological knowledge into their profession. In this respect, it would be beneficial to be informed about TPACK applications in the area of English language teaching.

Though many teachers do not ignore possible benefits of using digital resources to help students’ academic achievement, several studies indicate teachers may be reluctant to use or integrate technology to support their classes (Conlon & Simpson, 2003; Cuban, 2001; Watson, 2001). Among several reasons, not knowing how to effectively use technology can be cited as a major cause. Knowledge about technology is complex and dynamic. The ever-changing nature of technology requires constant up dating. Staying current might be time consuming for teachers. Yet, it is inevitable for teachers to acquire TPACK. To this end, a constructivist approach is thought to be effective in that knowledge is constructed through interactive experiences with the world and others. A perspective assuming experience as a necessary condition for the acquisition of knowledge might infer that training and workshop sessions help pre-service teachers acquire and improve TPACK.

To this end, the present study employed a five-week training and workshop on TPACK for pre-service English language teachers in a state university as a part of their course requirement. The following research questions guided the study:

1)      Will  TPACK  of  pre-service  English  language  teachers  improve  as  a  result  of  TPACK  training  and workshops?

2)      Do TPACK of pre-service English language teachers differ according to gender?

3)      What are the opinions of pre-service English language teachers about TPACK training and workshops?

B.       Theory

In the past, teaching and learning environment is defined as an intersection of two main domains; pedagogical and content knowledge (PCK). The idea was first proposed by Schulman (1986). PCK refers to the unique form of professional knowledge that teachers possess in making the content knowledge accessible to the students through some pedagogical methods (Chai, Koh, & Tsai, 2013). Today, with the effects of educational technologies, Shulman’s idea is built on by adding a new technology component. With the emergence of technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) technology-supported courses have gained  priority.  In  very  broad  terms  TPACK  can  be  defined  as  a  framework  which  synthesizes  digital technologies into classroom teaching and learning. The core components of TPACK are content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), and the technological knowledge (TK). These three basic forms of knowledge have overlapping parts namely; pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), technological content knowledge (TCK), technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) and the TPACK. The following figure illustrates the overlapping areas of knowledge.

Figure: The components of the TPACK framework (graphic from TPCK - Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, 2010)

C.      Research Methodology

The study used a mixed design involving both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Quantitative data was gathered through TPACK Scale developed and validated by Solak and Çakır (2014). The pre-service English language teachers also kept journals prior to and after the training and workshops. Content analysis of the journals provided qualitative data.

The participants of the study were 59 pre-service teachers in an English Language Teacher Training Program in a state university. The participants were on their third year of training. That was the year when methodology courses (the courses about pedagogy and language teaching) were the most. The participants consist of 40 females and 1 9 males.

The pre-service English language teachers took the TPACK inventory before and after the TPACK training and workshops. The TPACK scale was developed by Solak and Çakır (2014). The data was analyzed using SPSS 21 program. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test revealed normal distribution (.200) and paired samples t-test results and descriptive statistics findings were presented.

The participants were also asked to keep journal entries before and after the TPACK training and workshops. The  pre-service  English  language  teachers  were  asked  to  write  about  how  ICT  skills,  their  pedagogical knowledge and ELT knowledge could be integrated to teach English. They were also asked to describe actual educational technology activities to teach English effectively both before and after the training and workshops. The journal entries were analyzed through Constant Comparison Method suggested by Miles and Huberman (1994), which yields themes and patterns as a result of sorting, coding and connecting pieces of data. Two raters sorted, coded and identified the categories separately to ensure reliability of qualitative analysis. The inter-rater reliability the formula (the number of agreements/the number of agreements (x) the number of disagreements multiplied by 100) suggested by Tawney and Gast (1984) was used. The inter-rater reliability of the qualitative data in the study was found .90, which indicated a high consensus on the coding and categorisation of data (Gwet, 2014).

D.      Finding and Discussion

There are some findings and discuccion below which can be resumed:

a.       The paired samples t test results indicated a 0.025 significance between pre and post test results. The total means showed that the pre-service English language teachers improved their total scores in the post-test. The pre-test result is 75.729 and post-test result is 78.881. It can be concluded that the TPACK training and workshops served the purpose.

b.      As for sub-categories of the scale, the pre-service English language teachers’ performance indicated statistically significant difference in Content Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge and Pedagogical Content Knowledge. The mean scores for each section revealed an improvement in post-scores. It may be concluded that the trainings and workshops improved content and pedagogical knowledge of the pre-service English language teachers.

c.       The scores of male and female pre-service English language teachers presented statistically significant difference in pre- and post- applications of the TPACK Scale. Both groups increased their mean scores, however, the increase in female pre-service English language teachers was a lot higher though they were poorer at the beginning.

d.      Before the TPACK training and workshops the pre-service English language teachers listed several applications, websites and hardware as new technology to be used in the classroom. They emphasized the potential that new technologies might foster motivation and interest into the lessons. However, as for the purpose, they could only mention very limited and superficial uses such as improving listening, pronunciation and vocabulary. They failed to explain how learning objectives could be achieved.

After the TPACK training and workshops, the journal entries of pre-service English language teachers revealed a much larger list of online applications, software and websites. Most of these applications and websites were related to educational purposes. The possible purposes to use technology had increased a great deal. Moreover, the pre-service English language teachers’ awareness about how to optimize learning conditions had expanded. They could clearly specify how these new technologies could be used in the classroom to increase motivation and to achieve intended learning outcomes. The journals revealed descriptions of several actual classroom procedures and materials developed by the pre-service English language teachers.

E.       Conclusion and Suggestion

Being able to teach with technology requires an understanding of how technology, pedagogy and content interact to support student learning; to be precise, it involves the skill and knowledge to make use of a digital tool or application with its all features, limitations and possibilities, to support students’ learning of a given topic or content. To this end, this study aimed to investigate the effect of the TPACK workshops and training on pre-service teachers.

Both qualitative and quantitative data gathering methods were used in the study. The data gathered from the TPACK scale used before and after the training suggested a statistically significant increase in the pre-service English language teachers’ level of TPACK.

As for the second research question, although both of the groups revealed an increase in their mean scores in the post test. The statistical results suggested a higher increase in female pre-service English language teachers’ post test results when compared with the males. Thus, female pre-service English language teachers revealed a much higher improvement in their technological knowledge after the training.

The  study  suggested  that  training  and  workshop  studies  were  effective  in  improving  pre-service  English language  teachers’ awareness  of  possible  and  effective  uses  of  digital  technologies  in  the  classroom  for educational purposes. The pre-service English language teachers could gain knowledge and skills in integrating technology with their content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge by producing actual learning materials. Therefore, it is suggested that TPACK training and materials development workshops should be integrated into teacher training programs.