Classroom observation

By the time trainee teachers start their training by observing lessons in schools, they have spent at least fifteen years in the role of students, and have a very good idea of what happens in the classroom. However, teachers and students do not view the class in the same way. Thus, the essential problem of observation in initial teacher training is to unlearn the pupil perspective in order to manage the transition to teacher (Walker and Adelman, 1975). Beginning teachers may be bewildered by their new role and the responsibilities it brings. They suddenly find themselves in a position where they are the centre of attention in the classroom, they have to plan and organize the work in the classroom, they are responsible for a large number of students who come to the classroom with different attitudes, backgrounds, learning preferences, personalities, etc. All these things can be quite shocking for beginning teachers. So, the importance of live observations of lessons is that it helps trainee teachers to collect information about what is going on in the classroom and to make the transition from student to teacher easier. The role of observer should be taken very seriously and trainees should try to get as much as they can because this may be the only time in their career when they have the chance to observe series of lessons and to gain valuable insights that can help them become better teachers. A study of over 100 postgraduate teachers conducted by Wragg (1973) showed that they had already established fairly stable styles of teaching even when on teaching practice. This indicates that ‘firmly fixed patterns of classroom interaction can be laid down quite early in a teacher’s career, even during training’ (ibid.). Therefore, it is important that trainee teachers pay close attention to what is happening in the classroom, keep a journal of the observations and think about the different aspects of the lessons they have seen in order to draw conclusions about good and bad teaching practices. They should approach this experience with an open mind because ‘careful classroom observation can help illuminate even the most familiar of events’ (Wragg, 1991: vii). Sometimes observers see what they want or expect to see and not what is really happening, so by leaving previous assumptions behind they can not only learn new things, but they can also get a new perspective on familiar things. Classrooms are very busy places and there are a lot of different things going on in only one lesson. A study in which lessons were videotaped (Adams and Biddle, 1970) showed that there was a change in ‘activity’ every 5–18 seconds and there was an average in each lesson of 174 changes in who talked and who listened. Wragg (1991: 2) remarks that ‘the job of teaching can be as busy as that of a telephonist or a sales assistant during peak shopping hours’, so observers need to learn how to observe in order to get as much benefit as possible.

The observer

The presence of a person who is not normally present in the classroom may have an influence of what happens in the classroom. Samph (1976) put microphones in classrooms and then sent observers either announced or unexpected some weeks later. He found that teachers made more use of questions, praise and were more likely to accept pupils’ ideas when someone was present. Both teachers and learners may change their behaviour and may attempt to provide what they think the visitor expects. This, only one visit to a classroom will not give the right picture of what

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really happens in the classroom. Wragg (1991: 15) points out that it is important for non-participant observers to make sure they learn what they need to know by looking beneath the surface of what happens, and discuss their perceptions with others. It is also important that they do not come to the classroom with their own assumptions and pre-judgements. Observers should approach observation with an open mind and try to see things objectively.

It is also important to think about the place of the observer in the classroom. The basic principle is that the observers should not draw any attention to themselves. The usual place of observers is at the back of the classroom so that they can see the whole classroom. However in this position, they can see what is happening in the classroom, the teacher’s face, but they cannot see the learners’ faces, which will not allow the observers to draw conclusions about the effect of classroom actions on the learners. That’s why the best position is at the back but preferably to one side so that they can see the faces of some of the learners. Moreover, in order to be able to see what is happening when learners work in pairs or groups, it is good for the observers to be close enough to at least one group so that they can listen to their conversation and get some insights into the way they approach the task and organize their work.

Another important aspect is the dress and personal style of the observers. Observers should not draw any attention to themselves with the way they look. They should look tidy and respectful, which means short skirts, untidy hair, too casual clothes or striking jewellery should be avoided.

Observation points

Wragg (1991: 20) remarks that systematic analysis of lessons has often concentrated on a number of matters in the classroom. They include the following, some of which overlap with each other:

Personal traits. The traits of either the teacher or the pupils: for example, whether the teacher is warm or aloof, whether certain pupils appear to prefer collaboration or disruption.

Verbal interaction. What teachers and pupils say to each other, who does the talking and about what, question and answer, choice of vocabulary and language register.

