Improving English language teaching through lesson study

Goh, R., & Fang, Y. (2017). Improving English language teaching through lesson study: Case study of teacher learning in a Singapore primary school grade level team. International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, 6(2), 135-150. doi: 10.1108/IJLLS-11-2015-0037

Background

The authors reported that research had found substantial uniformity in how Primary 1 and 2 teachers from different Singapore schools conducted English language (EL) lessons based on the national curriculum guidelines. What is not well understood is how teachers working together in a team engage in a deliberative discourse to enable them to problematize current practices and enhance student learning.

Aims

The paper reports on how a grade level team in a Singapore primary school used lesson study to mediate the implementation of the Strategies for English Language Learning and Reading (STELLAR) curriculum. It aims to explore how this process could mobilize different teachers’ knowledge, challenge their beliefs about teaching reading and writing, and create impact on their learning and knowledge of student learning.

Sample

The lesson study team comprised 11 teachers at the Primary 1 level, including three beginning teachers (BTs). The lesson study inquiry was divided into four key phases: planning in Cycle 1, teaching the research lesson in the first class and reflecting on the lesson, planning in Cycle 2 for teaching the same lesson in another class, and teaching and reflecting on the lesson.

Method

A case study methodology was employed. Data collected included audio-recordings of the team’s discussions and individual interviews with teachers. The transcripts were coded for the content of teacher discourse and the sources of influences on the teachers’ reasoning and action.

Findings

The authors reported that the different phases in the lesson study process engaged teachers’ deliberative discourse differently and, at the end of the study, constituted them (1) building a common inquiry stance on the problem of student learning in reading and writing, (2) moving away from a single lesson-based view to embracing a curriculum unit-based deliberation, and (3) challenging their shared assumptions and enabling their learning to adopt the students’ lens in improving the research lesson.

Implications

This study provides an illustrative case on how teachers’ talk about work practices in lesson study mediated teacher learning in a group context. The study established the importance of an interconnected view of teacher interaction in lesson study that factored in a consideration of the influences at the teachers’ level and at the school’s level that enabled or impeded a broader consideration of practice and richer conditions for the mentoring of novice teachers in the team.

Original article retrieved from ProQuest.