Teachers’ professional discourse in a Japanese lesson study

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on a case study that was conducted in a Japanese elementary school in order to examine what kinds of teachers’ discourse support the professional development of teachers in lesson study.

Design/methodology/approach

This research employed an intensive case study design that primarily focused on teachers’ discourse in post‐lesson conferences held at the school. In addition, it relied on a variety of ethnographic data obtained over a two‐year period. To scrutinise teachers’ professional development, the authors selected two cases where the research lessons were conducted by the same teacher.

Findings

The teachers’ discourse in the lesson study can be classified into the following six discursive modes: (A) Simple question and answer (B) Is the alternative teaching approach better? (C) What is the best way of teaching X? (D) Did the children learn what the teacher intended them to? (E) Did the teacher teach what the children actually learned? and (F) What did the teacher learn from watching the children learn? The research teacher’s tasks for developing as a teaching professional were elicited from her colleagues’ discourse, which was characterised by the discursive modes (E) and (F).

Originality/value

This study illuminated the nature of teachers’ professional discourse from the viewpoint of discursive modes in a Japanese lesson study. The discursive modes (B), (C) and (D) were classified as problem‐solving discourse in the context of given problems; the discursive modes (E) and (F) were classified as problem‐setting discourse.

Citation

Suzuki, Y. (2012), "Teachers’ professional discourse in a Japanese lesson study", International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 216-231. https://doi.org/10.1108/20468251211256429