Mitigation of Suggestions and Advice in Post-Observation Conferences Between 3 English Language Teacher Educators

Yıl 2011, Cilt: 7 Sayı: 1, 0 - 35, 27.04.2011

Ayşegül Yeşilbursa

Öz

Over the past two decades, there has been much research into the discourse of post-observation conferences in the supervision of teachers in both mainstream education and the teaching of English as a Foreign Language. However, the discourse of post-observation conferences in peer observation of teaching has received little attention. The purpose of this study is to investigate the way in which suggestions and advice are mitigated in such discourse. 21 audio-recorded and transcribed post-observation conferences held between 3 dyads of English Language teacher trainers as part of a larger action research project were analysed. It was found that both the observing and the observed teachers made suggestions and gave advice. The participants also made frequent use of negative politeness strategies, and less so positive politeness strategies, when offering suggestions and advice to their colleagues. The findings show that while collaborative in nature, post-observation conferences in peer observation of teaching can construe a threat to the face of the participants, even when power relations are levelled.

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