Lesson Study in Higher Education: A Collaborative Vehicle for Professional Learning and Practice Development of Teachers of English for Specific Purposes

Abstract

Collaboration amongst teachers is considered a crucial way to foster professional development and improve classroom effectiveness. An increasing number of studies reveal the benefits of participation in Lesson Study, a highly collaborative form of teacher professional development, which originates from Japan. Working together in Lesson Study groups has been shown to enhance teachers’ engagement with teaching and learning. Lesson Study, however, has been mostly exploited within mainstream educational contexts in mathematics and science education, and has received little attention to date within English Language Teaching. This chapter examines the potential of Lesson Study for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teacher professional development, particularly in terms of the structure it provides for subject-specialists and language specialists to work together to grow professional content knowledge, and improve student and teacher learning. Drawing critically upon a core conceptual framework for teacher development, I argue that ESP teachers can develop professionally through participation in Lesson Study by sharing subject-specific and pedagogic content knowledge and by jointly developing resources. Lesson Study provides a framework for teachers to engage in richly contextualised discussions about pedagogy which are directly relevant to their classroom practice.