The main aim of this study is to unearth pre-service EFL teachers’ self-reflection and peer feedback practices in video-based observation as part of the conversation analysis (CA hereafter) informed practicum. Conversation analysis has recently been applied to study classroom interaction and second language acquisition (Markee, 2015), language teacher talk (Lee, 2007;  Sert, 2017)  and this line of research informs language teacher education in many ways (Waring, 2016 ; Sert, 2015).  For instance, Seedhouse (2004) depicted the interactional architecture of the language classrooms and provided sequential analysis of different classroom contexts. Walsh (2006) proposed Classroom Interactional Competence for language teachers to show the relationship between the interactional awareness of language teachers and language learning in the classroom. On the other hand, video- based observation practices have been frequently used in language teacher education thanks to technological developments (Hockly, 2018). It is believed that video-based observation may foster self-reflection practices of pre and in-service teachers compared to traditional forms of observation (Kleinknecht &Gröschener, 2016; Walsh &Mann, 2015). However, Kleinknecht and Gröschener (2016) found out that pre-service teachers need specific guidance while viewing the video to notice significant issues related to student learning. Thus, video-based observation should be supported with specific tasks to facilitate pre-service teachers’ noticing abilities and encourage them to propose different solutions to the problems they see in the videos. In this sense, we believed that conversation analysis can help us to support video-based observation practice in the practicum and offer appropriate tools (Walsh & Mann, 2015) for our pre-service teachers to self-reflect and give peer feedback.

In the CA-informed practicum course we offered as supervisors at the faculty, we integrated video-based observation into practicum with conversation analytic perspective. First, conversation analysis and its application into language education were introduced to pre-service EFL teachers.  They received short training about transcription and analysis. In the following weeks, they viewed different classroom videos and discussed some specific issues with micro-analytic perspective. We integrated those videos into lectures to teach students to observe the classroom interaction, teacher talk and language learning. The phenomena that we focused were teachers’ questioning, wait time, shaping learner contributions and maximising interactional space (constructs that are part of Classroom Interactional Competence, Walsh 2006).  

When pre-service EFL teachers began to teach, they were expected to focus on the similar issues in their own and peer teachings. After the pre-service teachers began to teach in the practice schools, video-viewing and self-reflection and peer feedback cycle started. This cycle will be described in the next section.  We should note that we provided pre-service teachers with specific guidelines so they had pre-determined topics and issues that they need to discuss. However, in their self-reflection and peer feedback papers, we realised that there are some preliminary issues that they first discuss and give advice to their peers.

Video-based observation is common practice in teacher education programs in most of the contexts across Europe (Kleinknecht &Gröschener, 2016). In order to make effective use of videos especially for pre-service language teachers, we need to know how Pts view the videos and construct their reflection based on this experience. In this study, we aim to study this detailed self-reflection and peer feedback cycle. Our preliminary research questions are :

-  What are the further points apart from the ones in the guideline that pre-service teachers focus on while they write their self-reflection and give feedback to their peers after viewing the videos? 

-  To what extent do they incorporate conversation analytic perspective in their feedback and self-reflection?

-  To what extent do they follow the guidelines they were provided? 

In this study, we aim to analyse pre-service EFL teachers’ written self-reflection and peer feedback practices in the context of video-based observation in the CA-informed practicum. This is a qualitative case study (Yin, 2009) and the participants are fourth year students at the foreign language education department. The practicum course is a must course offered in the fourth year for pre-service EFL teachers. They must visit practice schools and teach three times in the classroom under the supervision of mentors at school and supervisors at faculty. Their teachings were video-recorded and recordings were given to them. First, they were asked to view the video, and then they were required to choose an instance that they found to be successful or unsuccessful. They were asked to submit a simplified version of the transcription of the instance (maximum 2 minutes) and write a brief reflection on that segment. They were provided with a rubric so that they could see how they would be evaluated. Second, they were asked to work in groups of four and choose a different segment of their teaching and this time they were required to send that segment the other group members. The group members were asked to view the segment and write feedback to their peers. All the group members were provided with examples and guidance on how to write feedback. This cycle was repeated for three times. The data for this study come from pre-service teachers’ written self-reflection about their own teachings and written feedback for their peers’ teaching for three those different teachings. They mostly wrote 1, 5 pages long reflection papers on their own teaching including the transcription of the segment. For peer feedback, they sent one page long paper to their peer who did the teaching. As this is an on-going study, two different groups’ (in total 7 pre-service teachers, 30 papers) self and peer reflection papers are being analysed now. In the analysis we will compare the points in the guideline and the issues pre-service teachers discuss to see whether they go beyond the guideline.

The aim of this study is to explore pre-service EFL teachers’ self reflection and peer feedback practices employing video-based observation in CA-informed practicum. The preliminary results show that even pre-service teachers are provided with guidance on how to observe classroom videos with micro analytic eye; they may have their own concerns in the first place and need time and experience to use the videos to justify their claims and enrich their reflection. Thus, it is believed that this study will show the ways pre-service teachers perceive the videos and identify the problems and suggest solutions for improvement both for themselves and their peers. It is hoped that the results will help us as teacher educators to modify and supplement video-based observation to cater for pre-service teachers’ needs. In addition, the results will help us to better integrate conversation analytic eye into video-based observation and make use of conversation analysis to improve language teachers’ classroom interactional competence.

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