Three kinds of knowledge that effective teachers should master have been proposed: content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Most PCK studies have been conducted in the mathematics or science domain. In recent years, a growing number of studies related to foreign language teachers’ PCK have appeared. However, there is a paucity of studies that explore teachers’ PCK in the field of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). In this study, we present a conceptualization of Chinese as foreign teachers’ PCK when they teach Chinese pronunciation. The research design builds on semi-structured interviews involving 20 CFL teachers (n = 20), focusing on five PCK domains: (1) teachers’ knowledge of Chinese pronunciation subject content (initials, finals, tones, intonation, and stress), (2) their curriculum knowledge, (3) their knowledge of students’ mistakes and difficulties, (4) their knowledge of Chinese pronunciation-specific instructional strategies, and (5) their knowledge of instructional media. The results show that CFL teachers reflect a strong mastery of PCK concerning teaching tones, followed by initials and finals. Teachers’ PCK regarding teaching intonation and stress were much weaker in all five PCK components. Their PCK of teaching intermediate-level and advanced-level students was also limited by curriculum and time arrangement restrictions.
AltmanD.G. (1990). Practical statistics for medical research. CRC Press.
2.
BakerA. (2014). Exploring teachers’ knowledge of second language pronunciation techniques: Teacher cognitions, observed classroom practices, and student perceptions. TESOL Quarterly, 48, 136–163.
3.
BakerA.MurphyJ. (2011). Knowledge base of pronunciation teaching: Staking out the territory. TESL Canada Journal, 28, 29.
4.
BaumertJ.KunterM.BlumW., et al. (2010). Teachers’ mathematical knowledge, cognitive activation in the classroom, and student progress. American Educational Research Journal, 47, 133–180.
5.
BlömekeS.SuhlU.KaiserG. (2011). Teacher education effectiveness: Quality and equity of future primary teachers’ mathematics and mathematics pedagogical content knowledge. Journal of Teacher Education, 62, 154–171.
6.
BorgS. (2006). The distinctive characteristics of foreign language teachers. Language Teaching Research, 10, 3–31.
7.
CaiW. (2016). TPACK: A new dimension to Chinese as a second language teacher training. In Proceedings of the 2016 2nd International Conference on Social Science and Higher Education (ICSSHE 2016) (pp. 460–465). Series: Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research. Atlantis.
8.
ChaiC.S.WongL.H.KingR.B. (2016). Surveying and modeling students’ motivation and learning strategies for mobile-assisted seamless Chinese language learning. Journal of Educational Technology and Society, 19, 170–180.
9.
ChaiC.S.NgE.M.LiW.HongH.Y.KohJ.H. (2013). Validating and modelling technological pedagogical content knowledge framework among Asian preservice teachers. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 29(1).
10.
CheH.TaoJ. (2013). Stress prediction for Mandarin text-to-speech system using discourse context feature. In 2013 International Conference Oriental COCOSDA held jointly with 2013 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation (O-COCOSDA/CASLRE), 1–5.
11.
ChengH.J.ZhanH. (2012). Examining pre-service teachers’ instructional strategies for technological pedagogical content knowledge via video-conferencing. Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE), 5, 6.
12.
ChunD.M. (2002) Discourse intonation in L2: From theory and research to practice. John Benjamins.
13.
ChunD.M.JiangY.MeyrJ.YangR. (2015). Acquisition of L2 Mandarin Chinese tones with learner-created tone visualizations. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, 1, 86–114.
14.
DaehlerK.R.HellerJ.I.WongN. (2015). Supporting growth of pedagogical content knowledge in science. In BerryA.FriedrichsenP.LoughranJ. (Eds.), Re-examining pedagogical content knowledge in science education (pp. 55–69). Routledge.
15.
DengD. (2020). Hanyu yuyin yanjiu yu duiwai hanyu yuyin jiaoxue 汉语语音研究与对外汉语语音教学 [A study on Chinese phonetics and pronunciation teaching in TCSOL]. International Chinese Language Education, 5, 51–59.
16.
DengD.LinY.J. (2017). Ganzhi xunlian fangfa zai hanyu yuyin jiaoxue zhong de yingyong yanjiu 感知训练方法在汉语语音教学中的应用研究 [Applying perceptual training on Chinese tone teaching]. Journal of Yunnan Normal University: Teaching and studying Chinese as a foreign language edition, 3, 21–27.
17.
DepaepeF.VerschaffelL.KelchtermansG. (2013). Pedagogical content knowledge: A systematic review of the way in which the concept has pervaded mathematics educational research. Teaching and Teacher Education, 34, 12–25.
