As a concept that represents teacher professionalism and expertise, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has received extensive research attention since the mid-1980s. PCK refers to the blending of content and pedagogy into an understanding of how particular aspects of subject matter are organized, adapted, and represented for instruction (Shulman, 1987). Recent studies have shown that PCK impacts instruction quality and student learning (Beyer & Davis, 2012). Nevertheless, in the field of English language teaching (ELT), PCK remains unnoticed by many language teachers (Kind & Chan, 2019). PCK pertaining to speaking instruction is even more underrepresented. Meanwhile, English teaching in mainland China has undergone reforms aimed at promoting students' oral proficiency, but many problems still exist. Most studies have explored teaching methodologies, learning strategies, and the assessment of speaking. However, there is not much research on improving teaching effectiveness from the perspective of teachers' PCK. This qualitative multiple case study examines teachers' PCK from the perspective of teaching English speaking over a two-year period. Purposeful sampling was employed, and five EFL instructors were the key informants. The instructors worked in different universities in mainland China and taught various levels of speaking courses. The data include classroom observations, teacher interviews, student interviews, reflection journals from the teachers, and various course syllabuses. The study findings emphasize the contents and features of EFL teachers' PCK in a more systematic way and show that teachers' PCK comprises six components: knowledge of features of curriculum, pedagogy, learners' challenges, language enhancement, course evaluation, and the educational context. Each category contains a variety of subcategories. Two paths are revealed for the development of PCK: one path is for teachers to develop their PCK by studying the relevant literature and then transform that knowledge into students' comprehensible knowledge based on students' understanding; another path is for teachers to transfer or adjust PCK from other courses or people to their own instruction and then develop PCK through evaluation and reflection. The study also shows that based on three developmental models (the trial-based approach, top-down approach, and inquiry-based approach), the teacher participants advanced in three aspects: spiritual enrichment, renewed teacher roles, and philosophical inquiry. In addition, in this study, PCK is proven to be dynamic, personal, and transformative rather than static, canonical, and integrative. Theoretically, this study proposes a comprehensive framework of PCK components and development for speaking instructors and underscores the concept of meta-representations. It adds to the literature on EFL teachers' cognition in the Chinese context, thus broadening and enriching the research on EFL teachers' PCK in the educational field. Practically, the study highlights the importance of appropriating the educational context, establishing teacher beliefs and philosophy, and improving teachers' critical literacy as well as their language competency. The findings can also enhance teacher educators' and policy-makers'awareness of specific subject matter and deepen their understanding of speaking instruction. The findings shed light on how to improve overall EFL speaking pedagogy, empower EFL teachers, and facilitate their professional development within the context of English curriculum reform. Limitations of the study lie in its restricted timeframe, limited resources, and sampling size. Future research directions could be to conduct a longitudinal study with more participants or to develop and quantify PCK measurements.

