Participants in this study pointed out that knowledge of pedagogy is pertinent to the efficacy of teachers’ pedagogical practices. Pedagogical knowledge “marks the skill of a teacher” (PSET6: 422) because if someone wants to become a teacher they need “to know how to teach, otherwise they just can’t do it” (PSET3: 421). This is in line with what LTE1 and LTE3 pointed out. LTE1 stated that “knowledge of the content”, “the pedagogy”, and
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“the methodology” are “vital” for successful teaching (LTE1: 24-25). LTE3 stated that pedagogical knowledge for teachers is useful because it provides them with “practical teaching techniques for young learners, not for adults” (LTE3: 67-68).
Further data suggests that teachers were in need of pedagogical knowledge. Both PSET2 and PSET3 confirmed that they needed provision of pedagogical content knowledge for “personal development” as well as “professional development” (PSET2: 420; PSET3: 412).
Teachers with an English background including PSET4, PSET6, PSET10, and PSET13 admitted that they were lacking pedagogical content knowledge. PSET4 stated “it’s very important” that she improved her knowledge of English pedagogy (PSET4: 436), while PSET10 stated that “knowledge of pedagogy should be in priority” (PSET10: 159). PSET13 needed to improve his knowledge of English language teaching methodology because “it leads to better pedagogy” (PSET13: 204). LTE4 specified that what these groups of teachers actually needed is provision of knowledge of “how to handle children learning a foreign language” (LTE4: 24). She emphasized the importance of this group of teachers to utilize the knowledge of English while at the same time highlighted the necessity to improve their pedagogical knowledge in dealing with children.
A quite different phenomenon appears in the cases of PSET7 and PSET8. Being graduates of SPG and PGSD who had lengthy experience of teaching English, the teachers did not find any particular difficulties when it comes to building a good rapport with students and accommodating their needs. However, they did not feel confident to teach English due to their lack of knowledge of English and poor proficiency. They felt that they were “incompetent teachers” (PSET8: 102) and that they needed “to learn knowledge of English” (PSET: 103). The presence of teachers like PSET7 and PSE8 who “know how to handle children” (LTE4: 14) but are lacking content knowledge specific to English was confirmed by LTE4, MEB2, and MEB1. LTE4 stated that what is needed by this group of teachers is “the knowledge of English” (LTE4: 41).
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These findings demonstrate that more experienced teachers such as PSET7 and PSET8 exhibited superiority in their pedagogical practices but were lacking the content (knowledge of English). On the contrary, less experienced teachers such as PSET10 seemed to have performed well on the content areas but were poor when it comes to pedagogical knowledge. Furthermore, this also demonstrates that although ‘pedagogical knowledge’ differs significantly from ‘content knowledge’, both are integral component of language teacher education for primary school English teachers. LTE4 stated that teachers “need the knowledge of English language” (LTE4: 41). They also need specific provision of “pedagogy on how to handle children who learn English as a foreign language” (LTE4: 41). This provides evidence for the needs of pedagogical content knowledge for teachers in language teacher education as discussed in Chapter 1.
Knowledge of phonetics and phonology
Although various aspects of English teaching constitutes a considerable portion of knowledge-base of teaching English to Young Learners, participants asserted the importance of knowledge of phonetics and phonology. This knowledge enables teachers to point out the difference between English sounds whose subtlety may not be noticeable but largely determines one’s accent. LTE3 articulated:
65 : they need to know the difference between singular and plural, they know the difference between 66 : [food] and [foot]. They need to know the difference between [snack] and [snake], long e: and long
67 : a:, and also the difference between
/θ/, /δ/,
/t
∫/, /sy
/, /t/
. (LTE3)Teachers perceived knowledge of phonetics and phonology as important for them to be able to teach pronunciation successfully. PSET2 associated knowledge of phonetics and phonology with successful pronunciation teaching. She stated that if teachers do not understand the differences appearing in vowel lengths and word stresses then teachers will end up teaching “the wrong things to the students” (PSET2: 328-329). If teachers speak with poor pronunciation they “would teach their students the wrong things” (PSET2: 317). PSET8 stated that teachers “are not supposed to teach the wrong pronunciation to the students” (PSET8: 217).
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An explanation for the commentaries above emerges from teachers’ awareness of their role as a language model for primary school children. They pointed out that they are “the first model for the students” (PSET5: 416) and are possibly the only exposure to English that their students have. They realized that learners at primary level are in the stage of oral language reproduction of the accent of their teacher. Teachers further pointed out that teaching the wrong pronunciation “will largely adversely affect students’ pronunciation” (PSET9: 79). They argued inaccurate production of English sounds occurring at early stages of learning extremely difficult to correct, especially if this persists throughout the entire process of one’s learning development.
The findings of this section are parallel to the findings generated in Section 5.2.9. Examining how teachers placed a large emphasis on knowledge of phonetics and phonology, it is clear that they desired more tuition in this particular area of knowledge. To date research has shown that knowledge-base in teaching pronunciation commands little attention. Emphasis on knowledge of phonetics and phonology as suggested in this study therefore has invigorated what is called by Baker & Murphy (2011, p. 44) an attempt to “represent valuable source material for teacher education program”.