Teacher Knowledge:
A Conceptualization Based
on an Empirical Study
Yi’an WU
Beijing Foreign Studies University
wuyian@bfsu.edu.cn
The Outline
1. Why teacher knowledge (TK)?
2. Earlier research into TK
3. The present study
4. From EFL teachers’ professional profile
to EFL teacher knowledge
5. Implications
1. Why teacher knowledge? Background
Key elements in TEFL
-The teacher
-The learner
-The target language
-The context of teaching & learning
The relationship and status of research
into them
Teacher Research
Traditional, experience-based until mid-
1980s
Research in general education: 1980s
Research in foreign language education:
1990s
In China: Around the turn of the new
century
Key issues in teacher research
The nature of teaching
Teacher knowledge
Teacher learning and development
Teacher education
Theoretical underpinning:
Nature of teaching
As doing: Behavioural
As thinking and doing: Cognitive
As interpreting: Hermeneutic (解释学的)
(Freeman, D. 1996)
Nature of learning: The teacher learner
As input-output system: Behaviourism
With self-agency: Humanistic
psychology
As a constructivist: Constructivism
(cognitive)
As a social being: Social constructivism
(Roberts, J. 1998)
Research on teacher knowledge
What’s the basic structure of teacher
knowledge?
What constitutes teacher’s practical
knowledge?
What’s the relationship between teacher
knowledge and teacher behaviour?
What are the sources of teacher knowledge?
（刘学惠，2005）
The present study
The direct purpose: The construct of effective
EFL teacher’s professional profile
The implication: Towards a construct of EFL
teacher knowledge base
Significance
-Teacher education
-Teacher development
-Teacher accreditation
2. Earlier research
The nature of human knowledge
-Propositional /technical
-Practical
-Accumulated through doing
-Tacit, often embedded in
narrative
(Schön 1983)
Shulman’s knowledge base:
General education (1987)
Content knowledge
General pedagogical knowledge
Curriculum knowledge
Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)
Knowledge of learners and their
characteristics
Knowledge of educational context
Knowledge of educational ends, purposed,
and values, and their philosophical and
historical grounds
Richard’s knowledge types: ESL
teacher education (1998)
Two dimensions of language teacher
knowledge
-Subject matter knowledge and how
curricular and content aspects of
teaching are conceptualized;
-Teacher’s personal views of what
constitutes of good teaching
Richards’ knowledge base
Theories of teaching
Teaching skills
Communication skills
Subject matter knowledge
pedagogical reasoning and decision
making
Contextual knowledge
3. The present study
Research purposes: (1) To develop a
professional profile of effective EFL
teachers; (2) To explore into factors
facilitating professional development
Participants: 213 effective EFL teachers
from 36 universities across China
Instruments: Survey (213), interview
(19)
The survey
A Likert scale of 44 items clustered around 5
variables
-view of EFL teaching: goals and attitude
-view of teaching and learning: learner
orientation
-pedagogical content competence (PCC):
English knowledge and skills
-PCC: pedagogical competence
-teacher learning and development
The survey
Two open questions
-In what respects do you think you are
different from the less effective EFL
teachers? (What)
-What factors have contributed to your
professional development? Give an
example of how each of these factors
has been at work. (How)
The interview
-Semi-structured and in-depth
-Designed on the basis of the responses
to the two questions in the survey
-Aimed at in-depth extension and
explanation of the points mentioned
Analyses applied
Likert scale items
-Descriptive statistics (SPSS 11.5)
-reliability indices (SPSS 11.5)
Data from open questions and
interviews: By theme analysis and
counting of same themes
(Miles & Huberman 1994)
Reliability indices
分类变量 项目 有效个 信度系数 总均
数 案数 （） 值
教学观：目标与态度 5 213 .5829 4.4160
教学观：以学生为主 7 212 .7246 4.5263
体
学科教学能力：英语 4 213 .7482 4.5176
知识与能力
学科教学能力：教学 16 211 .8724 4.4639
能力
教师学习与发展 12 211 .8363 4.4254
Findings-1
Inseparableness of what and how,
content and route
e.g. Love of the profession
-Item mean: 4.68/5
-106 instances of mentioning
-As content
-As route, a factor leading to
effectiveness
An example
Response to open Q1
“对教学的敬业精神。对学生有耐心”
Response to open Q2
“责任心、敬业精神。…… 教任何班级、
任何种类的学生我都会努力做到自己的
最好。”
Dedication
-As a quality
-As a causal factor
No clear boundary between a quality
and its fostering factors, the content
and route, or the what and how
Implication: The professional profile
must embrace both content and rout
Findings-2: The profile
A. View of English education and
professional ethics
B. Conception of EFL teaching and
learning
C. Pedagogical content competence
D. View of professional development
A. View of English education and
professional ethics (职业观与职业道德)
View of English education
-A sense of mission with a two fold
