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Período Septiembre - Diciembre 2025
Vol. 12, No. 3
La práctica reexiva a través de coaching entre pares del
prácticum de los docentes en pre-servicio del inglés como lengua
extranjera
Reective practice through peer coaching among English as foreign
language preservice teachers’ practicum
Fecha de recepción: 2025-11-11 · Fecha de aceptación: 2025-06-30 · Fecha de publicación: 2025-09-10
Miriam Eucevia Troya-Sánchez
1
Universidad Nacional de Loja, Ecuador
miriam.troya@unl.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7798-8684
Karina Alexandra Celi-Jaramillo
2
Universidad Nacional de Loja, Ecuador
karina.celi@unl.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8613-2893
María Patricia Rodríguez-Ludeña
3
Universidad Nacional de Loja, Ecuador
maria.p.rodriguez@unl.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7141-1753
https://doi.org/10.35290/rcui.v12n3.2025.1514
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Resumen
El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar cómo las fases de coaching entre pares promovieron
la práctica reexiva entre los docentes en formación del séptimo semestre durante su práctica
pedagógica. Desde un enfoque cualitativo, mediante un estudio de caso de tipo interpretativo se
seleccionaron 6 estudiantes voluntarios del séptimo ciclo de la Carrera de Pedagogía del Idioma
Inglés como Lengua Extranjera de la Universidad Nacional de Loja. El método de análisis de
contenido ayudó a las investigadoras a organizar las transcripciones de las conversaciones previas y
posteriores a las observaciones de clases, así como también las guías de observación. Los hallazgos
revelaron que el coaching entre pares promovió la práctica reexiva de los futuros docentes de ILE,
especialmente durante las observaciones de clase, cuando asumieron el papel de observadores,
lo que les permitió tener más tiempo para reexionar y darse cuenta de los eventos de enseñanza
negativos y positivos realizados por sus colegas.
Palabras clave: retroalimentación constructiva, observación de clase, coaching entre pares, práctica
reexiva
Abstract
The aim of this study was to inquire how peer coaching promoted preservice teachers’ reective
practice during their practicum. From a qualitative approach through a case study and interpretative
approach, six voluntary preservice teachers in the seventh semester of the Teaching English as a
Foreign Language Undergraduate Program from Universidad Nacional de Loja (UNL) were selected.
A content analysis method assisted the researchers in organizing the transcriptions from pre-
observation and post-observation meetings and registrations from classroom observation guides.
Findings revealed that peer coaching promoted EFL preservice teachers’ reective practice, especially
during peer classroom observations when preserve teachers assumed the role of observers, allowing
them to have more time to reect and realize the negative and positive teaching events performed by
their peers.
Keywords: constructive feedback, peer-class observation, peer coaching, reective practice
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Introducción
The practicum provides opportunities to get involved in professional learning in the classroom
where preservice teachers (PSTs) can improve their teaching skills by creating supportive learning
environments (Heikonen et al., 2020) Therefore, the practicum is a crucial component for the
initial formation of English as a foreign language (EFL) preservice teacher who need to apply their
knowledge base to real teaching experiences (Razeq, 2022). In this regard, Philip et al. (2019) claim
that EFL preservice teachers’ knowledge base consists of such key elements as knowledge of the
students, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and general pedagogical knowledge. Although
knowledge and experience have traditionally been the main pillars of EFL teacher education, they
should be mediated by reection to grow professionally (Castro, 2022).
Overall, teacher education provides PSTs opportunities to experiment with their theoretical
knowledge in authentic classroom contexts. Each program’s use to immerse their PSTs into these
settings varies depending on its affordances and constraints. Similarly, the undergraduate program
for EFL teacher education in Ecuador, specically at Universidad Nacional de Loja comprises 360
hours divided into 4 semesters: the third, the sixth, and the seventh semester with 80 hours each,
and the nal semester with 120 hours. During the third and sixth semesters, PSTs are limited to
observing and assisting the cooperating teachers. It is not until the seventh and nal semesters
that PSTs start to impart their lessons. It is worth mentioning that half of the total hours are
devoted to planning and systematizing the experiences during the practicum, and the other half
is the actual practicum in which PSTs observe, assist, or impart their lessons in primary and
secondary schools.
