Subject Knowledge and its Application: problems and possibilities for teacher educators

Abstract

In Britain and the USA, policy-makers are promoting student teachers' knowledge of subjects and their application of subject knowledge in the classroom as a key element in the reform of teacher training. The educational arguments which support this policy are reviewed together with recent studies which have investigated the ways in which students' knowledge of subjects may inform their teaching. Issues emerging from the discussion which need to be addressed by teacher educators responsible for main subject study and application include: the scope of students' knowledge and coverage of subject matter, an appreciation of the manner in which students' application of subject matter is shaped by classroom practice, and the need to ensure that knowledge of the subject is combined with an understanding of the child.

Foreign language teachers’ language proficiency and their language teaching practice

“…This paper reports on the extent of the difference in the classroom practices of teachers with varying levels of subject knowledge. To investigate the relationship between teachers' subject knowledge and their classroom practice, we analysed data from the seven case study teachers' interviews and observations against aspects of teaching drawn from Farrell and Richards (2007:57) and supported by others (Krashen 1982;McNamara 1991;Chaudron 1998;Schulz 1999;Borg 2001;Naserdeen 2001, Tsui, 2003Ellis 2005;Scrivener 2005;Kim and Elder 2008;Edge and Garton 2009): 1) exploitation of target language resources 2) provision of appropriate language models 3) provision of corrective feedback 4) use of the TL to manage the class 5) provision of accurate explanations 6) provision of rich language input 7) ability to improvise Table 2 shows the results of our analysis of case study observation data using the listed aspects of teaching. It is clear from the table that the two teachers with advanced TL proficiency were observed operating in all seven aspects of teaching.…”

Conceptualising Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge in Teaching

“…Indeed, McNamara (1991) raised the question, of whether or not it is possible to distinguish SMK from PCK. Aubrey (1997) and McEwan and Bull (1991) seemed to agree with McNamara (1991) and argued that there is no distinction between SMK and PCK and that all knowledge is pedagogic. Aubrey (1997) defines 'pedagogical subject knowledge' (PSK) as, the superordinate category which subsumes the sub-category of subject-matter knowledge, on the one hand, and knowledge of young children's subject understanding on the other, and incorporates curriculum knowledge which, in providing the means to represent this subject matter in ways which make sense to children, exemplifies teachers' pedagogical reasoning (Aubrey, 1997, p.164) While these definitions reflect the idea that PCK combines the subject with teaching they include everything that teachers might need to teach mathematics, and they do not offer the opportunity to make a distinction between teachers' actions, knowledge and beliefs.…”

Educating New Mathematics Teachers: Integrating Theory and Practice, and the Roles of Practising Teachers

“…For example, in 'representation of concepts' we need to ask how the notion of 'concept' is perceived, and what a 'representation' of a concept means. Mathematics subject matter itself can be seen as a form of representation (McNamara, 1991). For example, consider the notion of 'function' in mathematics.…”