“I'm afraid I can't handle students’ questions on the spot!”: Complex interactions between English research writing teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and instructional practices

Despite recent proliferation in scholarship on English research writing (ERW) and its teaching, ERW teachers’ developing knowledge remains under-researched. This multiple case study, featuring four ERW teachers working in the same university in Central China, builds on the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) framework to delineate the complexities in participants’ knowledge–practice nexus. Data sources include observations, interviews, journal entries, and teaching artifacts. Data analyses reveal that the complex interactions between PCK components have resulted in idiosyncrasies in participants’ instructional decisions or practices concerning selecting teaching points, utilizing own disciplinary articles, deciding on pedagogical design, and assigning writing tasks. It is also found that participants who are more assured in their PCK repertoire tend to feel more secure in teacher–student interactions and adopt more student-centered pedagogies. Participants’ knowledge–practice nexus exhibits complex system features of self-organizing and self-transforming, as well as self-knowing. Implications for transitional ERW teachers’ practices and professional development are discussed.