The effects of peer supervision as an alternative method of supervision on the categories of teacher, school and supervision in English language teaching at secondary level

Educational supervision and English language teaching still stand as a big problem before us. When students graduate from high school, they have approximately 1000 hours of English lessons, yet their level does not go beyond elementary level, which brings a great burden on our country as a waste of time and energy. Despite the changes done in both educational supervision and teaching of English, the desired quality has been met in neither of them yet. This study is important since it is understood that, through making a change in educational supervision that will make supervision more practical, it could be provided to increase the quality of English teaching. Besides, this study is important due to its being the only study in this field. The objective of this research is to determine the efficacy of peer supervision as an alternative supervision model in class supervision. This research was carried out at four state high schools in Turkey regarding the instructional principles and methods, planning and class management skills used by teachers of English in teaching English. The working group of this research consists of 12 English teachers –three from each school- willing to take part in the research and working at two Anatolian High Schools, 1 Anatolian Imam Hatip High School (Religious Vocational High School) and 1 Social Sciences High School that are located in Bakırköy and Bahcelievler province in the city of Istanbul in 2014-2015 educational year. In this research, single group preliminary and post test quasi-experimental design was used. The data of this research were gathered through "The Form Regarding The Ideas Of Teachers Of English On The Efficacy Of Peer Supervision As An Alternative Supervision Model To Be Applied In Teaching English At Secondary Schools", "Observation Form for English Classes" and "Interview With The Teachers Taking Part In The Research" developed by the researcher. The working group was primarily given information by the researcher about peer supervision and the teachers were made have information about this topic. Teachers of English composing the working group filled out "The Form Regarding The Ideas Of Teachers Of English On The Efficacy Of Peer Supervision As An Alternative Supervision Model To Be Applied In Teaching English At Secondary Schools" generated by the researcher twice, the first of which was before the study and the second of which was after the study. After the informing process, first meeting took place among the teachers taking part in this research and the implementation plan was made. During the planning phase, it was clarified that who was going to observe whom first and when, and what subject was to be taught. Following the implementation plan, the process of observation started and each member of the group observed the other two members in class in turn and filled out the "Observation Form" provided by the researcher. In the "Class Observation Form", supervisors both identified the practices applied in classes and proposed alternative practices for some activities and stated new and useful practices for their own classes. Following the observation process, the participants moved on to final meeting phase and the participants stated their evaluation and proposed their suggestions. Completing all phases, the teachers taking part in the research were given the "The Form Regarding The Ideas Of Teachers Of English On The Efficacy Of Peer Supervision As An Alternative Supervision Model To Be Applied In Teaching English At Secondary Schools" again to be filled out. Finally, the teachers were interviewed about their ideas on the advantageous, limitedness and applicability of peer supervision. As a result of analysing the data gathered through the aforementioned data collecting materials, it was determined that peer supervision has significant benefits for the categories of teacher, school and supervision. It was understood that peer supervision is particularly useful for improving the quality of English language teaching, contributes to teachers' career development, helps teachers understand their weaknesses and strengths, contributes to develop unity and solidarity among teachers and affects school culture and climate in a positive way at schools. On the other hand, it was also determined that there might be some difficulties especially in the planning processes of class observation. Additionally, during the observation period, it was understood that it is better for the working groups to be made up of voluntary teachers or necessary for the school to have such a culture. Another conclusion obtained from this research was that peer supervision is an applicable supervision model. Especially as part of improving the quality of teaching, it was determined that people doing the same job in the same environment would benefit from one another. However, it was also emphasized that teachers should be provided some encouraging rewards for their observations in classes in order to make this model applicable. Key Words: Educational Supervision, Peer supervision, quasi-experimental design, observation, interview