Formative assessment probes, known as Keeley probes, are one tool teachers use to reveal students' scientific misconceptions, so that they can move them closer to conceptual understanding. The purpose of this research was to document how four elementary school teachers used formative assessment probes to plan and adapt instruction to improve student learning. Specifically: How did teachers choose appropriate probes? What learning goals did teachers hope to address by using the probe?? What instructional sequences did teachers envision when planning to use a probe? What did teachers notice when analyzing student data from a probe? How did teachers use the information to modify their instructional practice? This exploratory study addresses key issues by exploring through qualitative methods how four elementary teachers used Keeley formative assessment probes in the classroom through a series of individual and group interviews. The results, reported as case studies and themes, indicate that Keeley probes may be used to help teachers strengthen their pedagogical content knowledge and as an anchor for classroom discussions. Teachers reported that students were highly engaged when considering Keeley probing questions. Teachers in this study had questions about how to analyze data collected through formative assessment, and what instructional steps they needed to take to address misconceptions. The central finding of the study is that a teacher's subject-area knowledge as well as the ability to identify students' misconceptions and make instructional decisions based on those ideas, both elements of pedagogical content knowledge, play a key role in how effectively teachers use Keeley formative assessment probes towards improving learning. Ultimately, this study showed that while the use of Keeley probes did improve opportunities for students to deepen scientific understanding, a gap still exists between the potential of formative assessment and the practical work of integrating ongoing formative assessment to improve teaching and learning. This exploratory study underlines the need for a new approach in professional development for elementary science teachers, and sheds light on what happens when teachers try Keeley probes, a promising formative assessment tool and strategy, in the real world of the classroom.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:32:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sylvia Carolina Goncalves Torres.pdf: 407272 bytes, checksum: 7823105093372b5707f31cb3343d634c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-05-24 / This present work aims at describing and analysing the inner dilemas of the process of implementation of portfolios as a means to enhance meaningful learning in a Languages Course, at a private Higher Education institution in the state of S?o Paulo, and of noticing how such a process can be reflected on the students pedagogical practice. This is a case study, inserted in the Research line University, Teaching and Teacher Education , part of the Master s Degree in Higher Education at Pontif?cia Universidade Cat?lica de Campinas. This case study consisted in bibliographical research on the theme, followed by questionnaires handed to the students , who , at that time, were attending the second semester of their Languages course. The main contribution of this study is on the describing and understanding of an innovation in the assessment practice of Higher Education students, making it posible for them to reflect and transform their own future teaching, especially in terms of assessment. / O presente trabalho tem como objetivo descrever e analisar os dilemas inerentes ao processo de implanta??o do portf?lio como instrumento favorecedor de aprendizagem significativa em um curso de Letras de uma institui??o particular de Ensino Superior no interior do Estado de S?o Paulo, e pretende responder ? quest?o: como a utiliza??o do portf?lio pode promover pr?tica pedag?gica reflexiva na forma??o de professores de L?ngua Inglesa em forma??o. Trata-se de um Estudo de Caso, inserido na Linha de Pesquisa Universidade, Doc?ncia e Forma??o de Professores , do Programa de P?sgradua??o/ Mestrado em Educa??o da Pontif?cia Universidade Cat?lica de Campinas. Consistiu em reunir um estudo bibliogr?fico sobre o tema, question?rios semi-abertos aplicados a alunos do segundo semestre do curso de Letras, com habilita??o em Portugu?s e Ingl?s. A contribui??o principal do estudo est? na apreens?o e descri??o de uma inova??o na pr?tica avaliativa de alunos do Ensino Superior, possibilitando reflex?es e transforma??es na pr?tica pedag?gica de futuros educadores, especialmente no tocante ? avalia??o.

Teisinis ugdymas yra reikšmingas bei būtinas elementas, kad visuomenė išauklėtų teisingą, moralų, pareigingą ir dorovingą ţmogų. Ţmogus galės visapusiškai išreikšti save kaip dorovingą pilietį tik tada, kai jis ţinos ne tik savo teises ir pareigas, bet kartu supras ir gerbs įstatymus, kitų ţmonių teises ir laisves. Mokykla ir yra ta institucija, kuri padės įgyti pagrindinių teisinių ţinių. Tačiau, kad minėta įstaiga išugdytų dorovingą pilietį vien ţinių perteikimo nepakanka. Todėl būtina teisinio ugdymo pamokose įgyvendinti, realizuoti refleksyvųjį mokymą, kuris gali padėti pasiekti kokybiškesnių mokymo rezultatų įsigilinant ne tik į perteikiamas ţinias, bet ir į save, į savo jausmus, stebint savo veiklą, pasiekimus. Todėl refleksyviojo mokymo principų realizavimas teisinio ugdymo pamokose yra aktuali tema. Paţymėtina, refleksyvus mokymas yra plačiai tirtas suagusiųjų mokyme. Tačiau kaip refleksyvus mokymas gali būti realizuojamas bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose, teisinio ugdymo pamokose nėra tirta. Darbo tema bei tyrimo objektas – refleksyviojo mokymo principų realizavimas teisinio ugdymo pamokose bei tuose dėstomuose dalykuose, kuriuose integruojamos teisinio ugdymo atskiros temos. Darbo tikslas – ištirti refleksyviojo mokymo principų realizavimą teisinio ugdymo pamokose bei tuose dėstomuose dalykuose, kuriuose integruojamos teisinio ugdymo atskiros temos. Atsiţvelgiant į darbo tikslą, formuluojama hipotezė – refleksyviojo mokymo principų realizavimas teisinio ugdymo pamokose... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Legal education is a significant and essential element in order the society would bring up a fair, moral, responsible and truthful person. A person will be able to comprehensively express oneself as a moral citizen only when one will know not only one‟s rights and duties, but also will understand and respect laws, rights and freedoms of other people. School is such an institution, which will help to acquire the main legal knowledge. However, just imparting the knowledge is not enough for the mentioned institution to raise a moral citizen. Therefore, during legal education lessons it is essential to implement, realize reflective teaching, which may help to reach more qualitative teaching results, seeing not only into the imparted knowledge, but also to oneself, one‟s feelings, observing one‟s activity and strides. Consequently, realization of reflective teaching principles in legal education lessons is a relevant topic. It should be noted that reflective teaching has been widely studied in adult education. However, it has not been studied yet how reflective teaching may be realized in general education schools, legal education lessons. The subject of the thesis and the research object is realization of reflective teaching principles in legal education lessons. The aim of the thesis is to analyze realization of reflective teaching principles in legal education lessons. In consideration of the aim of the thesis the hypothesis has been formulated – realization of reflective... [to full text]

