Looking Beyond Teachers’ Classroom Behaviour: Novice and Experienced EFL Teachers’ Practice of Pedagogical Knowledge to Improve Learners’ Motivational Strategies

Abstract

The central purpose of this study was to investigate novice and experienced teachers’ pedagogical knowledge by comparing the targeted learners’ academic performance. For this purpose, several instruments such as a questionnaire, an observation technique, and an interview were utilized for collecting data. From the population of teachers teaching English at Gooyesh Language Institute, a sample of 30 English teachers (15 novice and 15 experienced teachers) were asked to fill in the questionnaire. Subsequently, an interview was used in which 10 teachers (5 novice and 5 experienced teachers) participated. Finally, 16 teachers (8 experienced and 8 novice teachers) were carefully observed during teaching in their classes. To analyse the collected data, an independent samples t-test was run to see if there was a difference between the ways these two groups of teachers perceived the pedagogical knowledge they employed to enhance the motivational strategies of the learners. Moreover, Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used in the analysis of the data. The findings reflected that there were significant differences between pedagogical knowledge of experienced and novice teachers in only two categories and the differences in the remaining cases were not significant. Notably, the correlation was reported high merely in two categories of pedagogical knowledge for both groups of teachers, the most and the least frequently used motivational strategies were the same for both groups of teachers, and there was a significant difference between the achievement of the learners of the experienced teachers and those of the novice instructors .