Reflective and collaborative teachers’ development program in high school education to improve student’s oral language
Submitted by:
Marta Gràcia
Abstract:
Background and theoretical framework
Multilingualism in educational contexts in High School education is a challenge that must be taken advantage of to contribute to reflection on students’ oral language and its improvement. In High School classrooms a continuum can be identified in relation to teaching methodologies: 1) the traditional teacher-dominated transmission approach, which is roughly described as that in which teachers transmit content to students unidirectionally; 2) dialogical, bidirectional teaching approach that encourages students to adopt a critical vision of the information provided by the teacher or that is generated through students’ discussion of knowledge. In this context, the EVALOE-DSS (Assessment Scale of Oral Language Teaching in the School Context – Decision Support System) digital instrument emerged to help teachers ensure that classes become spaces for communication, dialogue, reflection and evaluation of the process of learning and teaching all contents, including oral language.
Research question
What are the changes in classes and in students’ oral language during and at the end of teachers’ participation in a professional development program of a reflective and transversal nature to generate more participatory classes?
Methods
The sample consisted of 10 teachers of different subjects and 250 students of High School education (16-18 years). The self-reflective digital instrument EVALOE-DSS includes resources such as a tutorial with the objectives and an initial screen in which teachers are asked to describe the class to be evaluated. One of the main resources of the digital instrument consists of 30 items with three qualitative response options (green, orange and red face emoji) so that teachers can systematically evaluate their classes in relation to five dimensions. In this study teachers participated in a Professional Development Program using EVALOE-SSD that included meetings with each other.
Findings
The results showed significant changes in teaching strategies, which had clearer language objectives, and in the dynamics of the classes, which were more interactive and self-managed by the students. Both teachers and students identified elements that involved the transformation of classes into spaces for communication, discussion and reflection on the language, its development, and its use as a key instrument to develop the curricular competences.