Complex Interaction Between Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge: A Case Study in Chinese Language Classroom

Abstract

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) has been used as a conceptual framework for understanding how teachers harness various domains of knowledge for technology integration. Guided by the research goal of discerning how a teacher’s ICT integration effort can co-evolve with interactions between technology, pedagogy and content knowledge, we examine, in this paper, a Chinese language teacher’s evolving TPACK on seamless learning (continuity of learning moments across locations, time, technologies and social settings) via the complexity constructs of distribution, enaction and emergence. Complexity theory is employed as it foregrounds the interconnectedness of constituents in a learning ecology, paralleling the philosophy that the three TPACK knowledge bases should be studied in totality. The research questions are: (a) How was the knowledge of seamless language learning distributed in the process of knowledge creation? (b) How was the integration of technological, pedagogical and content knowledge enacted during the seamless language lessons? (c) What emerged as a result of the complex interactions between technological, pedagogical and content knowledge? Data is drawn from interview transcripts, student artefacts, meeting minutes, lesson plans as well as fieldnotes collected over two years’ of lesson observations and professional development sessions. Our analysis attenuates two findings that are underplayed in the TPACK literature on language learning: 1) the integration of formal and informal learning activities, which can be enhanced by affordances of technological platforms, is pivotal for encouraging output (artefacts); 2) building a participatory culture offers students more opportunities for sustained and self-organised peer learning. The paper concludes with the discussion on the pedagogical implications of findings and future directions for research.