purpose: help learners grow into a all-
round, worthy person; master English
Professional ethics
-Dedication, responsibility,
conscientiousness
-Love of, care and respect for learners
B. Conception of EFL teaching
and learning (外语教学观)
Learner-oriented teaching
-Taking a learner’s perspective, probing into
the process of learning
-Helping learners develop interest and
confidence in learning
-Emphasis on learning strategies and abilities
Language as tool and as carrier of the target
language culture
Language teaching as a combination of
science and art
C. Pedagogical content competence:
10 indices (外语学科教学能力)
1) A good command of spoken & written
English; a solid grounding in the form,
meaning and use of English; a broad
scope of world knowledge
2) Good at creating a motivating and
friendly learning environment
3) Having clear instruction goals towards
which activities are organized
4) Ready to adjust content and instruction to
learners’ emerging needs
5) Alert to opportunities to create learning
moments
6) Good at organizing learning targeted at
development of both accuracy and fluency
7) Good at bringing out the cultural and
humanistic potential of content
8) Alert to opportunities for illuminating
how the English language works
9) Alert to opportunities for guiding
learners in how to learn
10) Clear about how one’s own teaching
contributes to curriculum goals
D. View of professional growth
(教师发展观)
Teaching as a continued process of teacher
learning
Featured by reflective, exploratory practice
with the classroom as the platform
Internal motivation from a strong love of the
profession
External forces at work: an encouraging
teaching environment, mentors, opportunities
to upgrade knowledge and expertise
Relations among 4 dimensions
课堂行为
外语学科教学能力 外语教学观
(学科知识+教学知识）
职业观和道德观 教师学习与发展观
4. From the professional profile to
EFL teacher knowledge base
Type 1: Subject knowledge
Type 2: Pedagogical knowledge
Type 3: Knowledge outside the above:
Related to view of education,
professional ethics, view of self-
development, etc.
Human interests and human knowledge
Habermas’ (1972) conception of fundamental
human interests and human knowledge
-Technical (towards control)
-Practical (towards understanding)
-Emancipatory (towards empowerment , the
ability of individuals/groups to take control of
their own lives in autonomous and
responsible way
EFL teacher knowledge types
1) Subject knowledge
2) Pedagogical knowledge
-Curriculum goals
-Contextual
~The classroom context
~The sociocultural context of the
learning institution
-Pedagogical process of learning and
teaching
3) Emancipatory knowledge
-Spiritual in nature
-View of and attitude towards the TEFL
profession, professional ethics
-An awareness, an understanding of the
importance of self-reflection and
responsibility
Man’s full development means that he/she has
genuinely emancipated himself/herself in the
sense that he/she is in full control of those
external forces with the potential to further
his/her talent and capacity.
Karl Marx (1960, in 张楚廷 2006)
To develop oneself, it is necessary to
draw upon the external positive forces,
to take control (驾驭) of them so as to
emancipate oneself. In this sense,
man’s development is their
emancipation.
When EFL teachers regard teaching as an
integral part of their life and when they’ve
taken control of external positive forces and
free from the bounds of negative forces,
teaching is no longer a job only, but also life
itself, and an enjoyment. They find
themselves in complete harmony with the
environment, to which they are a part and
add positive input.
Two broad types of knowledge
Pedagogical content knowledge
-A merging of subject matter knowledge and
pedagogical knowledge (technical knowledge
and practical knowledge in Harbemas’ sense)
-Subsuming the B & C dimensions of the
professional profile, i.e., view of teaching and
learning & pedagogical content competence
Emancipatory knowledge
-Spiritual in nature
-Beyond the scope of foreign language
teaching
-Subsuming the A & D dimensions of the
profile, i.e., view of the profession and
professional development, professional ethics
-The aim of education
5. Implications
“To be a good teacher, one needs to
strive to be a good (emancipated)
person”
For further research
-Pedagogical content knowledge
-Emancipatory knowledge
-Importance of classroom research
Cited references
Freeman, D. & Richards, J. (eds.). 1996. Teacher learning in
language teaching. New York: CUP.
Habermas, J. 1972. Knowledge and human interests. Cambridge:
Polity Press.
Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. M. 1994. Qualitative data analysis (2nd
ed.). London: SAGE.
Richards, J. 1998. Beyond training. Cambridge: CUP.
Roberts, J. 1998. Language teacher education. London: Arnold
Schon, D. A. 1983. The reflective practitioner: How professionals
think in action. London: Temple.
刘学惠，2005，外语教师教育研究综述，外语教学与研究 37（3）。
张楚廷，2006，教育哲学，北京：科学教育出版社。
Thank You