ELT Journal Advance Access published online on April 13, 2007
ELT Journal, doi:10.1093/elt/ccm020
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.
Evaluating teaching practice
Shosh Leshem is involved in teaching and teacher education in Israel. Her publications are in the area of teacher training and language teaching methodology. She is currently teaching at Haifa University and Oranim, Academic School of Education. She is also a visiting lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK, focusing on doctoral processes from an ethnographic perspective
Rivka Bar-Hama is involved in teaching and teacher education in Israel. Her publications are in the area of teaching English as a foreign language and teacher training and focuses on Testing and Assessment. She taught at Haifa University and is currently head of the English Department at Gordon Academic College of Education
Email: shosh-l{at}zahav.net.il
Email: rivkab{at}macam.ac.il
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Abstract |
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The evaluation of observed lessons has been the subject of much debate in the field of teacher training. Teacher trainers have tried to define quality in relation to teaching and to find ways to measure it in a reliable way. Can we evaluate the quality of teaching by observable behaviour and measurable components, in which case, can the lesson be assessed analytically by the use of discrete criteria? Or, does a lesson constitute an entity, which cannot be broken into discrete components so that it has to be assessed impressionistically? We believe that in order to construct a more comprehensive view of the issue, it is pertinent to collaborate with our trainees and provide some space for their voices. Evidence from a small-scale practitioner-based research project reveals that trainees need explicit criteria for effective teaching in order to identify their strengths and weaknesses and use them as guidelines for improvement.