From the experience of the researchers as teacher educators, PSTs receive guidance to conduct
their practicum. They design chronograms with some activities that include elaborating and
implementing lesson plans, instructional materials, and legal documentation to access the
educational institution. As previously mentioned, the research participants of this study were
the seventh-semester students who had to carry out their practicum during 80 hours from which
they had to impart their lessons for 40 hours, and to plan and report their teaching experiences in
the other 40 hours. Thus, the time PSTs must achieve or rene their teaching skills is too short.
Teaching is a complex process, especially for prospective teachers who are supposed or expected
to gain teaching competencies by putting theory into practical experiences in authentic classrooms
(Flores, 2019). Moreover, PSTs usually get confused and disengaged when they nd disagreement
between theoretical knowledge and real practice, and in-service teachers’ reluctance to change
(Abou, 2022; Çapan and Bedir, 2019; Sulistiyo et al., 2021).
Concerning assistance and observation to cooperating teachers, empirical studies have revealed
that preservice teachers claimed that it was useless because they (cooperating teachers)
demanded PSTs to use their teaching strategies, such as repetition drills and translations from
English to students’ mother tongue (Çapan and Bedir, 2019). Likewise, the researchers of this
study have observed Çapan and Bedir’s issue in the Ecuadorian context, where some cooperating
teachers, especially the ones with too many years of experience, refused to change their teaching
performance and felt threatened by young PSTs who usually make an effort to manage the class
by implementing innovative teaching techniques. What is more, they force PSTs to apply their
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techniques because they do not want to change the pace of their teaching style. Nevertheless, it
is worth mentioning that some other cooperating teachers, even the most experienced ones, have
opened their classroom doors to let PSTs implement new teaching practices and have enhanced
collaboration through peer coaching without being judgmental, but proactive.
Furthermore, Loman et al. (2020) reported that large classes of prospective teachers are an issue
for teacher educators whose supervision time is too limited to observe every PSTs’ practicum.
In this respect, Çapan and Bedir (2019) claimed that traditional supervision hinders PSTs’
collaboration among them to reect on their teaching performance.
These constraints have also been found in the teacher program of English as a foreign language
at Universidad Nacional de Loja in which the researchers as teacher educators attempted to solve
these issues by implementing peer coaching among the seventh-semester PSTs with the aim to
foster collaboration and reection during their 80-hour practicum.
Previous studies conrm that peer coaching improves not only PSTs teaching skills but also
enables them to reect on their teaching experiences to overcome their weaknesses mediated
by their dialogic interaction before and after their lessons (Abou, 2022; Çapan and Bedir, 2019;
Sulistiyo et al., 2021). Since most of these past empirical studies have been done in Asian countries
such as Turkey, Japan and Indonesia, this research lls a critical gap by addressing this topic in
the Ecuadorian context whose standards demand EFL teachers reect on their practices and work
collaboratively to improve the educational system in teaching and learning English as a foreign
language (Ministerio de Educación, 2012).
Therefore, this research aimed to inquire how the stages of peer coaching promote seventh-
semester preservice teachers’ reective practice during their practicum. This objective generates
the following research questions:
• What aspects of teaching are reected during the peer coaching stages?
• Which peer coaching stage is the most and least powerful to involve preservice teachers in
reective practice?