18.
DepaepeF.TorbeynsJ.VermeerschN., et al. (2015). Teachers’ content and pedagogical content knowledge on rational numbers: A comparison of prospective elementary and lower secondary school teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 47, 82–92.
19.
DerwingT.M.MunroM.J. (1997). Accent, intelligibility, and comprehensibility: Evidence from four L1s. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, 1–16.
20.
EllebækJ.J. (2021). Primary science teachers’ narratives about significant colleagues in light of collective PCK. International Journal of Science Education, 43, 1667–1684.
21.
EvensM.ElenJ.DepaepeF. (2016). Pedagogical content knowledge in the context of foreign and second language teaching: A review of the research literature. Porta Linguarum: Revista internacional de didáctica de las lenguas extranjeras, 26, 187–200.
22.
FlegeJ.E. (1999). The relation between L2 production and perception. In OhalaJ.HasegawaY.OhalaM.GranveilleD.BaileyA. (Eds.), Proceedings of the XIVth International Congress of Phonetics Sciences: Volume 2 (pp. 1273–1276). International Phonetic Association.
23.
FraserS.BeswickK.CrowleyS. (2019). Making tacit knowledge visible: Uncovering the knowledge of science and mathematics teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 86, 102907.
24.
FreemanD.L.CameronL. (2008). Research methodology on language development from a complex systems perspective. The Modern Language Journal, 92, 200–213.
25.
GatbontonE. (2008). Looking beyond ESL teachers’ classroom behaviour: Novice and experienced teachers’ pedagogical knowledge. Language Teaching Research, 12, 161–182.
26.
GongY.F.GaoX.A.LyuB. (2020). Teaching Chinese as a second or foreign language to non-Chinese learners in mainland China (2014–2018). Language Teaching, 53, 44–62.
27.
GrossmanP.L. (1990). The making of a teacher: Teacher knowledge and teacher education. Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University.
28.
GuL.WangB.ZhangH. (2021). A comparative study of the motivations to teach Chinese between native and non-native pre-service CSL/CFL teachers. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 703987.
29.
HanJ.ZhaoY.LiuM.ZhangJ. (2021). The development of college English teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): From General English to English for Academic Purposes. Asia Pacific Education Review, 22, 609–621.
30.
HanuscinD.L.CisternaD.LipsitzK. (2018). Elementary teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge for teaching structure and properties of matter. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 29, 665–692.
31.
HillH.C.SchillingS.G.BallD.L. (2004). Developing measures of teachers’ mathematics knowledge for teaching. The Elementary School Journal, 105, 11–30.
32.
HlasA.C.HildebrandtS.A. (2010). Demonstrations of pedagogical content knowledge: Spanish liberal arts and Spanish education majors’ writing. L2 Journal, 2, 1–22.
33.
HuangB.R.LiaoX.D. (2017). Modern Chinese. Higher Education Press.
34.
HuangL.NavarreA. (2019). Teaching Chinese through authentic audio-visual media materials. In SheiC.McLellan ZikpiM.ChaoD.-L. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Chinese language teaching (pp. 358–374). Routledge.
35.
JianfenC. (2000). Intonation structure of spoken Chinese: Universality and characteristics. From Traditional Phonology to Modern Speech Processing. Institute of Linguistics CASS.
36.
JohnstonB.GoettschK. (2000). In search of the knowledge base of language teaching: Explanations by experienced teachers. Canadian Modern Language Review, 56, 437–468.
37.
JuanC.F.ChangK.E.LiangJ.C. (2019). Exploring the relationships among teaching Chinese as a second language teachers’ teaching beliefs, perceptions of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and teaching self-efficacy. In ChangM.SoH.-J.WongL.H., et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Computers in Education: ICCE 2019 (pp. 509–513). Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.
38.
KennedyS.TrofimovichP. (2008). Intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness of L2 speech: The role of listener experience and semantic context. Canadian Modern Language Review, 64, 459–489.
39.
KindV. (2016). Preservice science teachers’ science teaching orientations and beliefs about science. Science Education, 100, 122–152.
40.
KönigJ.KramerC. (2016). Teacher professional knowledge and classroom management: On the relation of general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) and classroom management expertise (CME). ZDM, 48, 139–151.
41.
KönigJ.LammerdingS.NoldG., et al. (2016). Teachers’ professional knowledge for teaching English as a foreign language: Assessing the outcomes of teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 67, 320–337.
42.
KoehlerM.J.MishraP. (2005). What happens when teachers design educational technology? The development of technological pedagogical content knowledge. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 32, 131–152.
43.