Non-verbal Movement: gesture, facial expression like smiles and frowns. Activity. The nature of the pupils’ tasks, what the teacher does. Management. How the teacher manages pupil behaviour, the use of resources, the

organisation of group or individual work. Professional skills. Questioning, explaining, arousing interest and curiosity. Teaching aids. The teacher’s use of audio-visual aids, such as television, slides,

tapes, or other materials and equipment, like the computer. Affective. Teachers’ and pupils’ feelings and emotions, interpersonal

relationships. Cognitive. The nature and level of thinking in the classroom—for example, the

level of reasoning necessary to answer a question, or the degree of understanding a pupil appears to have of a topic or concept.

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Sociological. The roles people play, norms, codes, the effects of social background, status, power.

In order for the observation to be more successful, observers need to decide in advance what will be observed in a particular lesson. As there are many aspects of the lesson that can be observed, it is useful to decide which elements to focus on in each lesson.

Some of the observation points listed by Walker and Adelman (1975: 8-14) are the following:

1. Physical setting: Note any posters, pictures, wall charts or exhibits, animals or plants. How long

have they been there? Do the children notice them? Note overall room shape and size and the location of fixed furniture and service

points. These can be vital in determining patterns of friendship grouping and informal communication.

Location of blackboard, OHP (overhead projector) etc. Is blackboard/screen in a position where everyone can see it?

2. Pupils How many? How old are they? Boys, girls or mixed? Ability? Course

Name/number of class? Notice who arrives first. Do pupils remain in the same groups inside the

classroom as those in which they arrived? Look at the overall pattern of spacing between groups of children. Is the spacing

uniform, does it reflect the location of furniture/resources or is it related to friendship groups?

Estimate the kind and degree of movement within and between groups and the ways in which these change during the course of the lesson.

Who are the isolate children? Who is the joker? Which children always raise their hands when the teacher asks a question? Which children never raise their hands to answer a question? (Are they ever asked

to respond by the teacher?) Notice the children who sit at the back and in the corners. Is their behaviour any

different from that of rest of the class? Who asks for pens, rubbers etc.? Whom do they ask? Try and assess the extent of division of labour within groups. Does each child do

much the same as another in carrying out the tasks, or are there different roles? Are the roles fixed, or do children move from one to another? Is there any negotiation over allocation of roles or over who does what? How does the division of labour relate to the way children talk to each other? Are all groups equally cohesive and smooth-running?

Is there much communication between groups? Are they aware of what the others are doing? If one group discovers a novel way of doing things, how does this diffuse through the class?

When the teacher asks a child a question does it ever get answered by another child in the same friendship group? Is the relationship between the children predominantly protective or competitive?

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How far do individual children possess territory in the classroom—i.e. do they have areas where other children do not invade?

3. Teachers How do they enter the room, and where do they do they go first? Do they enter

before or after the pupils? Do they make them wait or line up outside? What are the teacher’s first posture, gesture and statement; to whom are they

addressed? What effects are apparently intended? (Notice tone and loudness of voice, as well

as what is said.) How long is it before the lesson proper can begin? What things have happened up

to this point? Does the teacher seem to be a different kind of person inside classroom and out?

How? Assess the complexity of vocabulary and grammar used by the teacher. Do they

match that used by the pupils in (1) their responses to the teacher, (2) their talk among themselves? The teacher’s language may be precise, esoteric, everyday but accurate, or loose. Does the language used by the teacher elucidate the intended meanings or does it hinder them?

What does the teacher do when a child asks a question that reveals he has not understood the lesson? Does the teacher’s language change at this point? How?

Are questions to pupilso previously worked outo spontaneous and exploratoryo implying an answero by several exchanges leading the pupils to the one answer expected?

Does the teacher use analogies? Do they communicate the point to the children? Does the situation seem to be one of mutual communication between teacher and

children? How do you assess this? Does the teacher use many negated sentences as compared to positive sentences? Is the teacher’s voice being clearly perceived (i.e. do the pupils recognize the

pronunciation as understandable even if the observer finds it difficult)? Is the teacher pausing within and between sentences so as to make each clause,

phrase etc. stand out? Does the voice modulation enhance the meanings, or disrupt them?

How does the teacher register that the pupil’s response is considered incorrect? What is the response of other pupils to the teacher’s signal of incorrectness?

How does the teacher deal with the unexpected event? In individual learning situations

o does the teacher get to all those needing help?o does the teacher adjust his language and posture from child to child?

