Paper
No:
12-A
Paper
Name: English Language Teaching – 1
NO: 27
Guided
By:
Parth Bhatt.
Submitted
To: Department
of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.
Topic: Observation by Kathleen M. Bailesy
Introduction:
What is observation?
Observation is
an important part of learning how to teach. Much of what beginner teachers need
to be aware of cannot be learned solely in the university class. Therefore
classroom observation presents an opportunity to see real-life teachers in
real-life teaching situations. In their reflections, many of our teacher
friends mention their observations and how these observations influence the way
they plan and teach. Teachers are forever reflecting and making decisions, and
when they see someone else in action, in as much as they are seeing someone
else, they are almost simultaneously seeing themselves. This means that
observation is important at every stage of a teacher’s career. In this section
we will discuss the importance and value of observation Classroom observation
describes the practice of sitting in on another teacher’s class to observe,
learn and reflect. Various aspects of the class can be examined, such as
routines, use of time, schedule, participation, teaching strategies, management
strategies, learner interest, and much more. A teacher will naturally look for
support on an issue that is difficult for him or her, but it is often a great
method of being exposed to a new and different approach to teaching.
Observation is
important at every stage of a teacher’s career. In areas of Asia, professional
development has for a very long time included what is known as demonstration
lessons; a master teacher, who has perhaps prepared students with some new
strategies, invites many local teachers into their classroom to observe, and
following the lesson a question and answer period takes place. All of the
teachers involved, regardless of whether they are master teachers or beginning
teachers, have the opportunity to dialogue together and learn from one another.
This is a more recent trend in North America; schools are now trying to create
opportunities for teachers to observe other teachers in their subject area,
either in their own school or in other schools.
Professor Bailey
is currently serving as president and chair of The International Research
Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF) Professor Bailey served as a member of the worldwide USIA English Teaching
Advisory Panel from 1992-95, and on the Teachers of English to speakers of
other Languages.(TESOL). She was a member of the editorial boards of:
·
The Modern Language
Journal
·
The Asian Journal of
English Teaching
·
Language Teaching
Research
·
The International
Journal of Language Studies.
We
typically think of observations as having been seen “with our own eyes,” but in
science, observations can take many forms. Of course, we can make observations
directly by seeing, feeling, hearing and smelling, but we can also extend and
refine our basic senses with tools: thermometers, microscopes, telescopes,
radar, radiation sensors, X-ray crystallography, mass spectroscopy, etc. And
these tools do a better job of observing than we can! Further, humans cannot
directly sense many of the phenomena that science investigates and in such
cases, we must rely on indirect observations facilitated by tools. Through these
tools, we can make many more observations much more precisely than those our
basic senses are equipped to handle.
In
Language teaching and applied linguistics, classroom observation has
historically served four broad functions. First pre-service teachers are often observed
in the practicum context by teacher educators, who typically give them advice
on the development of their teaching skills as a regular part of pre-service
training programmers’. Second, practicing teachers are observed either by
novice teachers or by colleagues, for the professional development purposes of
the observer. Third, practicing teachers are observed by supervisors, course
co-co-coordinator’s, department heads, principals or head teachers, in order to
judge the extent to which the teachers adhere to the administration’s
expectations for teaching methods, curricular coverage, class control, etc.
Fourth, observation is widely used as a means of collecting data in classroom
research.
Observation, as the term is used
here, refers to the purposeful examination of teaching and learning events
through systematic process of data collection and analysis. Such events may
occur in untutored environments or in formal instructional settings. This essay
focuses on observation in language classroom environments. In each of the four
contexts outlined above, teachers and learners have often been observed by
outsiders. Recently, however, teachers themselves have undertaken classroom
observation for a variety of reasons. These include peer observation for
professional development purposes, peer coaching and action research.
Observation in second and foreign
language classrooms has been strongly influenced by the traditions of
observation in first language (L1) classrooms in general education settings.
Concerns that unstructured observation (whether for super vision or teacher
education purposes) could be subjective or biased led to the development of
‘objective’ coding systems, called observation schedules, which were used to
document observable behaviours in
classrooms, either as they occurred or with electronically recorded
data.
‘COLT ’(Communicative Orientation of
language Teaching) is an example of an observational instrument which was
developed as a result of changes in language pedagogy. COLT’s categories
reflect developments in communicative language teaching (CLT), such as the use
of information gap activities. The data yielded by COLT both describe classroom
activities and analyse the features of the communication between teachers and
students. For copy of the COLT system, see Allen et al or Allwright and Bailey.
A different direction in the
emergence of new observation procedures was the development of discourse analysis
as a viable subfield in linguistics. Discourse analysis examines both written
and spoken texts, so discourse analytic procedures can be brought to bear on
classroom speech as a data base. Sinclair and Coulthard, working with
transcribed recordings of L1 classrooms in England, developed a system which
was subsequently used by language researchers to analyse transcripts from L2
classrooms. The discourse analytic approach to observation spurred by Sinclair
Coulthard typically yielded a finer grained analysis than did the earlier
coding systems. For a copy of this system, see Sinclair and Coulthard or
Allwright and Bailey. Sinclair and Coulthard also provide examples of coded
classroom data.
