Teachers’ Professional Knowledge for Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Despite an increasing research interest in subject-specific teacher knowledge, the scientific understanding regarding teachers’ professional knowledge for teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) is very limited. This study therefore applies standardized tests to directly assess content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) of preservice teachers for TEFL in Germany from different programs and stages during initial teacher education (during their master’s studies at university and at the end of their induction phase). Structural analysis provides evidence that teacher knowledge with respect to TEFL is a multidimensional construct and PCK is closely related to both CK and GPK. Test scores vary across preservice teachers from different programs and stages, which adequately reflects differences in the learning opportunities they had during teacher education.

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