Comparative effect of collaborative and prescriptive models of observation on Iranian novice/experienced EFL teachers’ reflective practice

Abstract

The present study intended to compare the effect of collaborative and prescriptive models of observation on Iranian novice and experienced EFL teachers’ reflective practice. Employing purposive sampling procedures, 40 teachers, including 20 novice and 20 experienced teachers, were assigned to the prescriptive observation group (i.e. the control group). Another group of 40 teachers, which comprised of 20 novice and 20 experienced teachers, were assigned to the collaborative observation group (i.e. the experimental group). The study examined (i) if there was a significant difference between prescriptive and collaborative observation in terms of teachers’ perception of their own reflective teaching, and (ii) if there was any significant difference between novice and experienced teachers’ perception of their reflective teaching after collaborative observation. A sequential explanatory design was used so that both quantitative and qualitative data collection/analysis procedures were employed. The quantitative data were collected through English Language Teaching Reflection Inventory (Akbari, Behzadpoor & Dadvand (2010), and the qualitative data were elicited through interviews. The results of both quantitative and qualitative data revealed that (i) there was a significant difference between prescriptive and collaborative observation in terms of teachers’ practical, cognitive, affective, metacognitive, and critical reflection, and that (ii) in the collaborative observation group, there was a significant difference between novice and experienced teachers’ perception of their reflective teaching in terms of teachers’ practical, cognitive, affective, metacognitive, and critical reflection.