6 Peer observation

The nature of peer observation
Peer observation refers to a teacher or other observer closely watching andmonitoring a language lesson or part of a lesson in order to gain an understanding of some aspect of teaching, learning, or classroom interaction. In
Chapter 3 we examined how teachers can observe their own classrooms.
In this chapter the focus is on observing another teacher's classroom andwhat two teachers can gain through observing each other's teaching. In our
experience, many teachers have a negative reaction to the idea of someone
observing their classes. For many, "observation" calls to mind a coordinatoror visitor coming to a classroom to carry out a supervisory or evaluative
observation as part of the process of performance appraisal. Observation
tends to be identified with evaluation, and consequently it is often regarded
as a threatening or negative experience. Williams (1989, p. 86) has summed
up some of the problems of traditional classroom observations:• The teachers did not like it. It was threatening, frightening, and regarded
as an ordeal.
• It was prescriptive.
• The checklist focused on too much at once .
• The teachers had no responsibility for the assessment. It was trainercentered.
In this chapter we wish to separate evaluation from observation and explore
how observation can be a part of the process of teacher development rather
than focus on it as a component of appraisal.

Purpose and benefits of peer observation
Observation is a basic part ofthe learning of many occupations, particularly
in vocational and technical fields, but learning through the observation of85

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practitioners at work also plays a role in other fields, such as business, law,and medicine. In teaching, observation provides an opportunity for novice
teachers to see what more experienced teachers do when they teach a lesson
and how they do it. But experienced teachers can also benefit from peer
observation. It provides an opportunity for the teacher to see how someone
else deals with many of the same problems teachers face on a daily basis. A
teacher might discover that a colleague has effective teaching strategies thatthe observer has never tried. Observing another teacher may also trigger
reflections about one's own teaching. For the teacher being observed, theobserver can provide an "objective" view of the lesson and can collectinformation about the lesson that the teacher who is teaching the lesson
might not otherwise be able to gather. For both teachers, observation also
has social benefits. It brings teachers together who might not normally
have a chance to interact and provides an opportunity for the sharing ofideas and expertise, as well as a chance to discuss problems and concerns.
Observation provides a chance to see how other teachers teach, it is a means
ofbuilding collegiality in a school, it can be a way of collecting information
about teaching and classroom processes, it provides an opportunity to get
feedback on one's teaching, and it is a way of developing self-awarenessof one's own teaching. The following vignette from a teacher in Korea
illustrates how feedback from peer observation helped him develop as ateacher.

Vignette

I did not realize that I was asking and answering all my own questions until
the observer showed me his narrative account of what he had seen in myclass. I wanted to get on with the lesson and get them writing. Now I think
my students just waited each time I asked questions because they realizedthat I would eventually answer these same questions for them. I was infact spoon-feeding them too much. Now, thinking about this I realize that I
frequently do this in my ESL classes. I think this is not helping my students.
After this class and the discussion I had with the observer, I realized thepower of having another pair of eyes in the room to help me "see" better. I
should also say that the observer was a trusted friend and this helped me a
lot too.
Eric Harmsen

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Reflection• Have you ever had an observer in your class? If so, what did you learn
from the observer about your teaching?
• What are possible problems with having an observer in your class?
At the same time, the limitations of observation need to be understood.
Obviously, an observer can only observe things that are visible. This includes
such things as the following:• Timing. How much time the teacher spends on different activities• Activities. The types of activities the teacher employs during the lesson• Questioning techniques. The types of questions the teachers asks
• Participation. Which learners actively participate in the lesson• Classroom language. The kind oflanguage learners produce
Other important aspects of the lesson, however, are not observable. Theyeither have to be inferred or can only be identified as a result of talking to
the teacher. These include the following:• Decision making. The kinds of decisions the teacher considers during
the lesson• Engagement. The extent to which learners find aspects of the lesson
interesting and engaging• Problems. Difficulties the teacher experiences during the lesson but thatmight not have been visible to an observer• Teachingprinciples. The principles that inform the teacher's approach to
the lesson
Observation as a component of teacher development, therefore, involves
discussion and reflection in order to arrive at a valid understanding of themeaning of the events observed.
Nonevaluative observation within the context of professional development is often welcomed by teachers, as the following teacher's comments
reveal (from Richards, 1998).
• It revealed more detailed information on student performance during

specific aspects of the lesson than I could have generated on my own.
• It revealed unexpected information about interaction between students

during a lesson.
• It helped me develop a better working relationship with a colleague.

