Developing Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) for Teachers of Chinese: A Mixed Methods Study

• In Event: Roundtable Session 6
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: AI Revolution in Education: Redefining Teaching and Teacher Identity

Proposal

This study examined the development of Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) among teachers of Chinese through a TPACK-based summer professional development program. As technology becomes increasingly integral to education, teachers are encouraged to utilize diverse technological tools to enhance students' academic achievements (Airasian & Walsh, 1997; Duffy & Cunningham, 1996; Koh, Chai, & Tsai, 2014). Although the literature indicates that proper integration of technology can positively impact student learning (Hicks, 2006; Schrum et al., 2007; Löfström & Nevgi, 2008; Rienties et al., 2009; Brouwer et al., 2009), many teachers still feel inadequately prepared to use technology effectively in their teaching (Angeli & Valanides, 2009; Kay, 2006; Polly et al., 2010; Tondeur et al., 2016). Early technology training in teacher preparation and professional development programs was often technocentric, treating technology as a separate entity from pedagogy and content. These isolated technology courses and workshops focused solely on technology without integrating content, pedagogy, or the teaching and learning contexts.

There is growing awareness in the field of education that barriers to technology integration are not only due to a lack of specific technology knowledge and skills but also to a deficiency in technology-supported content and pedagogical knowledge and skills (Hew & Brush, 2007). To address the complexity of technology integration, researchers and teacher educators have increasingly adopted the TPACK framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Building on Shulman’s (1986) theory of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), which emphasizes the interconnection between pedagogy and content knowledge, TPACK focuses on the interplay among content, pedagogy, and technology (Koehler & Mishra, 2008). This framework is instrumental in conceptualizing the types of knowledge teachers need for effective technology integration and how they can develop this knowledge (Schmidt et al., 2009). Consequently, the TPACK model has been widely employed to help teachers enhance their TPACK (Cavin, 2008; Graham et al., 2009) and to create, validate, and apply instruments for measuring TPACK across various contexts (e.g., Hofer & Harris, 2010; Schmidt et al., 2009). Prior research on TPACK development has employed diverse methodologies and extended across multiple educational domains and contexts (Abbitt, 2011; Chai et al., 2013; Koehler et al., 2012; Wang, Schmidt-Crawford, & Yi Jin, 2019; Voogt et al., 2013). Given the pivotal role of content in the TPACK framework, studies need to be customized to specific content areas to avoid technocentric approaches. However, despite the extensive research utilizing the TPACK framework, studies focused on foreign language education, particularly in less commonly taught languages like Chinese, remain scarce (Chai et al., 2013; Voogt et al., 2013; Wang, Schmidt-Crawford, & Yi Jin, 2019).
The Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) received funding from the STARTALK grant to host a 10-day Chinese Teacher Institute from 2012 to 2017. This institute provided professional development opportunities for Chinese language teachers, allowing them to engage in hands-on activities with technological tools and research-based pedagogies contextualized within Chinese language and culture. The program aimed to enhance participants' teaching and pedagogical skills while offering structured learning experiences on effective technology integration in the language classroom. It also addressed the integration of culture, literature, and content, alongside world language standards and best practices.

This mixed methods study explored the development of TPACK among teachers of Chinese through the UNL STARTALK Chinese Teacher Institute program. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was employed, wherein quantitative data collection and analysis were followed by an in-depth qualitative case study. In the first phase, quantitative data from pre- and post-surveys were collected to assess program outcomes and identify participants for further exploration of significant statistical findings. The Likert-scale data were evaluated for internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha. Descriptive statistics, including means and standard deviations, were calculated for each scale to summarize survey responses. Pairwise comparisons were made between pre- and post-surveys to identify significant changes, evaluated based on mean differences. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to explore potential relationships between the scales, and a Paired Sample T-Test was performed to determine significant changes from the start to the end of the program.

In the qualitative phase, participants were selected based on their performance in the quantitative phase, with five participants from each achievement group (high, average, and low achievers) selected for further study. Qualitative data sources included open-ended survey questions, journal entries, interviews, lesson plans, and course materials. Two mixed methods procedures were conducted: a merged data analysis comparison via a joint display, followed by a side-by-side comparison to summarize the study results, and a case-oriented merged analysis (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). The quantitative instruments showed significant growth in participants' TPACK knowledge, while the qualitative data indicated positive learning experiences across all TPACK-related areas, including context, pedagogical beliefs, technological beliefs, and various types of knowledge. The integrated analysis provided a comprehensive understanding of the TPACK development, revealing congruencies and discrepancies between the quantitative and qualitative data that presented a full picture of the development of technological, pedagogical, content knowledge (TPACK) of teachers of Chinese through the Startalk Teacher Professional Development Program.

Author

• Le Kang, Gardner-Webb University