Sustaining Teaching with Technology after the Quarantine: Evidence from Chinese EFL Teachers’ Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge

Abstract

Given that little is known about English teachers’ technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK), this study examined teachers’ TPACK of using interactive whiteboards (IWBs) by contextualizing the research in the Chinese EFL context. Surveys and multi-case interviews were conducted among secondary school EFL teachers. The results revealed that Chinese EFL teachers generally perceived themselves to be competent in TPACK, with content knowledge achieving the highest value (5.545) and technological knowledge having the lowest value (5.147). In addition, teachers with higher professional titles perceived themselves as having lower TPACK. Barriers to using IWBs in English teaching include a lack of using efficacy regarding IWBs, traditional teaching beliefs, insufficient technical support and training, defects in IWBs for English teaching and time constraints. This study enriched technology adoption literature and informed policymakers and educational institutions of the necessity to provide specialized training to improve teachers’ TPACK and take measures to reduce teachers’ non-teaching-related tasks to ensure sustainable technology adoption in English teaching.