Exploring Online Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Business English Teaching: A Hermeneutic Study

Abstract

This study explored the online Business English teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) to understand its essence in Business English teaching.  It sought to uncover what they thought about PCK in Business English lessons and how they developed their PCK as they engaged themselves in the everyday teaching of Business English. Hermeneutic phenomenology was employed since the purpose of the study concerns the reflection and interpretation of the online Business English teachers' experiences. The participants of the study were six online Business English teachers from one ESL Company in the Philippines catering to business professionals. They were chosen through homogeneous purposive sampling. The data collection included in-depth interviewing following semi-structured interviews and observations to gather rich descriptions of the participants' reflection and interpretation of their experiences. The data were analyzed using the six-step data analysis of Smith et al. (2021) due to the interpretive nature of the study. The results of the analysis revealed that the online Business English teachers thought of PCK as knowledge of strategizing, knowledge of Business English as the language in the workplace, and knowledge of Business English being distinct from General English. Additionally, the findings reported that teachers developed their PCK through several sources such as their encounter in the field, growth processes, and perceived need for further PCK development in Business English teaching. A creative synthesis captures the essential themes. Despite the online Business English teachers’ patent consciousness of their PCK in Business English, they still demonstrated the need to be exposed more to the business field and broaden their knowledge of business phrases and expressions.  Teacher interaction with various types of students, and feedback from senior colleagues helped develop and widen their PCK in Business English.