Novice and Experienced EAP Practitioners' Pedagogical Content Knowledge: Teachers' Cognitions and Students' Perceptions

摘要

The significance of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) has been accentuated since the late 1980s. However, evaluation of this knowledge from both teachers' and students' perspectives, especially in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) contexts has not received due attention. To shed more light on this topic, 200 undergraduates were invited to reflect, via a questionnaire, on four dimensions of their EAP teachers' PCK. Meanwhile, four novice and experienced ELT (English Language Teaching) instructors and content teachers were interviewed to explore their cognition. The results of content analysis manifested noticeable discrepancies in the teachers' cognitions. Results of a oneway ANOVA, on students' questionnaire, revealed no significant difference between ELT instructors and content teachers. While students viewed both teachers as being Subject-Matter experts, they less positively assessed their mastery in other aspects of their PCK, which could imply the superiority of EAP teachers' content expertise over their pedagogical knowledge.