1.1. Literature review
1.1.1. Peer coaching
Peer coaching has been widely applied as a model for professional development not only in the
eld of education but also in the elds of sports, business, arts and health (Colorado and Corcino,
2014). Undeniably, peer coaching has gained a lot of ground in the eld of education, specically
in teachers’ pedagogical skills. Some authors dene peer coaching as an approach to teachers’
professional development in which educators work collaboratively to improve their teaching
competencies (Ben et al., 2018; Gottesman, 2000; Joyce and Showers, 2002). For Arslan and Sahin
(2022), peer coaching enhances reective practices through pair or group work whose members
share similar job positions and make cooperative efforts to improve their performance through
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proactive interactions and constructive feedback. Loman et al. (2020) and Carlson et al., (2020)
claimed that teacher programs should include peer coaching to enhance preservice teachers’
teaching skills as well as their reective practice.
Showers and Joyce (1996) are well known for their vast experience in addressing peer coaching to
help in-service and prospective teachers acquire teaching skills. They conrmed that collaboration
with peers encourages teachers to share planning decisions, develop or collect instructional
materials, develop the curriculum, and reect on their teaching performance. After 15 years of
experience, these authors updated their theoretical foundations for peer coaching related to some
aspects. One of the most outstanding and surprising features was the omission of the pre and
post-meetings between peers aimed to give and receive feedback since they realized that peers
assumed the role of supervisors and eliminated the nature of the non-evaluative process of peer
coaching.
Even though a large body of literature displays the stages of peer coaching in different elds, this
paper attempts to show the stages found in the EFL teacher programs with preservice teachers.
From the perspectives of several authors, the stages of peer coaching differ somewhat from each
other. For instance, Çapan and Bedir (2019) implemented peer coaching among EFL PSTs by
using three phases: 1) initial phase which included peer coaching training, classroom observation
to in-service teachers, and dialogues between peers; 2) peer classroom observation in which peers
observed and compared their teaching practice to identify weaknesses and strengths; and 3) post-
observation meetings to receive psychological support and feedback from experienced teachers
and peers, and to write reective journals. Like Çapan and Bedir (2019), Goker, (2021) and Okumura
(2020) followed the same stages with some extra steps. For instance, in the initial phase, PSTs had
to choose their peers by anity, and classroom observations were made through video recordings
to be discussed in the post-meeting sessions (Çapan and Bedir, 2019; Okumura, 2020).
1.1.2. Preservice teachers’ challenges during peer coaching
Even though a wide range of benets of peer coaching to PSTs, there are some challenges that they
face during peer coaching in their practicum. For instance, Capan and Bedir (2019) reported that
despite the fact that PSTs could increase their sense of collaboration before, during, and after the
lessons, they were not able to manage the classroom properly, and classroom disruptive behaviour
emerged too many times during their practicum. Similarly, Loman et al., (2020) argued that PSTs’
disposition to collaborate was highly related to identifying their strengths and weaknesses during
their teaching performance; however, they did not plan to improve the negative items for their future
lessons. This implies that post-observation meetings did not work well or did not exist since PSTs
did not make any plan to resolve the observed problems.
Sulistiyo et al. (2021) have demonstrated that the lack of communication between the university
authorities and cooperating teachers from the educational institutions, where PSTs carried out
their practicum, did not allow to fully reach the great benets of peer coaching for both preservice
and in-service teachers. The same authors claimed that peer coaching offers an opportunity for
permanent reection which can lead to professional growth according to the context needs.
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As observed by Evişen (2021), during the classroom observation stage of peer coaching, the
observers–teachers were able to capture the positive and negative pedagogical skills of their peers
while imparting their lessons; nevertheless, this effect would not have been possible if selected
peers had not had a good relationship or enough condence to observe each other which might
have impeded to collaborate between each other. According to Arslan and Sahin (2022), post-
observation meetings, the third stage of peer coaching, were considered worthless by preservice
teachers as they mentioned they lacked the expertise to give and receive constructive feedback.
The same authors demonstrated that preservice teachers’ inexperience in peer coaching resulted in
changing their role from observers to assisting their peers which hindered the normal development
of the lesson. Even so, peer coaching helped them increase their reection process which
simultaneously allowed them to identify the limitations of peer coaching for future interventions.
