Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Research Background
Teachers are the driving force in determining the effectiveness of teaching and learning (Vandervoot et al. 2004; Darling-Hammond 2006; Ballard & Bates 2008). Nonetheless, many novice college teachers with doctoral degrees and a certain level of subject matter knowledge (hereinafter called SMK) were not able to be effective teachers (Clarke & Hollingsworth 2002; Major & Palmer 2006; Jang 2008), which leads to scholars’ growing interests in the notion of teachers’ professional development. Researches on teachers’ professionalism mainly focus on such cognitive components as professional knowledge. Researchers have directed increased attention to teachers’ knowledge and how it is developed (Borko and Putnam 1996; Calderhead 1996). Much of this interest was stimulated by Shulman’s (1986) report that introduced the concept of pedagogical content knowledge (hereinafter called PCK) as a distinctive body of knowledge for teaching.
It has been reported that the success of college teaching depends not only on the teachers’ SMK but also on their personal understanding of students’ prior knowledge and learning difficulty (Grossman 1990; Lederman, Gess-Newsome & Latz 1994). In most cases, teachers’ beliefs about learners were largely based on assumptions derived from their own student experiences (Cantillon &de Grave 2012). That is to say, aside from the SMK, they needed more pedagogical knowledge (Leinhardt & Smith 1985). Other factors of success also include teachers’ teaching methods and strategies, curriculum knowledge, educational situation, goal and value (Shulman 1987). In particular, the college teachers’ PCK is the main issue of the current college education revolution (Shulman 1986, 1987).
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1.2 Research Rationale
1.2.1 Research Purposes
Currently, there are deep deficiencies in relevant researches on BE teachers’ PCK from home and abroad both qualitatively and quantitatively. Wu & Qin (2014) were the first scholars that have conducted studies on BE teachers’ PCK and have tentatively established the theoretical framework. However, there is still a gap to be filled in quantitative study of BE teachers’ PCK. Moreover, existing researches mainly emphasize teachers-based perspective, which explores what should be included in teachers’ PCK. But Bailey (2001) proposed that the teacher self is viewed as the source in pursuing professional development. It means that BE teachers should play an active role in his or her professional development. In teaching practice, they should take initiative to cooperate with students, learn how their students perceive their PCK and how practical teaching influencing students’ academic motivation and persistence. In other words, researches from a learner-centered perspective carve out a new path for BE teachers’ professional development and teaching effectiveness improvement in practical teaching. To be specific, studies focuses o
