Research on Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK): Teachers’ Views on Language

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate the views on language shown in the practices of six Chinese
in-service teachers teaching College English at two universities in the south of China by using a
qualitative multiple case study approach. These views on language were used to understand the
characteristics of the participant teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) so as to make
suggestions for in-service College English teacher education and development in mainland China. The
study included three rounds of data collection (pre-, in-, and post-class teaching observation), and the
college English classroom teaching content analysis approach was applied in the data analysis across
the cases. Teachers’ views on language include structural, functional, and interactional views. In this
study, most participant teachers showed interactional views on language. Another interesting point in
the data was that different views on language could be held by a single teacher in one class. This is not
really surprising because teachers’ views on language are reflected in their classroom pedagogical
tasks.