Exploring the Lesson Study Experience of EFL Instructors at Higher Education: A Pilot Study

Abstract

This study aims to present the findings of a pilot Lesson Study implementationat a Turkish foundation university which took place between May and June, 2016 withthe participation of three EFL instructors. Since an in-depth analysis of a group ofinstructors was required in order to have a comprehensive understanding of how themodel was implemented, what issues and challenges were experienced and what lessonswere learned by participant instructors, the study was designed as a qualitativephenomenological case study. Data obtained through interviews were subsequentlycoded and interpreted through content analysis. Results showed that issues with LessonStudy were mainly about feelings of anxiety, workload, conceptualizing the model andperforming the model; however, results also revealed that it could contribute toprofessional development of instructors in certain aspects such as collaborative lessonplanning, delivering less teacher-fronted lessons, focusing more on students andimproving time management skills.