KulgemeyerC.RieseJ. (2018). From professional knowledge to professional performance: The impact of CK and PCK on teaching quality in explaining situations. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 55, 1393–1418.
44.
KulgemeyerC.RieseJ. (2018). From professional knowledge to professional performance: The impact of CK and PCK on teaching quality in explaining situations. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 55, 1393–1418.
45.
KunterM.KlusmannU.BaumertJ., et al. (2013). Professional competence of teachers: Effects on instructional quality and student development. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105, 805–820.
46.
LeeE.LuftJ.A. (2008). Experienced secondary science teachers’ representation of pedagogical content knowledge. International Journal of Science Education, 30, 1343–1363.
47.
LevisJ. (2020). Revisiting the intelligibility and nativeness principles. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, 6, 310–328.
48.
LiL.ValckeM.DesseinB.BadanL.AnderlC. (2021). Pedagogical content knowledge: A systematic review of Chinese language pronunciation teaching in the CFL context. Foreign Language Annals, 54, 525–557.
49.
LiY.ZhangZ. (2016). CFL education at the college level. In RuanJ.ZhangJ.LeungC. (Eds.) Chinese language education in the United States (pp. 141–166). Springer.
50.
LiuJ. (2019). Teaching Chinese pronunciation: Explanation, expectation, and implementation. In SheiC.McLellan ZikpiM.ChaoD.-L. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Chinese language teaching (pp. 195–210). Routledge.
51.
Loewenberg BallD.ThamesM.H.PhelpsG. (2008). Content knowledge for teaching: What makes it special?Journal of Teacher Education, 59, 389–407.
52.
LuY. (2017). Exploring the criterion-validity of HSK Levels 3 and 4: Are assessments and CEFR standards related? In LuY. (Ed.), Teaching and learning Chinese in higher education (pp. 35–56). Routledge.
53.
LuoH.YangC.S. (2016) Using WeChat in teaching L2 Chinese: An exploratory study. Journal of Technology and Chinese Language Teaching, 7, 82–96.
54.
LyuR.ChenH. (2021). An inquiry into pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): Teachers’ views on teaching. Journal of Educational Research and Reviews, 9, 93–101.
55.
MagnussonS.KrajcikJ.BorkoH. (1999). Nature, sources, and development of pedagogical content knowledge for science teaching. In Gess-NewsomeJ.LedermanN.G. (Eds.), Examining pedagogical content knowledge (pp. 95–132). Springer.
56.
MarksR. (1990). Pedagogical content knowledge: From a mathematical case to a modified conception. Journal of Teacher Education, 41, 3–11.
57.
MayerR.E. (2004). Should there be a three-strikes rule against pure discovery learning?American Psychologist, 59, 14–19.
58.
Milner-BolotinM. (2015). Technology-enhanced teacher education for 21st century: Challenges and possibilities. In GeX.IfenthalerD.SpectorJ.M. (Eds.), Emerging technologies for STEAM education (pp. 137–156). Springer.
59.
MishraP.KoehlerM.J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108, 1017–1054.
60.
MortonT. (2016). Being a language teacher in the content classroom: Teacher identity and content and language integrated learning (CLIL). In PreeceS. (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of language and identity (pp. 382–395). Routledge.
61.
MunroM.J.DerwingT.M. (2015). A prospectus for pronunciation research in the 21st century: A point of view. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, 1, 11–42.
62.
ParkS. (2019). Reconciliation between the refined consensus model of PCK and extant PCK models for advancing PCK research in science. In HumeA.CooperR.BorowskiA. (Eds.), Repositioning pedagogical content knowledge in teachers’ knowledge for teaching science (pp. 119–130). Springer.
63.
ParkS.OliverJ.S. (2008). Revisiting the conceptualisation of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): PCK as a conceptual tool to understand teachers as professionals. Research in Science Education, 38, 261–284.
64.
RanQ.B.YuSh. (2019). Hanyu yuyin pianwu de tedian yu moshi – jiyu 25 zhong muyu Beijing xuexizhe de pianwu tiaomu shuju de fenxi 汉语语音偏误的特点与模式 – 基于 25 种母语背景学习者的偏误条目数据的分析 [Characteristics and patterns of Chinese phonetic errors: An analysis based on errors made by learners from 25 different L1 language backgrounds. Chinese Teaching in the World, 3, 417–432.
65.
SchmidtW.H.TattoM.T.BankovK., et al. (2007). The preparation gap: Teacher education for middle school mathematics in six countries. MT21 Report. East Lansing: Michigan State University, 32, 53–85.
66.
