Comparing Lesson Transcriptions as an Alternative to Video Observation
Through discussion, it transpired that this was the first time in ten years of teaching that Ti had videotaped one of her lessons. Video-recording lessons is, of course, a frequently used strategy in teacher training institutions; yet allowing teachers to see themselves in a teaching role has been viewed as stressful and even self-confrontational (Wallace 1981) and Ti was rather unwilling to view her own teaching using video. However, as we discussed the episodes it became clear that stress had not been the sole factor in Ti’s interactive decision making because she had told me that what we saw on the videotape was what she always did. Thomas Sabo Charms Wallace (ibid.) also claims that to effectively analyse a video observation depends on how that analysis relates to the trainee’s own ideas and attitudes. Following my first interview with Ti after the submission of her video, it was apparent that there was no introspection on the part of the teacher which made any further discussion on self-improvement rather difficult. I felt that the video-recording of the lesson tied to my feedback was not enough to raise self-awareness on the subject’s part and promote change in this teacher’s classroom practice.
Meanwhile, another course participant (Ta) submitted his video-recorded lesson. T2 was also a local English primary school teacher but from a different school from Ti. As I viewed his lesson, I realized that it covered exactly the same coursebook and content matter (habits and ‘every day’) as Ti’s; his lesson was, however, strikingly different in terms of observable linguistic features such as the use of more referential questions and greater student participation. It was clear that Ti’s and Ta’s lessons were different largely because of the classroom language employed by the two teachers. With Tz’s permission, I transcribed his lesson and presented it to Ti.
By focusing solely on the ‘interactional architecture’ in the two transcribed lessons (Seed house 2004) I was able to shift the focus away from the video-recording so that Ti was now concentrating on what was being said rather than what was being done in the classroom. Cosh (1999) has argued that most video observations tend to put more weight on the teaching of the observed but by relying on the transcription instead, the interactional data in the two lessons took more prominence. Thomas Sabo Bracelets This was successful as Ti later pointed to the opportunity to contrast her own lesson transcription with another teacher’s transcription for a lesson on the same subject as being the most powerful stimulus for self-improvement. Ti saw the transcriptions as a valuable way of noting the differences that could exist within a similar teaching context.
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