Regardless of the context, one of
the problems associated with classroom observations is what Labov has called
‘the observer’s paradox’, that is by observing people’s behavior we often alter
the very behavioural patterns we wish to observe. There are some steps which
can be taken to overcome this paradox. For instance, when observing teachers
and learners in language classrooms, it is a good idea to explain the purpose
of the observation in general terms. If the learners don’t know why an observer
is present, they often assume that they and their teacher are being observed
for supervisory purposes. This assumption may cause them to either act out or
be better behaved than usual! Also, when using an obtrusive form of data
collection, such as a video camera, it can be helpful to familiarize the
learners with the equipment. It’s also useful to visit the classroom often
enough over time that the teacher and the students become desensitized to the
presence of the observer and the recording device.
Related to the issue of the observer’s paradox is the extent to which the
observer participates in the activities being observed. There is a range of
possible involvement, from being a nonparticipant observer to being a full
participant observer. In its purest form, participant observation is conducted
by someone who is a member of the group under investigation. Of course, a
visitor observing a lesson can also participate in group work or do the
exercises as well. Another issue is the extent to which observations are
conducted overtly or covertly. The assumption underlying covert observations is
that if people don’t know they are being observed they will behave more
naturally. Some schools of education build special observation classrooms with
one-way mirrors so that students and teachers can be observed unawares. Some
language learners and teachers have kept daily journals as a means of recording
their observations, without the other members of the class knowing that data
were being collected. Normally, however, in the resulting data, people would be
identified only by pseudonyms, and it is generally considered bad form to tape
record or video-record people’s behavior without asking their permission.
Lately teachers themselves have been
utilizing classroom observation procedures of their own purposes. These include
peer observation for professional development or a more formalized and
reciprocal system of peer coaching. In peer coaching teachers engage in
In recent years, as introspective
and retrospective data have gained wider acceptability, teacher’s and language
learners’ journal documenting classroom events have provided a different sort
of observational data for classroom research. In some cases, such journal
records are used in conjunction with other forms of observational data. For
instance, Block used a combination of students’ oral diary entries, the
teacher’s journal and tape recording of classes in spain in his report of
teachers’ and learners differing perspectives on classroom events. Classroom
observation can often help expose teachers to new methods of teaching that
might not have occurred to them before hand. It may be threatening to be
subject to peer observation since teachers might feel territorial and defensive
in their classroom and protective of their resources and ideas. However, when
it is done in a considerate and respectful fashion. Observation can be
beneficial for both the observing teacher and the teacher being observed. Below
are some benefits of observation in the classroom.
For example, it would be difficult
to imagine an SL classroom without pair work activities. In other classes and
other subjects one might observe group work activities; however, due to the
linguistic content, there would be significant differences between the
interactive exercises. In other subjects group work or a pair SL learners
require much more structure in an activity than beginners in other courses,
because the structure increases the likelihood of success.
As the Accessibility of affordable
audio and video recorders has increased, the use of transcripts from recordings
has become much more common in classroom research. Very few researchers collect
primary data with only ‘real-time’ coding these days, although many instruments
originally designed for real-time coding can be used in the analysis of
recordings and the resulting transcripts are subjected to coding with an
observation schedule or a fine grained discourse analysis is largely a question
of the researcher’s purpose.
Producing the original transcript,
however, can be a very time-consuming and tedious process. Allwright and Bailey
report that it often takes up to 20 hours of transcription time to produce an
accurate and complete transcription of a one hour language lesson. Depending on
what one wishes to observe, transcripts can be simple orthographic renditions
of speech or highly detailed linguistic representation which indicate in
breaths, pauses in micro seconds, hesitations, overlaps stutter starts,
hesitation and phonetic renderings of utterances. One set of suggested
transcription conventions can be found in Allwright and Bailey and Van Lier
offers a helpful appendix about transcription in classroom research For a more
detailed treatment of transcription and coding, see the anthology edited by
Edwards and Lampert.
The
use of multiple data sets is an example of what is called triangulation, a
concept borrowed by anthropologists as a metaphor from land surveying and navigation.
idea is that one can get a better fix on a distant point by measuring it from
two different starting points (hence the image of triangle). In anthropological
research, triangulation refers to process of verification which give us
confidence in our observations.s
Denzine Describes Four different
types of triangulation:
·
Data triangulation,
in which different sources of data (teachers, students, parents, etc.)
contribute to an investigation.
·
Theory
triangulation, when various theories are brought to bear in a study;
·
Researcher
triangulation, in which more than one researcher contributes to the
investigation;
·
Methods
triangulation, which entails the use of multiple methods (e.g. interviews,
questionarise, observation schedules, test scores, field notes, ect.) to
collect data.
Triangulatrough provides a means for researchers working with
non quantified data to check on their interpretations by providing enhanced
credibility through the incorporation of multiple points of view and various data
sets.
