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Purpose This study examines how student teachers for whom English is a second language develop their professional knowledge in learning to teach ESL. The focus of the research is on their change in thinking and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) during teacher education. PCK, as defined here, includes the following four domains: Knowledge of the subject content, knowledge of lesson planning, knowledge of instructional strategies and knowledge of the teaching context. The study also seeks to find out how student teachers' pre-training beliefs and conceptions affect their attitudes towards professional preparation, and to identify the factors which influence their professional development. Procedures The subjects were eight student teachers taking English language teaching as one of their two major elective subjects in the full-time Certificate in Education (Secondary) Course in the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The full period of data collection covered two years - the length of the CE Course during 1996-1998. The methods of data collection included a blend of qualitative techniques: semi-structured interviews, journals, classroom observations, pre-observation interviews, stimulated recall procedures, and field documents such as lesson plans. All together, five sets of data were collected at different stages of the CE Course to plot the changes in the eight student teachers' thinking and PCK. In analysing the data, constant comparisons, coding and conceptual analysis of data were made as the aim of the research is to develop into a grounded theory (Glazer and Strauss, 1967) on the cognitive change of ESL student teachers during training. Major Findings In general, the student teachers' thinking, knowledge and practices did change during the course, and sometimes critically. The findings support the contention that student teachers' instructional actions are closely related to their conceptions of teaching. This study also suggests that, given appropriate contextual conditions, the student teachers who considered themselves linguistically deficient and whose knowledge on entry to the course was far from subject specific could be engaged in pedagogical thinking and learn ideas they did not bring to the teacher education programme. The study further suggests that the development of the student teachers’ thinking and PCK appeared to be integral to their professional development. While such development is influenced by various factors, some are more effective than others in preparing them to be fully-fledged classroom teachers. Seeing it as an initial study along this line of inquiry in Hong Kong, the findings have added to the literature as to how and why the thinking and pedagogical content knowledge of student teachers change during training, and have provided clues to explain discrepancies in teacher behaviour between teacher education and teaching years, from which implications were drawn for teacher education curriculum. Although these findings show possible patterns of ESL student teachers’ development during teacher education, they do not imply any linearity in the nature of the trend. However, they contribute to the ongoing endeavour to construction of a theory of student teachers' development.

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No description available.

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Enterprise education is defined by some educators as a distinctive approach to teaching with the aims of improving motivation to learning and enhancing the development of enterprising behaviours in young people (e.g. Bridges, 1992; Gibb, 1993; Harris, 1993a). However, after two decades of development, there remains a lack of empirical support to demonstrate its effectiveness, or otherwise, in achieving its aims. This is due to the problem of conceptual confusion with the political rhetoric of business imperatives and a lack of a unitary definition. Furthermore, there is a problem of finding an appropriate methodology to investigate the holistic nature of the phenomenon. In order to investigate the effectiveness of enterprise education, therefore, the problem of conceptual confusion needs to be addressed before the key concepts can be operationlised and a potential methodology explored. The Durham University Business School's model of enterprising teaching is chosen for this purpose since the relationship between 'enterprising teaching' and the development of 'enterprising behaviours' was clearly laid out in Gibb's paper (1993) and has been shared by many other models of enterprise education. Hence, the objective of this thesis is to explore the meaning of 'enterprising teaching modes' and 'enterprising behaviours' among teachers with the main focus on seeking firstly, operational definitions of the two key concepts; and secondly, an appropriate methodology to measure these concepts. An exploratory study based upon the discourse interview research method was chosen for its strength of investigating the key concepts in depth. Findings from the ten intensive case studies suggest that the DUBS' concepts were not naturally associated with political rhetoric. 'Enterprising teaching modes' were perceived to be effective in promoting a deeper level of learning, although some modes were found to be value- laden and ambiguous. When these problematic modes were removed, the concept potentially constituted an adequate construct for distinguishing an enterprising teaching tendency from a didactic one. 'Enterprising behaviours' were also perceived to constitute a unique behavioural construct. A behavioural rating methodology was demonstrated to be an appropriate measurement instrument for both concepts. Inferences were also made which suggest that enterprising teaching modes might cause the development of enterprising behaviours in students. The current research results have arguably provided a solid conceptual and methodological foundation for further empirical investigation to follow.