Introduction
The Second National Conference on English Language Teaching at
Farhangian University, with a focus on Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), was
held on Farvardin 30, 1397 (April 19, 2018)at Shariati Campus in Sari.
Farhangian University is a university of teacher education and
human resources development for the Iranian Ministry of Education. It was
established in 2012, with the approval of the Supreme Council of the Cultural
Revolution and the integration of all teacher education centers in Iran. The
primary role of Farhangian University is training and development of teachers. The
headquarters of the University is located in Tehran with the university as a
whole having 64 branches (Pardis/ Campuses) and 34 sub-branches (Markaz/
Centers)located throughout the provinces of Iran. Each branch is divided into
various sub-branches. Today, more than 98 branches are operational. More than
50,000 student teachers are currently enrolled in Farhangian University.
Mazandaran Farhangian University
Provincial Administration Office of Mazandaran Farhangian
University is located in Sari, the capital city of Mazandaran. There are also
two male and female campuses in the same city (Shariati and SeddigheTahereh
Campuses). In addition to these two campuses, there are four centers of the
university located in the cities of Amol, Babol, Qaemshahr and Nowshahr. These
campuses and centers include 1080 undergraduate students and 15 post-graduate
students. Farhangian University of Mazandaran has 26 faculty members and more
than 110 visiting instructors.
Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Pedagogical Content Knowledge or PCK is a type of knowledge that is
unique to teachers, and is based on the manner in which teachers relate their
pedagogical knowledge (what they know about teaching) to their subject matter
knowledge (what they know about what they teach). In fact, pedagogical content
knowledge integrates your knowledge of teaching - learning processes with your
knowledge of English language.
In 1986, Lee Shulman, an educator and researcher, noticed that all
students need teachers who are more than knowledgeable about their subjects.
They also need one who can teach their specific subjects clearly and
effectively. He called this combination of content and teaching knowledge,
Pedagogical Content Knowledge or PCK
Farhangian University as the only center whose mission is teacher
training, puts special emphasis on PCK Lately, Farhangian University has held a
series of PCK conferences in various fields throughout the country. The
Farhangian University of Mazandaran has been selected as the host of the second
national PCK conference in English, for its competencies and successful
experience in organizing the first English language conference. This conference
was the result of numerous round-the-clock efforts of our friends and
colleagues at Farhangian University of Mazandaran, English language teachers in
Mazandaran Province, and the authorities at Mazandaran General Office of
Education. It is worthy to appreciate all those who helped us with this
conference because it provided a great opportunity for researchers to share the
results of their latest studies on PCK in TEFL.
The Conference Day
As mentioned before, this one-day conference was held on
Thursday,April 19, 2018 (Farvardin30, 1397).
The conference began with the reception of the participants at 8:00
am and at the opening ceremony, first, Dr. Ahmad Kasaian, the Acting President
of Mazandaran Farhangian University welcomed the audience. Subsequently, Mr.
Zarafshan, the Deputy of Minister of Education, and Mr. Nikzad, the Director
General of Mazandaran Education Office, gave their speeches. After a short break, scientific lectures
began with keynote and featured speakers of the conference. The first speaker
was Dr. Mohammad Reza Anani Sarab, associate professor of TEFL at Shahid Beheshti University. His lecture was
“Classroom Assessment in the Context of Reform: Issues and Considerations”.
His presentation set forth
views on those aspects of reform in the English curriculum of Iranian high
schools which support assessment for learning. He outlined the principles and
strategies which pertain to this type of assessment in an attempt to highlight
the need for initiating structural changes to support shifts in high school
assessment culture. He added that as high school assessment culture is
considered resistant to innovative changes; an attempt is made to outline the
inhibiting and facilitating factors in the process of implementing formative
assessment. The relevant issues discussed were then related to assessment
literacy and teachers’ professional growth. The implications of changes in
assessment culture for teacher training and development were also discussed.
The second lecture was delivered by Dr. Mohammad Nabi Karimi,
Associate Professor at Kharazmi University, Tehran. The title of his
presentation was, “A Pedagogical Knowledge Base (PKB) Informed Approach to EFL
Teachers' Performance Assessment”. An overview of his speech follows:
“Teaching – especially
language teaching –is often conceptualized, in layman’s terms, as a rather
simple “activity” any person can carry out, in line, to a large extent, with
the “Born Expertise” position on teacher knowledge (Freeman, 2016). It is
sometimes simplistically equated with knowledge of the subject matter or, at
times, “generously” with a reductionist version of the “Made-Over-Time”
position (Freeman, 2016) as a simple set of techniques or teaching behaviors to
be mastered in teacher training courses and blindly replicated in classroom.
However, teaching can be alternatively characterized as knowledge work
(Thiessen, 2000) – a performance backed by a substantial body of knowledge
types. While outlining the types of knowledge backing teachers’ performance,
the present talk emphasizes the necessity of incorporating such knowledge into
any model aimed at assessing EFL teachers’ classroom performance. The talk
further highlights the significance of the awareness of such knowledge in
preventing “routinization” as a threat to teachers’ classroom performance.”
The last plenary speaker was Dr. Khalil Mtallebzadeh , Associate
Professor at Islamic Azad University, Mashhad.He made a lecture with this
title: Teacher Education for 21st century EFL Teachers: A Model for Quality
Assurance.Below, you can see a summary of his discussions:
“As the world
witnessed drastic changes at the beginning of 21st century and the postmodern
perspective received more attention, teacher education was expected to embark
on a more qualitative and post-transmitting framework. The transforming teacher education goes
beyond local standards and seeks developing a global identity (Kumaravadivelu
2012). This can mainly happen through helping present and prospective teachers
develop their own personal knowledge rather than practice models offered by others.
In the current century, the purpose of teacher education is not merely limited
to policies and procedures designed to equip prospective teachers with the
knowledge they require to perform their tasks in the classroom; it should
rather empower them with attitudes, behaviors and skills for effective
performance in classroom, school and wider community as well as being
responsible for the future generation. To support the productivity and
effectiveness of the teacher education in the 21st century, the authorities
should develop a culture which recognizes the importance of quality and quality
assurance. Meanwhile, Sanyal (2013) maintains that the quality of teacher
education can be observed by the extent to which it satisfies the minimum
standard set through inputs, processes and outcomes. The purpose of the present
plenary will be twofold: first, a definition of quality for the postmodern
world will be discussed. Second, the ingredients of a high-quality teacher
education model for EFL teachers will be introduced.”
After this speech, the participants went to have their lunch and a
short break. In the afternoon, three workshops were held, and at the same time,
32 selected papers were presented. Here is the list of workshops:
The conference ended at 7:30 pm. The abstracts of the plenary
speeches, workshops and presented papers were published in the conference
proceedings and the full papers in a labelled compact disc.
This conference was the result of numerous round-the-clock efforts
of our friends and colleagues at Farhangian University of Mazandaran, English
language teachers in Mazandaran Province, and the authorities at Mazandaran
General Office of Education