1.1.3. Reective practice
Since English instruction has worldwide gained great demand to improve human beings’
competencies in several areas of their way of living, teacher education programs, stakeholders, and
the educational industry attempt to enhance teaching skills to guarantee EFL learners’ language
acquisition successfully. While theoretical courses, workshops, seminars, and conferences are
good sources to clarify EFL teachers’ doubts and concerns, the reective practice boosts their
teaching performance based on their experiences in authentic classroom settings (Farrell, 2020;
Richards and Lockhart, 1994).
Schön (2017) proclaims that teachers’ pedagogical skills to solve problematic situations with
their students are too complex cases that standardized theories or methods fail to solve. In
consequence, reective practice lls this gap. Reective practice is a systematic inquiry about the
relationship between the initial intentions of doing something, the actual things done, and their
results (Korthagen, 2014). Teaching is a social practice that requires dialogical interactions among
peers who can reveal hidden aspects that hinder teachers’ professional development (Golombek
and Johnson, 2017). Thus, reective practice leads to collaboration among peers whose feedback
aids in rening their teaching performance (Shabani, 2016).
1.1.4. Teaching performance
Regarding teaching performance, Richards and Lockhart (2009) explain that what is written in a
lesson plan differs from what is actually done during its implementation due to the complexity
of real-world teaching interactions. Thus, he presents four dimensions found in a lesson plan
execution: openings, sequencing, pacing, and closure
1) The opening dimension entails the rst 5 or 10 minutes to develop the initial steps of a lesson
through warmups and/or lead-ins (Richards and Lockhart, 2009). In a recent article Siljan et
al.(2024) pointed out that during the openings, teachers usually activate students’ prior knowledge
with the new content of the lessons through an objective discussion which attempts to capture
students’ attention and motivation throughout the lesson delivery. The same authors stated that the
openings should comprise both the cognitive and affective dimensions to make the lesson more
memorable and meaningful.
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2) The sequencing dimension encompasses the logical order for developing the lesson contents
and activities which should be related to each other (Richards and Lockhart, 2009). In fact, each
teacher organizes and manages the lesson events according to his/her context, and justies every
step in the process which eventually leads to reaching the lesson objectives (Lerner and McDougal,
2023).
3) The pacing dimension is related to the time allocated for each activity to progress the lesson
(Richards and Lockhart, 2009). Even if the sequencing dimension seems to be properly justied,
the pacing dimension makes the sequence of events more accurate. Teachers usually take into
account students’ learning styles and interests to manage classroom time correctly which avoids to
overwhelm or bore students either with too short or too long periods of time per activity. Classroom
time should always be productive for both teachers and students (Mcneill et al., 2008).
4) The closure dimension includes several ways a teacher uses to end a lesson (Richards and
Lockhart, 2009). Webster (2011) highlights the relevance of this dimension since it recalls the
contents of the lesson and summarizes it to make it more memorable. These dimensions were the
focus of analysis of this research work as presented in the following section.
Methodology
2.1. Research approach
This investigation employed a qualitative approach since the researchers as teacher educators
evaluated the effect of peer coaching on their EFL preservice teachers’ reective practice during
their practicum in authentic classroom settings (Creswell, 2013). Additionally, this is a case study
which, according to Tomaszewski et al. (2020), is suitable for evaluating and extending a theory.
Furthermore, the same authors state that case studies examine dened systems and show
participants’ behaviors, perceptions, and experiences regarding a specic phenomenon. Under
these characteristics, the type of this research is interpretative since its researchers tried to explain
preservice teachers’ experiences during their practicum embedded by a social context that framed
their teaching performance.
