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Unit 1: Observation in the Language Classroom

OBSERVATION AS A LEARNING TOOL

1. Look at the picture below. How do YOU think it illustrates OBSERVATION? Write down
your ideas.

2. Read the following passage1 and answer the questions below:

OBSERVING AS A LEARNING TOOL

Being in the classroom as an observer opens up a range of experiences and

processes which can become part of the raw material of a teacher´s professional
growth. This book aims to make observation in the classroom a learning experience.
This is done by providing a bank of tasks which guide teachers through the process
of observing, reflecting and drawing conclusions.

Observation is multi-faceted tool for learning. The experience of observing

comprises more than the time actually spent in the classroom. It also includes
preparation for the period in the classroom and a follow-up. The preparation
includes the selection of the focus, the purpose and the method of data collection.
The follow-up includes analysis, discussion and interpretation of the data and
experiences acquired in the classroom, and reflection on the whole experience.

It is important to say at this point that observation is a skill that can be learned and
can improve with practice. It is often assumed, somewhat naively, that the ability to
learn through observing classroom events is fairly intuitive. In fact, while few would
deny the role of intuition in the preparation of teachers, the ability to see with
acuity, to select, identify and prioritise among a myriad of co-occurring experiences
is something that can be guided, practiced, learned and improved.

1
Wajnryb, R. (1992). Classroom observation tasks. Cambridge:OUP
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a. How does observation connect with learning?
b. What kind of activities does observation include?
c. How is the skill of observation qualified?

3. Read the extract (Wajnryb, 1992) and draw a graphic with the key concepts.

WHY OBSERVE?

When we teach, we are often so absorbed in the purpose, procedure and logistics of
our lesson that we are not able to observe processes of learning and interaction as
they occur through the lesson. Being an observer in the classroom, rather than the
teacher, releases us from these concerns and affords the freedom to look at the
lesson from a range of different perspectives outside that of the actual lesson plan of
the teacher.

For the trainee teacher, this freedom is particularly important. In a way, this stage in
training is akin to the ‘silent phase’ of a beginning language learner who listens,
looks, observes, considers, analyses, reflects, but significantly, is not required to
produce. Communication of this kind gives the learner a very particular role: they
read, listen, are exposed to the target language but do not have to respond.
Communication is one-way: directed to, not generated from the learner.

A ‘silent phase’ can influence learning. If we consider that the pressure to produce
something channels all energies in one direction (performance), then the removal of
this pressure releases a certain freedom: freedom to observe, absorb and reflect. A
trainee teacher with the freedom to observe teaching is allowed time and space to
become familiar with the culture of the classroom –its agenda of customs, rituals,
expectations, patterns and mores- before having to try on any active aspects of the
teacher´s role. This book´s observation tasks will structure and guide the silent
phase of the trainee teacher´s course of study.

Developing the skill of observing serves a dual purpose: it helps teachers gain a
better understanding of their own teaching, while at the same time refines their
ability to observe, analyse and interpret, an ability which can also be used to
improve their own teaching. It is an underlying premise […] that the development of
the skills of observing is integral to the processes of professional decision-making in
which teachers are constantly involved.

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OBSERVATION & EVALUATION

1. Read teachers´ remarks about observation 2 and underline with different colours the
positive and negative comments made by teachers with regards to observation.

2 Tanner, R. & Green, C. (1998) Tasks for teacher education. Harlow: Longman
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2. You are going to conduct a SURVEY in PAIRS. To do this you must:
a. Choose ONE partner
b. Contact TWO students: who have completed at least one stage of PRÁCTICA
PEDAGÓGICA II, or III, or IV
c. Interview them and complete the chart below with the answers to the following
questions:

1) Did you conduct an observation of the course before you started teaching?
a) If yes, how long was it?
b) What information did you collect?
c) Was it helpful for your teaching practices? Why/not?
2) Were you observed while you were teaching? By whom?
a) If yes, how did you feel during the observation?
b) How did you feel after the observation?

