Peer Observation, Reflection, and Expert Feedback: EFL Pre-Service Teachers' Online Teaching to Young Learners

The objective of this study was manifold: (a) to investigate the difference among online teaching performance of student teachers who received peer feedback, expert feedback, and those who reflected on their teaching practice; (b) to examine the likely difference between participants’ ratings and those given by the instructor to their online teaching practice; (c) to determine their best experiences of teaching vocabulary online to young learners; and (d) to explore the challenges they faced and the lessons they learned from expert feedback, peer observation, and reflection. The participants were ۴۵ MA students of TEFL at Iran University of Science and Technology, who were divided into three groups of peer observation (n = ۱۵), self-reflection (n = ۱۵), and expert feedback (n = ۱۵). A rating scale for structured observation and three open-ended questions were used in this study in which each participant did two teaching practices and then received feedback after each practice (i.e., peer observation group from their classmates, expert feedback group from the instructor, and reflection group from themselves). The results revealed no statistically significant difference in the three group’s scores on their second teaching practice; however, there was a statistically significant difference between the scores on the first and second practice in all three groups. The results also showed that participants mostly underrated their first teaching, while they overrated themselves in their second practice. The findings also indicated that their best experiences were related to using technological tools, learning to work with adobe connect, making interesting materials, and using games and songs. Their challenges also included lack of face-to-face communication, engaging all online language learners, preparing suitable materials, learners’ distraction, and technological glitches, whereas teaching new vocabulary in context, simplifying songs by pre-teaching their unknown words, using online games and websites were the lessons they learned.

کلیدواژه ها:

Online Teaching ، Young Learners ، Peer Observation ، Expert Feedback ، Reflection