2.2. Setting and participants
Six preservice teachers in the seventh semester of the Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Undergraduate Program from Universidad Nacional de Loja (UNL) were the research participants
of this study. UNL is located in Loja, Ecuador. They were selected through a purposive sampling
technique because they met the criteria for the study as they had to carry out their practicum
through the peer coaching model. Even though the sample size was small, they provided the
required information to delve in-depth into their experiences during the peer coaching process and
their practicum. Sarfo et al., 2021 explain that too many case study participants may underestimate
the investigation’s major focus. Moreover, the saturation effect made the researcher decide on
the sample size since more informants did not provide new information, and the quality of the
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information supplied by the sample was good enough to answer the research questions (Sebele,
2020).
2.3. Data sources
Transcripts from conversations between peers before and after the lessons and classroom
observation guides, provided the information that EFL preservice teachers generated during their
practicum through the peer coaching model.
2.4. Data analysis
A content analysis assisted the researchers in organizing the transcriptions from pre-observation
and post-observation meetings and classroom observation guides. First, an initial analysis process
based on patterns from the data allowed codes and categories. A subsequent analysis helped
to organize data in four broad themes: openings, sequencing, pacing and closure. Each theme
contained somewhat similar categories and codes depending on each peer coaching stage.
As content analysis is a systematic and objective approach employed for the examination of
qualitative data as text or visual materials, this method also entailed the identication and
quantication of codes and categories using frequencies and percentages of patterns, and codes
per each category in order to derive meaningful insights (Kleinheksel et al., 2020).
2.5. Procedure
At the beginning of the semester, preservice teachers were trained about how to perform their
practicum through the peer coaching protocol which emphasized that one peer had to observe,
and the other one had to teach. Their roles had to change in each one`s classroom so that they
could benet from each other about their experiences as an observed teacher and as an observer.
Additionally, preservice teachers had to follow these stages:
First stage: Peers identication by anity
Since they were in their penultimate semester, they had already built some friendship and
condence among themselves. For this reason, we, as teacher educators, allowed them to choose
their peers by anity to guarantee condence to be observed, and to give and receive feedback.
Second stage: Pre-observation meetings
These meetings took place before every lesson with the purpose of agreeing the items to be
observed. These items were the focus of attention as they represented the issues or challenges,
they believed or perceived that they had to face during the lessons.
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Third stage: Classroom observations
This stage was done during the implementation of the lessons. The observer had a classroom
observation guide to register the agreed events in the previous stage. The observer had to only
observe his/her peer while implementing the lesson. He/She did not have to assist neither his/her
peers nor the students.
Fourth stage: Post-observation meetings
At the end of each lesson, preservice teachers had to reect on the observed items. They were
trained to give feedback without being judgmental, but being proactive by giving suggestions for
future improvement. During these debriengs, the observed preservice teacher had to start the
conversation by explaining his/her perceptions about his/her lessons. The observer had to take
the role of a good listener and tried to make sense about what the observed preservice teacher
expressed with what he/she registered in the classroom observation guides.
After a 12-hour period of training, preservice teachers started their practicum in elementary schools
with children between 8 and 12 years old. The practicum lasted 12 weeks in which preservice
teachers completed 40 hours of instruction.
It is evident that the peer coaching stages revolve around the implementation of the lesson. As
explained by Richards and Lockhart (2009), what is written in a lesson plan differs from what is
actually done during its implementation due to the complexity of real-world teaching interactions.
Thus, he presents four dimensions found in a lesson plan execution: 1) The opening dimension that
entails the rst 5 or 10 minutes to develop the initial steps of a lesson through warmups and/or
lead-ins. 2) The sequencing dimension that comprises the logical order for developing the lesson
contents and activities which should be related to each other.3) The pacing dimension is related to
the time allocated for each activity to progress the lesson. 4) The closure dimension that includes
several ways a teacher uses to end a lesson. These dimensions were the focus of analysis of this
research work as presented in the following section.
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Results
3.1. Research question 1: What aspects of teaching are reected during the peer coaching
stages?
Table 1
Teaching Aspects agreed for the Observation during Pre-observation Meetings.
Themes Categories Codes f %
Openings Warmups Students’ engagement towards the initial phase of the lesson 3 3%
Subtotal 3 3%
Sequencing Instruction
Proper organization and implementation of the lesson, the topic,
and the objectives.
