Investigating English Teachers' Awareness of Pedagogical Competence and its Effect on Students' Language Learning

The study examined the impact of high school English teachers’ awareness of pedagogical competence on student learning. A psychometric measurement instrument of English language teachers' pedagogical competence (ELTPC) was first developed through factor analysis with 320 high school teachers in Guilan, Northern Iran. Based on the developed instrument, 36 teachers were divided into two groups of aware and unaware teachers of pedagogical competence (PC) according to Contrasting Groups Method of cut score. Then, 160 high school third graders received instruction from the aware and unaware teachers for 7 weeks. Finally, a survey regarding the teachers’ implementation of pedagogical competence in classrooms was conducted with 30 students. The findings from the experiment and survey supported the teachers in aware group. Although, based on the survey results, the aware teachers were reported to act better, they were not reported as highly practicing the pedagogical competence. The findings can be practically used by schools, education administration, and teacher educators.