Developing L2 Writing Teacher Expertise: An Exploratory Study of MA TESOL Students’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Writing Across Three UK Programmes

This thesis presents an investigation into the understandings and experiences of 25 students on a full-time master’s level programme for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) with regards to the teaching of L2 writing. Drawing on data from interviews with participants across three UK universities, it explores how participants’ conceptualisations of L2 writing and L2 writing instruction relate to the development of their Pedagogical Content Knowledge for writing. Through a holistic analysis of one participant’s account, it relates the participant’s reflective engagement during the master’s programme with personal writing experience and course content to the ongoing development of their pedagogical knowledge for L2 writing instruction. This qualitative research was conducted within an interpretivist paradigm and employed semi-structured interviews. The study explored participants’ understandings of L2 writing and writing instruction as part of their reflection on learning during, or towards the completion of their master’s programmes. The analysis was guided by a reflective thematic approach, drawing on Braun and Clarke (2021) and Saldaña (2016). The study examined participants’ accounts of development and reflection within their master’s context, and included a holistic narrative analysis of one participant to illustrate how personal writing experience, course engagement, and pedagogical thinking converged in the development of Pedagogical Content Knowledge for writing (PCKW) and contributed to discussions of expertise in L2 writing instruction. This study addressed three key questions: how master’s-level TESOL students conceptualise L2 writing and its instruction; how they reflect on and describe their experiences of learning and teaching L2 writing; and how their engagement with master’s course content, personal writing experiences, and contextual factors contributes to their Pedagogical Content Knowledge for writing, teaching confidence, and emerging sense of expertise in L2 writing pedagogy. While TESOL students varied in teaching experience - ranging from pre-service to novice and experienced teachers- they shared common patterns in how they made sense of writing pedagogy and reflected on their confidence in teaching writing. The findings revealed a number of interconnected influences that form participants’ understandings of L2 writing pedagogy. While many moved beyond an initial understanding of L2 writing pedagogy as process-oriented, their reflections pointed to contextual as well as personal constraints related to their own perceived limitations as L2 writers. Contextual constraints included institutional policies around learner’s L1 use and exam-oriented instruction. The data also underscored the value of experiential learning embedded in participants’ own writing through activities that developed critical thinking skills and feedback experiences during the master’s programme. This provided a practical basiss for pedagogical reflection as areas to prioritise in their future teaching. The unique contribution of this research lies in its focus on how Pedagogical Content Knowledge for writing may develop through the participatory experiences of TESOL students, who are positioned both as writers and future teachers. Positioned between research on PCK and discussions of L2 writing teacher expertise, this study explores how participants problematize their instructional assumptions (Tsui, 2009) and professional knowledge, and engage critically with their developing PCK for writing.<p></p>

Author dc:creator

• Halime Tosun (21039005)

• L2 writing
• teacher education
• L2 teacher expertise
• L2 writing teacher education
• TESOL
• TESOL teacher education
• EFL teacher education
• EFL writing
• second language teacher education
• second language writing
• language teacher expertise
• second language teacher expertise

Statement dc:rights

• CC BY
• Open Access after 2027-08-02

Identifier

10779/exe.31169542.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/31169542