E-learning practices for English teacher education: Fourth-tier Chinese cities within technological pedagogical content knowledge framework

Technological development has promoted the implementation of e-learning in teaching and learning. E-learning practices inspire student-teachers to design their lessons using various approaches. Thus, examining these practices has become vital in teacher education. To achieve practical outcomes, ways to improve English teachers' training program through e-learning has led to a widespread discussion in China. This study aims to identify the contributions of e-learning and determine the processes of its practices in English teacher education. Previous studies have revealed scarce relevant research and have indicated that e-learning tools are not commonly used in fourth-tier Chinese cities compared with other developed Chinese cities. Therefore, this exploratory study focuses on the e-learning practices in English teacher education in fourth-tier Chinese cities. The mixed-method approach is adopted in the research, and the TPACK Model is utilized for the research instrument design. In addition, a total of 150 participants are involved in this study. The findings will help teacher educators and student-teachers to understand the implementation processes of e-learning in fourth-tier cities within the technological pedagogical content knowledge framework. At the same time, a clear picture of the merits and flaws of the current e-learning practices in English teacher education is visualized. Furthermore, this study suggests the future functions of e-learning in English teacher education in fourth-tier Chinese cities. Copyright © 2020 Common Ground Research Networks, Ruiqian Yang, Yiu Chi Lai, All Rights Reserved.