Exploring Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge among Secondary School ESL Teachers in South Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

The swift adoption of digital technologies in the educational environment has raised urgent concerns regarding teacher readiness and teaching efficiency, especially in the English as a Second Language (ESL) environment in Pakistan. Based on a convergent mixed-methods design, the research examined the degree of digital readiness among ESL teachers in secondary schools of South Punjab, Pakistan and examined the perceived barriers and facilitating factors that affect the integration of technology in language classrooms. One hundred and twenty-eight in-service ESL teachers were involved in the quantitative phase, where they were administered a survey questionnaire based on the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. To supplement this, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 20 purposely chosen participants to give a detailed qualitative understanding. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, independent samples t-test and ANOVA were used to analyze quantitative data, and thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Results showed that teachers had sufficient content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical knowledge (PK) but their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) scores were much lower, indicating that there is still a gap in the use of technology in language-specific pedagogy in South Punjab, Pakistan. Qualitative themes identified the lack of institutional infrastructure, the lack of professional development, and low self-efficacy of teachers in the use of technology as the main limitations. The research adds to the CALL literature by preempting the necessity of TPACK-based teacher training programs and evidence-based digital literacy policies in ESL education.