An investigation of instructors' views on course observation at school of foreign languages

The purpose of the study is to determine the instructors' perspectives on being observed at the School of Foreign Languages, at Yasar University and Dokuz Eylul University. The study also aims at proposing alternatives to current observation models by identifying instructors' needs and expectations regarding classroom observations. The study is considered as significant due to the fact that it thoroughly analyzes the instructors' attitudes and perspectives, explores negative attitudes towards classroom observations, offers suggestions, integrates instructors' perspectives and needs into the current observation models more, and therefore, it focuses on instructors' professional development. Participants of the study consist of 87 instructors with various educational backgrounds and experiences working at the School of Foreign Languages at Yasar University and Dokuz Eylul University, in the 2017-2018 academic year. To establish the study group, among the purposeful sampling methods, deviant case sampling was preferred. Therefore, in İzmir, two institutions with maximum differences concerning classroom observation implementations were included in the study. Aiming at finding out instructors' views on classroom observations, the study is designed in the form of a descriptive phenomenology and the findings of the study were analyzed through qualitative and quantitative methods. To find out the instructors' views on classroom observation, "Observation in the (foreign) language classroom' questionnaire" which was created by Lasagabaster and Sierra (2011), translated into Turkish and adapted by Merç (2015) was used. Since more demographic information was needed for this study, a few more items were added to the relevant section. For open-ended and Likert scale items, it was not required to make any changes for the study; therefore, the survey was used as it was in Merç's (2015) study except for the demographic information section. After informing participants about the study, the survey was given to volunteering participants to be completed. Upon receiving the completed surveys, Likert scale items were inquired; percentages and frequencies were calculated while open-ended items were examined by means of descriptive analysis and content analysis. Firstly, responses given for open-ended items were listed and organized one by one, and then codes were identified to set the themes. An experienced researcher in the field also analyzed the findings by following the same steps; in the end, the two analyses were compared and inter-rater validity was found to be 0,95. It was discovered that instructors perceive classroom observation as an effective way to improve teaching and most of the participants find classroom observations advantageous. Contributing to professional development, lesson planning and improving classroom practices, getting feedback and increasing awareness have been the most commonly highlighted benefits of classroom observation. Yet, the fact that instructors' performance is badly affected, negative impacts of observation on students and learning, unnatural class atmosphere, issues regarding instructor evaluation, observation process and documentation emerged as disadvantages of classroom observation. Most participants claimed that they volunteered to be observed by a colleague, a teacher trainer and/or a pre-service teacher; however, school directors and inspectors were the least preferred observers. The majority of the participants did not consider the observers' mother tongue as a noteworthy factor. For those who suggested it had an impact, being observed by an English native speaker might be gainful. Besides, among classroom observation tools, observers' notes were the most favored one, yet any tool that serves the purpose well would be convenient for many instructors. Instructors with observation experiences were usually observed by a teacher trainer and/or a colleague and stressed that observation contributed to their teaching skills in various ways. In accordance with participants' views, the observation process should be designed to reflect the reality of class; it should be simplified considering the workload, focus on development rather than evaluation and encourage voluntary participation or should be managed in that respect. It is also suggested that in the selection process of classroom observers, observers' feedback skills and educational background should be taken into account. Finally, the relationship between observer and observee is expected to be away from formalities, but objective, cooperative and oriented on exchanging ideas.