ShiL.SticklerU. (2019). Using technology to learn to speak Chinese. In SheiC.McLellan ZikpiM.ChaoD.-L. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Chinese language teaching (pp. 509–525). Routledge.
67.
ShulmanL.S. (1986a). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15, 4–14.
68.
ShulmanL.S. (1986b). Those who understand: A conception of teacher knowledge. American Educator, 10, 9–15.
69.
ShulmanL. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57, 1–23.
70.
SticklerU.ShiL. (2013). Supporting Chinese speaking skills online. System, 41, 50–69.
71.
TaroneE.AllwrightD. (2005). Second language teacher learning and student second language learning: Shaping the knowledge base. In TedickD.J. (Ed.), Second language teacher education: International perspectives (pp. 5–23). Lawrence Erlbaum.
72.
TriventiM. (2013). Stratification in higher education and its relationship with social inequality: A comparative study of 11 European countries. European Sociological Review, 29, 489–502.
73.
TroyanF.J.CammarataL.MartelJ. (2017). Integration PCK: Modeling the knowledge(s) underlying a world language teacher’s implementation of CBI. Foreign Language Annals, 50, 458–476.
TsengJ.J.LienY.J.ChenH.J. (2016). Using a teacher support group to develop teacher knowledge of Mandarin teaching via web conferencing technology. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 29, 127–147.
76.
TsengJ.J.ChaiC.S.TanL.ParkM. (2020). A critical review of research on technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) in language teaching. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 35, 948–971.
77.
van CompernolleR.A.HeneryA. (2015). Learning to do concept-based pragmatics instruction: Teacher development and L2 pedagogical content knowledge. Language Teaching Research, 19, 351–372.
78.
Van DrielJ.H.VerloopN. (2002). Experienced teachers’ knowledge of teaching and learning of models and modelling in science education. International Journal of Science Education, 24, 1255–1272.
79.
WatzkeJ.L. (2007). Foreign language pedagogical knowledge: Toward a developmental theory of beginning teacher practices. The Modern Language Journal, 91, 63–82.
80.
WenX. (2014). Pragmatic development: An exploratory study of requests by learners of Chinese. In HanZ. (Ed.), Studies in second language acquisition of Chinese (pp. 30–57). Multilingual Matters.
81.
WilliamsG. (2002). Identifying tasks that promote creative thinking in mathematics: A tool. Mathematics Education in the South Pacific, 2, 698–705.
82.
YangG. (1991). An integrated approach to generation using systemic grammars and tree adjoining grammars. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
83.
YangC. (2011). The acquisition of Mandarin prosody by American learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
84.
YangC. (2016). The acquisition of second language Mandarin prosody: From experimental studies to pedagogical practice. John Benjamins.
85.
YangC. (2019). Teaching Chinese intonation and rhythm. In SheiC.McLellan ZikpiM.ChaoD.-L. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Chinese language teaching (pp. 180–194). Routledge.
86.
YeJ. (2003). Duiwai hanyu jiaoxue yuyin dagang chutan 对外汉语教学语音大纲初探 [An initial study on Chinese as a foreign language pronunciation teaching curriculum]. Journal of Yunnan Normal University: Teaching and research on Chinese as a foreign language edition, 1, 62–66.
87.
YuanJ.J. (2020). Guoji hanyu jiaoshi zhengshu kaoshi jichu zhishi lei tixing yanjiu 《国际汉语教师证书》考试基础知识类题型研究 [A study of the questions on basic subject matter content of the Test of Certificate for Teachers of Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages]. Unpublished master’s thesis, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
88.
ZaslavskyO.LeikinR. (2004). Professional development of mathematics teacher educators: Growth through practice. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 7, 5–32.
89.
ZhangC. (2020). From face-to-face to screen-to-screen: CFL teachers’ beliefs about digital teaching competence during the pandemic. International Journal of Chinese Language Teaching, 1, 35–52.
90.
ZhangC.WangD. (2017). Becoming professional: exploring identity construction of non-native CFL teachers. In JinT.DervinF. (Eds.), Interculturality in Chinese language education (pp. 89–106). Palgrave Macmillan.
91.
ZhangF.Z. (2006). The teaching of Mandarin prosody: A somatically-enhanced approach for second language learners. University of Canberra, Division of Communication and Education.
92.
ZhangT. (2019). Reading Chinese as a foreign language: A qualitative examination of American CFL readers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
93.
ZhaoS.Y.DuanS.H. (2019). Duiwai hanyu yuyin pianwu fenxi 对外汉语语音偏误分析 [Error analysis on Chinese pronunciation in CFL]. Data of Culture and Education, 26, 34–35 and 3.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