Does the teacher have particular postures and gestures which signal to the class that he is expecting a major change in activity?

How does the teacher use silences to communicate? How does the teacher adjust this talk to different groups of children engaged in

the same task?

4. Resources What books, tools, apparatus, equipment, materials etc. are available and where

are they located and stored?

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How are the tasks defined? (Worksheets, instructions, negotiation…) To what extent do pupils and teachers have equal access to resources? Is there any variation in the way that the task(s) are perceived by different groups

of pupils? If worksheets are being used

o do they specify a sequential programme of tasks, oro do they attempt to initiate self-direction?

Are the questions asked of the teacher by the pupils related too difficulties in making sense of the worksheetso the intended tasko extensions of the intended task?

What preparation was necessary for the particular lesson?

5. The lesson What is its designation on the timetable? What is the aim of the lesson from the teacher’s point of view? How does it relate to a sequence or theme? What is its logical structure in terms of content? How are the different activities connected? What cues signal changes in activity

and who initiates them. How well formed, smooth and simultaneous these transitions are for different members of the class.

Do the activities help learners achieve the aims of the lesson?

Rating scales

One way to record aspects of classroom life is by using rating scales. Some of the rating scales consist of pairs bi-polar opposites scored on a five, seven or 10 point scale. Evaluation of teachers’ characteristics can be carried out with a rating scale like the one bellow (Ryans, 1960):

warm 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 aloofstimulating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 dullbusinesslike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 slipshod

This type of rating scales has been criticized because different raters may see the scale points differently. Thus, ‘one rater’s choice of scale point ‘4’ may not mean the same as another rater’s’ (Wragg, 1991: 23). Moreover, raters tend to choose the middle scale points as a result of uncertainty or fear of stepping out of line (ibid.).

Instead of measuring intensity, observers may use rating scales that measure frequency. In that case, the rater chooses a number from 1 to 5 to indicate how often something seemed to happen in a lesson. The range might be 1=never, or almost never, 2=rarely, 3=sometimes, 4=often, and 5=always, or almost always. The observer would then score items like the ones below using this scale.

Teacher praises correct answers 1 2 3 4 5Teacher deals with misbehaviour 1 2 3 4 5Pupils distract other children 1 2 3 4 5

(Wragg, 1991: 23)

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Wragg (1991: 23) points out that one of the major problems with rating scales is that they appear objective, but are in practice heavily laden with the values of those who conceived them. He concludes that rating scales can be useful in classroom observation, but they are best employed by experienced observers seeing numerous teachers, and they should never be used automatically, only when the context seems appropriate, and then with considerable caution.

Category systems

Another way of recording what is happening in the classroom is by using category systems. Wragg (1991: 25) warns that there are many common errors that are made when category systems are constructed, such as the following: pupil happily reads book (covers two types of category—‘action’ and ‘mood’) teacher shows interest (too vague, target of interest not clear, better to qualify it) pupil misbehaves and is told off (two consecutive acts, should be coded separately). Because it is not easy to construct category systems, many observers use published category systems. Observers can use codes in order to record what is happening in the classroom. Wragg (1991: 29) gives the following suggestions: C=Class, G=Group, I=Individual, T=Transition from one type of grouping to another, TQ=Teacher asks question, TR=Teacher reprimands or admonishes, TQC Teacher asks question to whole class, TRI Teacher reprimands individual pupil, TQG Teacher asks question to group of pupils, TRCT Teacher reprimands whole class during transition.

Guidelines for observation

Richards and Lockhart (1996) give the following guidelines for observation by trainee teachers:

Guidelines for observation by student teachers:

A. Introduction1. Teachers are busy professionals. Classroom observations are not always a welcome

intrusion for the classroom teachers involved.2. The observation of classroom teachers is serious business; it should not be

approached casually.3. Learning how to observe in a manner acceptable to all parties takes time, careful

reflection, personal tact, and creativity.4. An observer is a guest in the teacher's and the students' classroom. A guest in the

classroom is there thanks to the goodwill of the cooperating teacher.5. A guest's purpose for visiting is not to judge, evaluate, or criticize the classroom

teacher, or to offer suggestions, but simply to learn through observing.

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B. Procedures1. Visitors should contact the cooperating teacher for a brief orientation to the class.2. A visitor who is planning to observe a class should arrive in the classroom a few

minutes ahead of time.3. If something unexpected comes up and the visitor is not able to observe a class at

the agreed-upon time, the visitor needs to notify the classroom teacher as soon as possible. It is a visitor's responsibility to keep the classroom teacher informed.