25 28%
Eliciting students’ responses 1 1%
Observe student engagement with ashcards 2 2%
Supporting understanding of new words 6 7%
Content explanation 5 6%
Grammar explanation 2 2%
Integration of instructional materials throughout the lesson 2 2%
Subtotal 43 48%
Practice acti-
vities
Grouping arrangement & collaboration 9 10%
Ensure students’ active participation and interaction 12 13%
Subtotal 21 24%
Assessment
Observe the assessment methods 3 3%
How mistakes are corrected 3 3%
Subtotal 6 7%
Pacing Instructional
time
Check if the teacher implements all the stages of the lesson plan. 1 1%
Length of the activities according to the scheduled time 9 10%
Transitioning to new topics 6 7%
Subtotal 16 18%
Closure na 0 0%
Total 89 100%
Table 1 presents the results obtained from the transcriptions of the pre-observation meetings
between peers which took place just before the classroom observation. A variety of aspects were
agreed to be observed from which three broad themes emerged from the analysis: openings,
sequencing, and pacing. The theme of sequencing recurred throughout the data since it came
up with several categories such as instruction, practice activities, and assessment. It seems
that preservice teachers were more concerned with the way they presented and explained the
lesson; rather than the strategies for opening or closing the lesson which were the least recurrent
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categories during the conversations in the pre-observation meetings. In fact, the closure of the
lesson did not even emerge in this rst stage. There must be a balance at each stage of the lesson.
When analyzing the indicators from the openings, preservice teachers appeared to underestimate
the importance of this dimension since just a few times they agreed with their peers to observe
how students got engaged during this phase. Probably they were not totally aware of the positive
impact of starting a lesson through active warmups and clear lead-ins to inform about the
lesson objectives and to motivate students’ participation and motivation throughout the lesson
implementation.
As previously mentioned, the results concerning to the sequencing dimension registered the
majority of the categories agreed to be observed. It is notable that preservice teachers were
concerned about the correct organization and implementation of the lesson paying special
attention to the alignment of the topic and lesson objectives. These results might suggest that
preservice teachers’ transition from theory to practice is a complex process that requires self-
condence to face real-life classroom situations. As usual, the lack of expertise in any eld
generates several fears that practitioners may manage to overcome in a real classroom setting;
however, this is a gradual process that requires practice, reection, collaboration, and lesson
rehearsals to rene their teaching skills.
Further examination of the data displayed in Table 1 demonstrated that preservice teachers’
conversations before the lessons tackled the topic of classroom management related to the pacing
dimension. They wanted their peers to observe if they followed the time allocated per each stage as
established in their lesson plans. When it comes to the closure dimension, prospective teachers did
not mention anything about ending the lesson. It seems that they underestimated the opportunity
to summarize all the contents, or to verify if all students the contents under study.
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3.2. Research question 2: Which peer coaching stage is the most and least powerful to involve
preservice teachers in reective practice?
Table 2
Peer Classroom Observation. Actual Events Observed during the Lesson.
Themes Categories Codes f %
Openings
Warmups No warm ups* 10 3%
Students’ disruptive behavior during warmups* 10 3%
Students showed interest during warmups 18 5%
Lesson objecti-
ve presentation
No presentation of lesson objectives* 20 6%
Presentation of lesson objectives 32 9%
Subtotal 90 26%
Sequencing Instruction
Questioning to recall students’ previous knowledge 8 2%
Clear revision of the topic 4 1%
Inductive approach for presenting the topic 8 2%
Deductive approach for presenting the topic 2 1%
Using ashcards to present vocabulary 12 3%
Eliciting students’ responses 15 4%
Subtotal 49 14%
Practice activi-
ties
Explanations with examples in English and Spanish 14 4%
Solving practice activities from the textbook 28 8%
Students write their sentences 14 4%
Group work activities 7 2%
Peer evaluation 8 2%
Individual work 16 5%
Giving feedback 9 3%
Some activities were not clear, and teachers did not provide
help*
6 2%
Subtotal 102 30%
Assessment
Homework in the textbook 11 3%
Homework in the notebook 12 3%
Monitoring students 18 5%
Subtotal 41 12%
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Pacing Instructional
time
Good and clear transition of the topics 13 4%
The teacher checks if everyone worked on the activities in the
allocated time
25 7%
Some students cannot nish activities in the allocated time* 5 1%
Students were noisy and the teacher lost control of time* 6 2%
Students interrupted the teacher’s explanation* 7 2%
Subtotal 56 16%
Closure Ends the class with a summary of the lesson 6 2%
Subtotal 6 2%
Total 344 100%
Note * negative event.
