Looking beyond teachers' classroom behaviour: Novice and experienced ESL teachers' pedagogical knowledge

Abstract

This paper reports a study that examined the categories of pedagogical knowledge (knowledge related to the act of teaching) of novice ESL teachers as gleaned from their verbal reports of what they were thinking about while teaching and compared these categories to those found for experienced teachers in an earlier study (Gatbonton, 1999). The goal was to discover what pedagogical knowledge these learners have internalized after having completed a teacher-training program and how this knowledge compares to that of teachers who have had more experience than they have had. The novice and experienced teachers' pedagogical knowledge were examined specifically in relation to language management (how to handle language input and student output), procedural issues, and handling student reactions and attitudes. The results of the study show that the pedagogical knowledge of novice teachers is comparable to that of experienced teachers in terms of major categories but not in terms of details within these categories. Implications for teacher training are discussed.