4. Once having entered a classroom, the visitor should try to be as unobtrusive as possible, sitting where directed by the teacher.

5. If a student in the class asks the visitor a direct question (e.g., What are you doing here? Are you a teacher too?), the visitor should answer as briefly as possible. It is important to bear in mind that the visitor is not a regular member of the class. Visitors should not initiate or pursue conversations unnecessarily.

6. A visitor should be appreciative and polite. At the earliest opportunity, the visitor should thank the classroom teacher for having made possible the opportunity to visit the classroom.

7. A visitor who is taking written notes or collecting information in some other way should do this as unobtrusively as possible. The visitor must make sure that the teacher and students are comfortable with any procedures used for data collection.

C. Post-visitation1. It is imperative for the visitor to keep impressions of the class private and

confidential.2. The visitors should explain to the classroom teacher that the teacher's name will not

be used in any discussions with other people. Any direct references to teachers, in either formal or informal settings, will be anonymous.

3. Any notes or information collected during a classroom visit should be made accessible to the teacher, if he or she requests.

Guidelines for peer observation

A. General principles1. Observation should have a focus. The value of observation is increased if the

observer knows what to look for. An observation that concludes with a comment such as, "Oh, that was a really nice lesson," is not particularly helpful to either party. On the other hand, giving the observer a task, such as collecting information on student participation patterns during a lesson, provides a focus for the observer and collects useful information for the teacher.

2. Observers should use specific procedures. Lessons are complex events with many different activities occurring simultaneously. If the observer wants to observe teacher student interaction, for example, a variety of procedures could be used to make this task more effective.

3. The observer should remain an observer. An observer who is also a participant in the lesson cannot observe effectively.

B. Suggested procedures1. Arrange a pre-observation orientation session. Before beginning the observations,

the two teachers meet to discuss the nature of the class observed, the kind of

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material being taught, the teacher's approach to teaching, the kinds of students in the class, typical patterns of interaction and class participation, and so on.

2. Identify a focus for the observation. For example:• Organization of the lesson: the entry, structuring, and closure of the lesson.• Teacher's time management: allotment of time to different activities during the

lesson.• Students' performance on tasks: the strategies, procedures, and interaction

patterns employed by students in completing a task.• Time-on-task: the extent to which students were actively engaged during a task.• Teacher questions and student responses: the types of questions teachers asked

during a lesson and the way students responded.• Students' performance during pair work: the way students completed a pair work

task, the responses they made during the task, and the type of language they used.

• Classroom interaction: teacher-student and student-student interaction patterns during a lesson.

• Group work: students' use of LI versus L2 during group work, students' time-on-task during group work, and the dynamics of group activities.

3. Develop procedures for the observer to use. For example:• Timed samples: the observer notes down specific behaviour displayed at

specified time intervals during a lesson.• Coding forms: the observer checks the appropriate category on a set of coded

categories of classroom behaviours whenever a behaviour is displayed during the lesson.

• Descriptive narrative (broad): the observer writes a narrative summarizing the main events that occur during the lesson.

• Descriptive narrative (narrow): the observer writes a narrative focusing on a particular aspect of a lesson. For example, the observer describes what a single student did and said throughout the lesson.

4. Carry out the observation. The observer visits his or her partner's class and completes the observation, using the procedures that both parties have agreed on.

5. Arrange a post-observation session. The two teachers meet as soon as possible after the lesson. The observer reports on the information collected during the lesson and discusses it with the teacher.

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References

Adams, R. S. and Biddle, B. J. (1970) Realities of Teaching, New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Richard, J. C. & Lockhart, C. (1996). Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ryans, D. G. (1960). Characteristics of Teachers, Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

Samph, T. (1976). Observer effects on teacher verbal behaviour. Journal of Educational Psychology 68 (6): 736–41.

Walker, R. & Adelman, C. (1975). A guide to classroom observation. London: Routledge.

Wragg, E. C. (1973). A study of student teachers in the classroom. In G. Chanan, (ed.) Towards a Science of Teaching, Slough: National Foundation for Educational Research.

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Wragg, E. C. (1991). An introduction to classroom observation. (2nd ed.). London: Routlegde.

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