88Professional development for language teachers• It has taught me how much I can learn from my colleagues.
• It made me more aware of the limited range of teaching strategies that I
have been using.
• I realized that I need to develop better time-management
strategies.
• J have learned the value of evaluating myself. I know more about mystrengths as a teacher as well.
If observation is to be a positive experience, however, it needs to be carefullyplanned for and implemented. The nature of observation might seem to be
self-evident, yet the process of observation is more complex than it might
appear. Lessons are dynamic and, to some extent, unpredictable events.
They involve many different participants and often several different things
are happening simultaneously. Classroom events sometimes unfold very
quickly, so taking note of multiple events in real time is often impossible.
Specific procedures are therefore needed.

Procedures used for peer observation
The purpose of observation is to learn from the observation experience. In
order to do this, the observer cannot simply depend on memory. Procedures
are needed that can be used to record information about the observation.
We have made use of the following procedures, depending on the purposeof the observation.

Written narrative
This technique was described in Chapter 3 and involves a narrative accountof the lesson as a whole. In the present context, however, the narrativeis written by the observer rather than the teacher. The observer tries toprovide an account of the main structure and development of the lesson, thekinds of activities the teacher employed, and the significant time periods
within the lesson. In carrying out a written narrative, it is important not
to try to describe everything that happens during the lesson. The language
used should be objective and precise, and any form of evaluation should be
avoided.
• Advantages. A written narrative provides a broad picture of a lesson andcan be useful in helping to see what the structure of the lesson was likeand how the teacher implemented or departed from his or her lesson plan.

Peer observation89• Disadvantages. Many aspects ofthe lesson are difficult to describe accurately in real time, such as the actual language that was used during ateacher-student exchange.
Field notes
Field notes consist of brief descriptions in note form of key events that
occurred throughout the lesson, including interpretations of incidents where
relevant. Taking notes is an informal way of jotting down observations ofevents as they occur. Notes are sometimes time-based (e.g., notes are madeat regular intervals, such as every 5 minutes, using an observation form that
identifies the time intervals that are being described), or they may be linked
to the key activities that occurred during the lesson (e.g., the teacher's setting
up and explanation of an activity, the teacher's comments on an activity after
it has been completed).
• Advantages. Taking notes is a flexible way of observing a lesson. Whensignificant things are happening, the observer notes down relevant information. When relatively little is happening (e.g., when students are
silently reading a text), the observer can focus on something else (e.g.,
noting down how often students used their dictionary during a reading
activity).
• Disadvantages. The information collected may be insufficient to capture
what is really going on in the lesson.
Checklists
A checklist is a structured inventory listing features of a lesson that theobserver completes as he or she observes the lesson (see Appendix for
examples).
• Advantages. A checklist is highly focused and relatively easy to complete.
It provides a systematic way of collecting information on specific aspects
ofa lesson.
• Disadvantages. Some aspects of a lesson are difficult to identify using
a checklist. Checklists sometimes focus on trivial aspects of the lesson
and fail to account for much of what happens.
In the following vignette, a teacher in Pakistan who wanted to observe theteaching practices used by the teachers while teaching reading and writing
designed her own checklists. She discusses the process of designing her
own checklists.

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Vignette

For me, a classroom observation checklist must not contain too many items.
This is a lesson I learned from a few observations I conducted. Sometime
back, in order to appear very professional and show off my newly acquired
knowledge, I developed wonderfully detailed checklists divided and subdivided into many topics. The checklists looked very well done and highly
useful, but in practice that was not the case. I ended up with too much to lookfor in too little time. So now, when I design checklists I restrict myself tolooking at one or two aspects of my teaching and I do not devise too manyquestions, nor do I have too many categories. If you keep your checklist
concise and stick to the most important points, your observation will be"good."
Aamna Khalid

Reflection• What (and how many) items do you think are essential to include in achecklist for looking at a teacher's questioning behavior?
• What aspects of a lesson do you think can successfully be documented
using a checklist?
The focus of an observation
Many aspects of a lesson can be the focus of an observation. Typical "howto" dimensions of teaching include the following:• How the teacher starts and ends a lesson• How the teacher allots time within a lesson• How the teacher assigns tasks to students• How the teacher deals with a reticent student• How the teacher organizes learning groups• How the teacher supervises students while they are learning• How the teacher asks questions
In focusing on the teacher's use of questions, observation can examine thefollowing aspects of questions (from Gebhard, 1996).
• What kinds of questions does the teacher ask most often? Yes/no?
Either/or?
• Wh-? Tag?

