Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of technological pedagogical content knowledge in mainland China: A survey of teachers of Chinese as a second language

There is an urgent need to address the critical demand for qualified Chinese language teachers against the background of China’s seeking greater Sino–foreign cultural and educational cooperation. The literature on integrating technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) in language teaching has been increasing in the last few years. However, most of these studies focus on English language teachers. The objective of this study was to examine pre-service teachers’ understanding of TPACK for teaching Chinese as a second language (TCSL). This study investigated the TPACK factor structure of 286 pre-service TCSL teachers via exploratory factor analysis, which yielded a six-factor structure. The results revealed that the teachers could not distinguish the boundaries between technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) and technological content knowledge (TCK); and TPK and synthesized TPACK. Further, confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling substantiated the validity and reliability of the adapted 32-item TCSL-TPACK survey instrument. The study also found that the teachers were slightly satisfied with their overall TPACK but were least confident of their technological knowledge (TK), and the more experienced teachers exhibited higher confidence in all six factors. These findings not only remind educators and policymakers of the need to revise current teacher training programs but also persuade TCSL student teachers to explore methods that can help integrate technology into lesson designs.