ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to ask English Teachers to consider a little more what is meant by subject knowledge and how it might be developed, considering in particular how beginning teachers of English develop their skills in reconstructing and/or reconfiguring their knowledge as part of their emerging teaching practice. Green observes that although many student teachers of English come to the profession following undergraduate studies in the subject, the knowledge in and of itself is often not sufficient for teaching the subject. Research conducted on behalf of the Sutton Trust and published by the Education Endowment Fund concluded that teachers’ deep subject pedagogical knowledge is one of the key factors of good teaching contributing to good pupil outcomes. Given that English is primarily concerned with the acquisition, development and application of language in its many forms, there are likely to be significant conceptual connections between subject content and subject pedagogical knowledge.