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91• What is the content of the teacher's questions?
• How long does the teacher wait after asking a question to get a response?
• How does the teacher give instructions? How much time does it take?
Do students know what to do after being given the instructions?
Other topics that are suitable for classroom observations include thefollowing:• Teacher s time management. Allotment of time to different activities
during the lesson• Students' performance of tasks. Students' language use, procedures, andinteraction patterns• Time on task. The extent to which the students were actively engaged
during a task
• Teachers action zone. The extent to which the teacher interacted withsome students more frequently than others during a lesson• Use of the textbook. The extent to which a teacher used the textbook
during a lesson and the types of departures made from it• Pair and group work. The way students completed a task, the responses
they made during the task, the type oflanguage they used, students' timeon task during pair and group work, and the dynamics of group activities
The following vignette is an example of how a recently qualified (nonnative
English speaker) teacher of EFL, who was teaching English conversation
classes in Korea for the first time, asked one of his peers (also a newly qualified native speaker of English) to observe him teach a series of lessons.
However, he wanted her to focus specifically on interactions (teacher-tostudent and student-to-student) in his classroom as he was unsure of what
was happening. After the first two classroom observations, the observer
noted that not all the students participated equally during group (studentto-student) work and that only certain students were involved when volunteering answers in whole-class discussions. After the discussions with theobserver, the teacher came up with the following change, explained in his
own words.

Vignette

Maybe I should ask students to form groups of four and ask them to tally
their group's responses and ask each group to present their analysis. I will
give each member a task such as group leader, group timekeeper, reporter,and secretary. I read this somewhere, and I think this could involve moreparticipation from the students, rather than me doing the tallying, which

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became monotonous after a short while, and there wasn't any analysis ofany kind of the results.
The teacher decided that he would like to learn from this discovery, so
he asked the observer to observe him again to see if he was successful
in implementing his new approach to group work. The beginning teacher
commented on the outcome:I saw a big difference in my classroom interactions when I asked them toform groups of four and gave each member a role in the group. They really
got involved in the discussions as did the whole class. No one member of
each group dominated the conversation and no one member was silent - allseemed happy with their assigned roles and duties. The peer-observation
process really worked well for me, and I am happy I was able to ask anotherteacher whom I trust, because she is relatively new to teaching as well.
Park Sang Kang

Reflection• Why do you think Sang Kang had difficulties realizing what type ofinteractions were common in his classes?
• How do you think peer observers can be helpful to beginning teachers?
Experienced teachers?
When observation is a component of professional development, the focus
may be on general teaching issues such as those noted here, or it could
be directed toward concerns a teacher has about some aspect of his or her
teaching. For example, it might be directed to issues such as the following:• I have a feeling that the brighter students are not challenged by myteaching.
• I suspect that I spend too much time explaining things.
• Some students are too talkative, and some are too quiet, in my classes.
Observation by a peer could help the teacher further understand these problems by collecting information related to each problem.
Peer coachingPeer coaching is a particular form of peer observation and involves anexperienced teacher working with a less experienced teacher in a mentoringrole. Peer coaching is the focus of Chapter 10.

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for implementing

peer

Implementing peer observation
The following

guidelines

have proved

usefulobservation:• Select a colleague to work with. This may be a teacher who is teaching
the same course or using the same textbook as you, or you could observea teacher teaching a different kind of class, depending on mutual interest.

• Each teacher takes turns at teaching and observing, asfollows:
1. Arrange for a pre-observation orientation session. Before each observation, meet to discuss the nature of the class to be observed, the kindof material being taught, the teacher's approach to teaching, the kindsof students in the class, typical patterns of interaction and class participation, and any problems expected. The aim of these discussions is
for the observer to understand the kinds of issues the teacher is facing
and to learn more about the class and what its particular circumstancesor problems are. The teacher who is teaching the lesson should also
identify a focus for the observation at this stage and set a task for theobserver to carry out. The observer's role is to collect information for
the teacher that he or she would not normally be able to collect alone.
It is important to stress that this task should not involve any form ofevaluation.
2. Decide on observation procedures to be used and arrange a schedule
for the observations.
3. Complete the observation using the procedures that were agreed on.
4. Arrange a post-observation
session. Meet as soon as possible after
the lesson. The observer reports on the information collected anddiscusses it with the teacher.

Supporting teachers in implementing peer observation
Supervisors and administrators have an important role to play when implementing and encouraging peer observation. They can support teachers
throughout the process in the following ways:• Survey teachers in order to find out what kinds of support they might needfor classroom observations (e.g., in terms of resources, administrative
support, knowledge, and time).
• Gather resources on classroom observations such as articles or videotapesof classroom observations, and, if possible, invite outside experts or
consultants to give a workshop on how to do observations.

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for language teachers• Ask teachers who have taken part in peer observation to explain whatmakes for a successful classroom observation.
• Where possible, free up time for teachers who want to engage in classroom observations.
• When teachers have successfully completed a series of classroom observations, encourage them to report to the other teachers about theirexperiences.