STUDENT A from PP….. STUDENT B from PP…..

Length of the
observation
As an

observer
Type of
information
collected

Concluding
remarks

Observer

As an Feelings
DURING the
observee
observation

Feelings
AFTER the
observation

3) Compare the results from your survey with the comments on p.3 above. What conclusions can
you draw?

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4. Read the following passage (Tanner & Green, 1998) and underline the key concepts.

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5. Complete the table below as you discuss the following questions:

a) What´s the purpose of observation/ of evaluation?
b) What´s the focus?
c) Who observes / evaluates?
d) What about feedback?

OBSERVATION EVALUATION

6. Read the following quotation by Fanselow (1990). How do you interpret it?

How can you connect it to the survey you carried?

Here I am with my lens to look at you and your actions. But as I look at you with my lens, I
consider you a mirror. I hope to see myself in you and through my teaching. When I see
myself, I find it hard to get distance from my teaching. I hear my voice, I see my face and
clothes and fail to see my teaching. Seeing you allows me to see myself differently and to
explore the variables we both use.

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7. Read the following extract and complete the summary below.

THE TRAINABILITY OF OBSERVATION SKILLS

A major assumption […] is that the skills of observation are not wholly intuitive but can be
learnt. This book seeks to structure and focus this learning process through a set of focused
classroom tasks which engage the observer. By broadening, deepening and refining the
powers of observation, these tasks are designed to guide the growth of the teachers´ critical
abilities. This is seen as firm ground on which to build the skills of analysis, interpretation
and self-evaluation. These skills are clearly linked with teachers´ abilities to analyze what
goes on in their own classrooms so as to help them make better professional decisions.

Different people, of course, bring different backgrounds with them to the classroom. We are
all, from this point of view, the sum of our life. So a teacher brings to the language
classroom many expectations derived from teaching and learning experiences both recent
and past. According to some researchers these ‘ghosts behind the blackboard’ must be
identified if they are to be exorcised.

Confronting hidden assumptions as well as verbalizing teachers’ expectations is part of

what happens when one begins to take on the skills of observation. A teacher, for example,
may assume that her/his manner of organizing group work, or handling correction is
successful and effective; she/he may confront these unstated assumptions by observing
other teachers doing similar or different things in the classroom. This is consistent with
observation as a ‘mirroring tool’.

Very often the crucial thrust of teacher development is asking questions behaviors that are
(or have become) ritualized. This is contrasted with principled teaching behavior which is
defined as ‘teaching that is informed by principles that the teacher is aware of’.

Very often these rituals are learned at the pre-service level, in short intensive courses, and
the combination of pressure of time and pressure to perform sometimes compels trainees
to adopt short-cut learning strategies such as learning a ritual without fully understanding
its rationale. As well, there is the urgency to ‘perform’ before much exposure to input has
occurred. Rituals are comforting in the sense that they provide certain security at a time
when a teacher is looking for survival skills and strategies. The danger is that the principles
behind the techniques are not understood, resulting in techniques being enacted and re-
enacted as lip-service ritual.

The other advantage of rituals is that they release the teacher to think about other aspects
of the lesson. Once the strategy is mastered at the level of ritual, a certain freedom is
generated to enable the teacher to consider elements outside of immediate survival. The
teacher who has a repertoire of reflex behaviors or rituals, in a sense is not burdened by the
myriad of little decisions that are called for in the classroom.

It often happens, too, that what was once learned as principled, thinking behavior
‘degenerates’ over time into ritual through the force of habit and repetition and over use.

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TASKS NOT INTUITIVE

CAN BE……………..

DESIGNED TO

HELP TEACHERS MAKE

TEACHERS BRING TO THE CLASSROOM

DERIVED FROM

TEACHER´S DEVELOPMENT DEPENDS ON

WHICH CONTRASTS WITH

RITUALS

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

8. Watch the first video on the following website

http://www.educ.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.bilash/best%20of%20bilash/observation.html .
Summarize the ideas posed by the speaker with regards to the importance of observation
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