Video enhanced observation and language teacher development: A focus on teacher questioning practices

This presentation will report findings on how VEO (Video Enhanced Observation) mobile app and a reflective teacher education program enhance the development of teacher language awareness and Classroom Interactional Competence (CIC), defined as the "ability to use interaction as a tool for mediating and assisting learning" (Walsh 2011, p. 158). This study sets out to examine how EFL trainee teachers develop their CIC with an emphasis on their questioning practices during a 14-week semester in a preservice teacher education programme.

The dataset consists of 22 classroom hours that were taught by 11 preservice teachers in Turkey and recorded using Video Enhanced Observation (VEO), a video tagging observation tool for continuous professional development. The preservice teachers were engaged in a reflective cycle based on reflections on mentor-teacher feedback, peer feedback, and written critical self-reflections. A combined qualitative methodological approach of Conversation Analysis and Constant Comparison Method was used to analyze the data of this study: (a) CA analyses of classroom interactions, and qualitative analysis for (b) teacher interviews; and (c) stimulated recalls. The findings have indicated that the preservice teachers have managed to utilize a variety of questioning practices to promote learning contributions by extending the students' previous utterances. The study has implications for language teacher education, development of CIC, and the use of mobile technology in professional development.