SummaryPeer observation can help teachers become more aware of the issues they.
confront in the classroom and how these can be resolved. Observation canalso help narrow the gap between one's imagined view of teaching and what
actually occurs in the classroom. By engaging in nonevaluative classroom
observations, the responsibility of professional development can also shift
from others (supervisors, peers, etc.) to the individual teacher. Because
observation involves an intrusion into a colleague's classroom, proceduresfor carrying out observations need to be carefully negotiated between theparticipating parties. Having an observer in one's class is always somethingof a threatening experience because the teacher is now "on show." Assigning
the observer a nonevaluative task goes some way toward minimizing thesense ofthreat, as does pairing teachers by choice and letting them negotiate
the goals and procedures for observations.

Example of peer observation
Getting started
A group of beginning teachers in a language department requested assistance in professional development from their more experienced peers(Richards, 1998). They wanted evaluative feedback on their teaching but
also wanted to combine this with feedback from their students. Therefore,
a strategy of three-way observation was developed.
The process
The following strategy was implemented:
1. Pairs of new and experienced teachers decided to work together. The
novice teacher invited a colleague to collaborate.

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2. Each pair of teachers arranged to carry out several observations ofeach other's classes.
3. Data were collected at the end of each lesson on students', the teacher's,
and the observer's perceptions of the lesson (different from usual
peer observations). At the end of the lesson, the teacher allotted 5 to
7 minutes to the following activities:
The students were asked the following questions about the lesson:
Think back on the lesson that you just had and answer these questions.
l. What were the main goals of the lesson?
2. What is the most important thing you learned in the lesson?
3. What do you think was the most useful part of the lesson?
4. Was there anything about the lesson that was not very useful toyou?
The observer was asked the follOWIngquestions about the lesson:
As you observe the lesson, try to answer these questions.
l. What were the main goals of the lesson?
2.' What is the most important thing the students learned in the lesson?
3. What do you think was the most useful part of the lesson?
4. Was there anything about the lesson that was not very successful?
5. How did you feel about the lesson as a whole?
The teacher was asked the following questions about the lesson:
At the end of the lesson you taught, answer these questions.
l. What were the main goals ofthe lesson?
2. What is the most important thing the students learned in the lesson?
3. What do you think was the most useful part of the lesson?
4. Was there anything about the lesson that was not very successful?
5. How do you feel about the lesson as a whole?

The outcome
The participants in this study found that:• There was often closer agreement between the three sources of information on the goals of the lesson when it was taught by experienced
teachers than when it was taught by inexperienced teachers.
• The experienced and inexperienced teachers differed on what they perceived as being the most successful part of a lesson. The experienced
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likely to learn; the inexperienced teachers felt that a successful
was one that worked best from their point of view as a teacher.

lessonSome insights
The most successful aspect of these classroom observations was that they
allowed experienced teachers to serve as valued mentors to their less experienced colleagues. The fact that the experienced teachers were willingto go through the same process of critical reflection as the novice teachers
gave them great credibility in the eyes of the novice teachers. Additionally,
the experienced teachers became more thoughtful about their own teaching.

References and further reading
Cosh, J. (1999). Peer observation: A reflective model. English Language
Teaching Journal 53(1), pp. 22-27.
Fitzpatrick, F. (1995). Peering at your peers. Teacher Trainer 9(2), p. 2.
Gebhard, J. G. (1996). Teaching English as aforeign or second language.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Richards, J. C. (1998). Teaching in action. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
Richards, J. C., & Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Wajnryb, R. (1992). Classroom observation tasks. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Williams, M. (1989). A developmental

view of classroom observation. En-

glish Language Teaching Journal 43(2), pp. 85-91.

Appendix
Checklist for monitoring a teacher's questioning strategies
Note (checkmark) how often the teacher asks the following questions
various intervals (for example, every 5 minutes) during the class.

Type of question asked
1. Factual/literal. Teacher asks a question that thestudents can answer by reading or listening to theteacher.
2. Opinion/interpretative. Teacher asks a question thatthe students can answer by "reading between thelines" from a text or from what the teacher says.
Students can use own prior knowledge to answer.

atFrequency

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Type of response required
1. Display/fact. Student must display his or her
knowledge of a topic by providing facts frommemory.
2. Referential/thought. Student must provide ananswer that involves thought and reasoning inorder to reach a logical conclusion.
3. Choice. Student must only provide a yes/no,true/false answer - no explanation required.

Frequency

Selection of student
1. Calls student's name directly before asking
question.
2. Calls student's name directly after asking question.
3. Calls for student volunteers after asking question.
4. Allows students to self-select when to answer.

Frequency