Pedagogical Content Knowledge and English Teacher Training in Kenya

The effectiveness with which students from non-native English-speaking countries are taught English language in schools has drawn interest from curriculum and pedagogy experts. Multivariate factors which include social, cultural, political and economic elements have been explored before in a bid to understand what affects effectiveness in teaching. Even though studies have been carried out, linking some of these factors to the education output, there is marginal information relating the preparation of teachers while they were in college and the effectiveness of teaching English to non-native English-speaking high school students. This report presents findings of a study that was carried out to assess the effect of the teaching methods that high school teachers received while in college on the effectiveness of their teaching of English to non-native English-speaking students in Kenyan High Schools. In this study, four tools were essential in the preparation of student teachers for teaching English in high schools. They included training on the use of teacher-centered method, student-centered method, integration of technology, pedagogy and knowledge and the training on content knowledge. To test the effect of these trainings on the effectiveness of teaching of students in high schools, the study targeted a population of 338 teachers of English language from national and provincial secondary schools in Kenya. A stratified random sampling method was used to get the sample for the study. A sample size of 181 teachers was studied. This study used a questionnaire for data collection. The question had close-ended and open-ended questions. In the data analysis, a Likert scale of 1 to 5 was used to analyze the effects of the independent variables on the effectiveness of teaching. In the study, it was found that all the variables have an effect of more than 3, on the Likert scale, on the effectiveness of teaching. However, the training on the use of teacher-centered method was found to have a weaker effect on effectiveness, compared to other variables. Training on student-centered teaching method was found to have the highest effect. This study recommended that further inquiry should be done on each of these variables to find out the degree to which they affect the effectiveness of teachin