The relationship between collaboration and professional development : Possible effects of EFL student teacher/supervising teacher dialogue on the beliefs and instructional practices of the EFL supervising teachers

Abstract

This study investigates whether a collaborative dialogue in addition to knowledge-transmission training between EFL student teachers and supervising teachers would contribute to the professional development of EFL teachers as opposed to only knowledge-transmission training. To answer this major research question the following subquestions were dealt with: 1. What is the nature of the collaborative dialogue between the supervising teachers and the student teachers? 2. Will there be a difference between the instructional practices of the teachers who took only a knowledge-transmission type of training and those who were additionally engaged in a collaborative dialogue based on an assistance-support form of sustained interaction with student teachers? 3. Will there be a difference between the public and private school teachers in terms of benefits in teachers' instructional practices and the nature of teacher and student talk after they have engaged in a collaborative dialogue in addition to a knowledge-transmission type of training, if so how? 4. What are the supervising teachers' and student teachers' attitudes toward participation in a collaborative dialogue as opposed to a knowledge-transmission type of training? Forty English language teachers (twenty from private and twenty from public schools) and twenty student teachers from the Department of Foreign Language Teaching of Marmara University formed the target population of the study. Twenty of the English teachers were assigned to the experimental and the other twenty to the control group. Control group teachers were given a knowledge-transmission type of training about classroom skills, whereas experimental group teachers were additionally engaged in a collaborative dialogue based on an assistance-support form of sustained interaction with student teachers (combined treatment). Quantitative data results obtained from classroom observations indicated that experimental group teachers in both the private and public schools showed statistically significant improvement in most of the teaching practices in comparison to control group teachers in both settings. Moreover, the treatment changed the nature of the talk of the experimental group teachers at a significant level and this change affected student participation in class in a positive way. In relation to teacher talk, Significant changes were seen in all aspects except in teachers' repetition skills. Regarding the nature of student talk, again the majority of the interactive practices showed significant change as a result of the treatment. In addition, the results also indicated that the public and private school experimental group teachers which statistically differed from each other in favor of the private school teachers in several teaching practices and in several aspects of teacher and student talk at the beginning of the study, equally benefited from the combined treatment. Qualitative data results obtained from the semi-structured interviews with supervising teachers and journals kept by student teachers indicated that the student teachers and supervising teachers followed the preconference, observation and postconference cycle based on feedback and reflection. Moreover, they all agreed on the mutual benefits of the process to the professional development of the participants. Hence, the results of the study indicated that supervising teacher/student teacher dialogue based on support and assistance can be utilized as an effective INSET program in both private and public schools.