Page 23 - Getting of the fence

English as a second language regarding the role a literary cloze activity played in 1 the development of their language and literary awareness. Although she does not
explicitly refer to PCK research, studying how students perceive and/or experience
specific content knowledge is, in fact, part of PCK research.
Although several researchers have identified underlying components of PCK, Grossman’s (1990) clarification of these components is most widely referred to. According to Grossman (1990), PCK consists of four central components which are all included in this thesis: (1) conceptions of purpose for teaching subject matter (Chapters 2 and 6); (2) knowledge of student understanding (Chapters 3, 4 and 5); (3) curricular knowledge (Chapters 2 and 6); and (4) knowledge of instructional strategies (Chapter 6). In line with Grossman’s (1990) interpretation, Grossman, Schoenfeld, and Lee (2005) formulated a set of questions that provide a framework for PCK, including the following four: “What are the different purposes for teaching the subject matter in public schools?” (teacher focus); “Why is the subject important for students to study?” (student focus); “What do understanding or performance look like with regard to this subject matter?” (teacher focus); and “What are students likely to understand about the subject matter at different developmental stages?” (student perspective) (p. 208). As we have indicated between brackets, and analysis of these questions shows that PCK does not only focus on the teacher, but also includes the student. Because the perspectives of students and teachers are equally valued within PCK research we will discuss these in more detail below as well as how both perspectives are included in this thesis.
1.5.1 Focus on student perspective
An analysis of the previously discussed historic overviews regarding foreign language literature teaching shows that the students’ perspective appears to be excluded. This is however not surprising. Research in the field of foreign language teaching shows that this perspective is, more often than not, absent from the research radar (Pinter, 2014; Pinter & Zandian, 2014). This routine exclusion is a problem, because the perceptions of teachers and students regarding the teaching and learning context need to be more or less similar in order to obtain optimal functioning and effectiveness (Entwistle & Tait, 1990). However, the way students and teachers perceive the teaching and learning context does not always align (Brown, 2009). According to Vermunt and Verloop (1999), whenever a teacher’s teaching approach is compatible with a student’s learning approach, it creates a situation of congruence (Vermunt & Verloop, 1999, p. 270): a situation preferred by
General introduction
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