Teachers’ Content Mastery, Pedagogical Knowledge and Styles of Teaching: A triad for Enhanced Learning Achievement and Effective Teaching Delivery

Teachers’ proficiency in content, pedagogy, and their approach to lesson delivery is an essential requirement for quality learning outcomes. This paper aims to examine whether teachers’ content knowledge, pedagogical skills, and teaching styles influence students’ attitudes towards and performance in Literature-in-English. The study employed a descriptive research design with both quantitative and qualitative methods. The sample consisted of 127 Literature-in-English teachers and 632 students in the Arts stream from government-owned secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Seven research instruments were used for data collection. Data analysis was conducted using inferential statistics. The findings indicate that all three independent variables are crucial for effective teaching, with teachers’ content knowledge being the most significant factor affecting students’ performance in Literature-in-English, followed by pedagogical knowledge and then teaching style. Conversely, teachers’ pedagogical knowledge was statistically proven to have the greatest impact on students’ attitudes towards Literature-in-English, followed by content knowledge and teaching style. The findings and conclusions of this study provide valuable insights for stakeholders in education on how to formulate action plans for improved teaching and learning outcomes.