This research investigates the contributions of the reflective teaching to pre-service English teacher education and it is justified by the need of discussing the perspectives to language teaching education in Brazil. From both qualitative analytical-descriptive and analytical-interpretative methods, it aims at identifying the kind of reflection made by three pre-service English teachers during their experience on internship. It seeks to check if the reflections move theoretical references and if there can be changes in teachers‟ behavior when it comes to their teaching practice through reflection. The theoretical references used are Pimenta & Lima (2002) concerning teachers‟ internship; Huberman (1995) and Hughes (1996) concerning the profile of beginning teachers; Dewey (1933), Schön (1982), Perrenoud (2002), Liston & Zeichner (1996) and Alarcão (2003) concerning the definition for reflective teacher. / Esta pesquisa investiga as contribuições da prática reflexiva para a formação inicial do professor de inglês e justifica-se pela necessidade de discutir as perspectivas para a formação de professores de línguas no Brasil. De cunho qualitativo analíticodescritivo e analítico-interpretativo, tem o objetivo de identificar quais são as reflexões feitas por três professores de inglês em formação ao longo do estágio supervisionado. Busca-se verificar ainda se as reflexões mobilizam referências teóricas e se há mudanças no comportamento dos professores em relação à sua prática a partir da reflexão. As referências teóricas utilizadas são Pimenta & Lima (2002) acerca do estágio supervisionado; Huberman (1995) e Hughes (1996) sobre o perfil do professor iniciante; Dewey (1933), Schön (1982), Perrenoud (2002), Liston & Zeichner (1996) e Alarcão (2003) na definição e discussão da prática reflexiva. Como instrumentos de coleta de dados são utilizados a escrita do diário reflexivo, entrevistas de explicitação e observações de aula.

An information ecology, in the words of MIT Press, is “a system of people, technologies and values in a local environment” (2000:[online]). This inquiry uses the elements of the information ecology – the interdependent system, its wealth of diversity, the co-evolutionary nature of the relationships within the environment, the leadership of keystone species, and the relationships and technology within its locality – to provide a framework within which to reflect on my learning as a postgraduate student at the Rand Afrikaans University (now the University of Johannesburg). Situated in a postmodern philosophical perspective and informed by constructivism, deconstructionism and critical theory, the phenomenological inquiry uses John Dewey’s model of reflective thought (1933) to examine the reasons for the disparity in the transfer of their new expertise by students who have participated in postgraduate programmes at the University, and to determine the principle factor that led to my incorporating such new skills into my own teaching practice. Evidence of this transfer of skills is presented in the description of an action research intervention that I designed and implemented in teaching basic computer skills to a group of ACE students in 2004. / Mr. G.V. Lautenbach

The present study aimed at investigating the video-enhanced reflections of Iranian EFL teachers. It also made an attempt to cast light on the differences between male and female teachers’ video-enhanced self-reflections of their own teaching process. Moreover, the role of experience in changing their video-enhanced reflection was explored. Applying instruments like video-recording, reflection checklists and semi-structured interviews, this study implemented a mixed-method approach with a triangulation design focusing on both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings of the study demonstrate that the video-enhanced reflections of Iranian EFL teachers mostly pivot around issues consisting of innovative teaching strategies, classroom management, learners’ characteristics, classroom interactions, teacher talk, organization of the lessons, technology resources and visual aids. Results also show that the above-mentioned reflections are both experience and gender-sensitive.