Purposes of observation

Read the following purposes of observation listed and explained by Gebhard and Oprandy (1999, p. 37) and consider them for further thinking and discussion. Also think about which of these purposes mentioned below emerge as relevant in your development as a teacher? Do any of them raise problems?

Observation helps teachers to:

1. evaluate teaching: a supervisor, usually an experienced teacher, observes the teacher to indentify strengths and weaknesses in teaching behaviour. The goal is to help the observed teacher to improve;

2. learn to teach: rather than believing that there are best ways to teach, and blindly imitating “expert” teachers, observed models are “seen as samples of possibilities or prods to question what we do” (Fanselow, 1997, p. 167, cited by Gebhard & Oprandy, 1999, p. 37);

3. learn to observe: to collect, analyze and interpret descriptions of teaching in unobtrusive and non-judgmental ways, and thus become able to make informed decisions of what works best in our teaching context;

4. collect data for research purposes: gain data on classroom processes (e.g. language acquisition, error treatment, group dynamics);

5. to become more self-aware: to learn more about their teaching attitudes, beliefs and classroom practices; rediscovering classroom life form a different perspective, becoming aware of new things in a familiar place, like an out-of-the way alley in a city where you have lived for years.

1. Who and what to observe?
   

Wallace (1998) suggests that the focus of observation can be:

• ourselves as teachers: the techniques we use, our physical presence, voice projection and quality, use of gesture, management procedures, and so on;
• our students: the way they work, the way they interact, the way they respond to our teaching, their on-task and off-task behaviour, and so on;
• the context in which we teach: the classroom layout, the teaching aids available and how they are used, and the use of posters and visual aids (if any) in the classroom, and so on.

Who does the observing?

The observation can be done by:

• the teacher concerned (self-observation): This is easy to handle if the focus of the observation is our students, or some aspect of the context that we teach in. However, if the focus of the observation is ourselves as teachers, it may be useful to record our performance by using audio tape or a video recorder.
• other colleagues (peer observation): While observing one another’s teaching, we are certainly benefiting from other colleagues’ perceptions and they from ours.
• researchers or other non-reciprocal observers: We may wish to be observed by someone on a non-reciprocal basis (i.e. they observe us, but we don’t observe them). Examples include academic researchers working on their own research projects, or one of the management team in our school.
• our students: Students may be given checklists to categorise certain aspects of our teaching behaviour, or analyse the interaction with their fellow students.

(based on: Wallace, 1998, p. 106)

Now consider the following questions:

• Are these types of observation feasible in your teaching context?
  
• Which seems most difficult to carry out?
  
  
• How do teachers usually relate to being observed? What explains these attitudes?
  
  
• In what do these observation situations differ from the classical “supervision” situation?

Observers’ effect

Most authors dealing with the topic point out the need for non-intrusiveness on the part of the observer. This is mostly the case when observers are not part of the usual classroom set-up (e.g. student teachers, colleagues, researchers). The presence of someone new or unusual in the classroom may have mixed effects on classroom processes. Read the excerpt below to find out more:

(Wragg, 1994, pp. 14-15)

How to observe?

While observing other teachers we can collect samples of teaching in various ways, such as:

• taking fast notes
• drawing sketches
• tallying behaviours
• jotting down short transcript-like samples of interaction
• audio- or videotaping the lesson
• photographing interaction

In the following extract Gebhard and Oprandy (1999) provide us with:

• useful techniques for observing classroom life
• examples of how to analyze descriptions of classroom practice

Read the text and identify ways of observation that you find interesting and useful in your own practice:

(Gebhard & Oprandy, 1999, pp. 38-43)

If you choose to focus and collect data on a certain aspect of classroom teaching, you may want to rely on the following checklists for lesson observation and analysis, and adapt them to your needs:

(Nunan, 1990, pp. 79-81)