Abstract
What makes a large difference between a successful and unsuccessful pronunciation teacher is excellence in pedagogical skills that can be achieved via professional teacher training.
One such course that ran for two decades at the Faculty of Education (2000 - 2020), Charles
University in Prague, as part of a teacher training programme for future primary teachers, was scrutinized with the aim to map one of the pre-service teachers' first encounters with the concept of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). This synthesis of content and pedagogical knowledge, or according to Murphy (2017, p. 21) the ability to "do things effectively in language classrooms", is believed to create the uniqueness of the teaching profession (Schulman, 1987;
Baker & Murphy, 2011; McGregor & Reed, 2018; Červinková Poesová & Uličná, 2019).
The data for both quantitative and qualitative analyses were amassed during the last eight years when the four-semester course called English phonetics and phonology I-IV was taught
EPIP7 2022
- 16 - by the author of the paper. Over the examined period it was attended by more than 120 teacher trainees. The first three semesters focused on the description of the English sound system and the last semester was partly devoted to pronunciation teaching. The aim of the analyses was to evaluate the students' ability to didactically transform, in other words to select and structure the teaching content with regard to the factors such as pupils' age and language level. The participants were guided and instructed to devise pronunciation activities that were presented throughout the fourth semester. The structure of the micro-teaching was obligatory - it contained an interactive lead-in, followed by activities focused on perception, production or awareness raising. All peer-teachings followed detailed lesson plans and were subsequently reflected on by the student teachers themselves, their classmates and the teacher trainer herself.
In addition, every year the lecturer systematically observed and recorded any recurring patterns and/or problems related to the target area. All the previously mentioned actions provided multiple sources for the longitudinal data collection.
Despite the participants' limited knowledge of pedagogy and ELT methodology, the findings indicate elements of successful manifestations of PCK for pronunciation teaching at a primary-school level. Drawing on the peer-evaluation, the most appreciated activities contained a playful and/or creative element, were well-prepared and easy to understand/remember. The lecturer's feedback revealed certain limitations, for instance using the wrong phonemic symbols, employing complicated terminology, long explanations or setting unclear aims. The presentation includes a list of practical recommendations suitable for both teacher trainees and/or novice primary-school pronunciation teachers.