Whether
classroom observation is used for teacher education, supervision, teacher
development or research, there are now numerous instruments and codified
producers for working with observational data. In addition, in action research,
peer observation and peer coaching, teachers themselves use a variety of
procedures for observing classroom interaction, and analysis the data collected
during observations.
The Course is
interactive. Teachers sit in groups of about six per table, tasks and
activities are designed to model the participatory, learner centered approach
of the new curriculum and to give the teachers a lived experiences of these
pedagogies. Over the three-year duration of the course, there are eight contact
sessions at Rhodes university totaling 40 days that take place during school
holidays at the end of each term, as well as a two-day seminar and two
workshops per term as a central location near the teacher’s schools.
The purposes of
visiting schools and observing lessons are threefold: firstly to give teachers
support in reflecting on and improving their classroom practice; secondly, to
monitor the extent to which teachers are able to implement new understandings,
strategies and pedagogies introduced in the course; and thirdly, for
university-based academics to observe rural Eastern Cape schools and classrooms
at first hand in order to better understand the challenges facing teachers.
The current practice, that only pre service
(not in service) teacher education courses require systematic lesson
observation by an academic, needs to be changed. If one accepts that a central
purpose of most in service teacher education courses is to improve teacher’s
classroom practice, than one must also build in some mechanism to monitor the
extent to which teachers are able to implement new understandings and
pedagogies introduced in the course. Finally, to create conditions for
systematic and sustained improvement in schooling, it is essential that
district- level officials such as Curriculum and Advisors and education
Development Officers visit schools regularly and observe teachers in their
classrooms in a supportive and monitoring role. These officials cannot have as
their main concern systematic evaluations only. Also, as both has noted, the
great silence in south African educational circles about the role of teacher
unions in constraining constructive co-operation between district and school
needs to be addressed openly.
Observational
field notes can be used either as the sole source of data or in tandem with
electronically produced recordings. In classroom observation, the observer’s
field notes provide a running contemporary on the events which occur in a
lesson. The field notes must be carefully prepared and detailed enough to be
clear and convincing, It is the observer’s responsibility to recognize the
difference between observations which are data based and his or her inferences.
This is not to say that inferences or opinions need to be avoided entirely, but
that they must be:
1.
Recognised as
inferences or opinions by the observer.
2.
Supported by
verifiable observational data
3.
Checked with the
observer whenever possible.
Field notes
provide a human, interpretive dimension to observational data, which is often
absent in videotapes, audiotapes or observational schedules. Well written field
notes provide credible documentation of interactions and cases. See Carrasco’s
description of ‘Lupita’, a child whom the teacher had viewed as passive or
unintelligent until the observer’s detailed description documented her
interactive skills. One of the difficulties in analysis field notes and
transcripts is that some key issues that emerge may not be easily quantifiable,
so a content analysis may be needed to
reveal the patterns in the data. Future directions will include the use of
computer programs for analyzing transcripts and observer’s field notes about
classroom interaction. Some such programs are already available. They work essentially
as automatic indexing systems which search for key words and phrases that have
been identified by the researcher.
Conclusion:
Observation Helped
learner to observe actual peer scaffolding within the confines of the group
work.. The activity where students are able to observe by documenting their own
progress made so much sense, that I plan to introduce similar activity in my
class. I learned the ways you can keep the discussion going by introducing new
ideas and unusual statements. Teacher also provided cultural comments when
students talked about Thanks giving. The idea of having a books in general.
Shared discussion serves as an additional motivation. One of the important
implications for teacher in Hadley (2001) is:
“Supporting students in
identifying successful strategies for reading texts in the second language.”
We
compare the teacher’s post lesson critical reflections over time as an example
of how their reflective capacity developed. At the beginning of the course
teachers were taught the importance of reflecting on one’s practice. Initially
all the teachers found reflecting on a lesson difficult to do. One teacher,
Thabo, completely misunderstood the purpose. He tried to reflect on a lesson
before it was taught. For the first lesson observation. He wrote his
reflections while planning the lesson and presented these ‘reflections’ as part
of his lesson plan. Rather than reflecting critically on what went well and
what needed improvement. Many teachers simply recounted events in their
lessons, as Bonisille’s Journal reflection, below, illustrates: One learner was
asked to read the poem for the rest class. The teacher explained some of the
poetic devices in the poem. Some of the figures of speech dealt with were alliteration,
apostrophe, metaphors and smile. The learners were divided in to groups of six.
Each group was given a stanza to identify figures of speech and to report
back. Many learners also found it
difficult to identify the things they had done well, things which made their
lessons a success and without the prompting of the facilitator they tended to
focus on what needed to be changed in their lessons. Teachers also utilize
classroom observation producers to conduct action research. Action research
entails an iterative cycle of planning, acting, observing and reflecting. The
observation phases can include all the data collection producers described
above, but in this approach they are typically under the teacher’s control.
Audio and video recording and teacher’s journals are among the most frequently
used forms of data collection in action research observations.
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