Table 2 shows a variety of aspects that were captured during classroom observation. Like Table 1,
the sequencing dimension got the largest number of registrations; inside it, the section for practice
activities got the highest rate. According to the listings, most events performed by preservice
teachers during practice activities seemed to work. For instance, solving comprehension exercises
from the textbook was the most recurrent practice activity. In addition, some individual, pair, and
group activities were developed to reach the lesson objectives. Even though most events during the
sequencing dimension were effective for students’ learning, the observer noticed that sometimes
instructions were not clear enough for students to solve the exercises. This situation explains why
preservice teachers’ feedback was too low.
The opening dimension got the second-largest number of registrations. This suggests that
preservice teachers did observe what they agreed in the pre-observation meeting. Essentially,
this indicates that they were concerned about getting students’ motivation and engagement at
the outset of the lesson. From the ndings, it is clear that most of the time, they were able to get
students involved in the context of the lesson either to warm up or to communicate the lesson
objectives; however, sometimes students’ disruptive behavior hindered their objectives. Likewise,
from time to time, preservice teachers did not present the lesson objectives in the initial part of the
lesson.
In the context of instruction, whose occurrences are less than half of practice activities,
preservice teachers tried to activate students’ prior knowledge before presenting the lesson topic.
Furthermore, it is important to note that prospective teachers sometimes attempted to elicit
students’ responses related to the lesson topic. This suggests that their talking time was too
long which may have limited students’ active participation. Additionally, the data reveals that the
assessment dimension was restricted to homework in the textbook or notebook at the end of the
lesson; that is summative assessment. Nevertheless, monitoring students appeared to indicate a
way to control students’ progress, which may be interpreted as formative assessment.
When analyzing the data from the pacing dimension, strong evidence of preservice teachers’ skills
to transition topics was not good enough to have students nish their practice activities within the
given time. This inconsistency may have been due to preservice teachers’ inexperience related to
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classroom management which ultimately reduced their power to control the time, and the students’
classroom behavior. When it comes to the closure dimension, the low percentage of occurrences
demonstrated that preservice teachers did not use to wrap up the lesson at the end of it. This
situation may lead to such disadvantages as omitting the opportunity to consolidate students’
learning, overlooking feedback, leaving gaps; in short, reducing the effectiveness of the lesson.
Table 3
Post-observation Meetings.
Themes Categories Codes f %
Openings
Warmups The warm-up was attractive enough to engage and motivate
students
38 22%
Warm-up caused students’ disruptive behavior* 5 3%
Lesson objec-
tive
Students were aware of the objectives of the lesson. 18 10%
Subtotal 61 35%
Sequencing
Instruction
Unclear teachers’ questions or instructions to elicit students’
responses*
13 7%
The instructional materials facilitated the lesson development 25 14%
Subtotal 38 22%
Practice activi-
ties
Worksheets helped students practice the lesson contents 9 5%
Implementation of effective activities during the lesson 22 13%
Students’ disruptive behavior during practice activities* 10 6%
Subtotal 41 23%
Assessement
Formative assessment to monitor students’ progress 16 9%
Summative assessment to evaluate students’ knowledge 4 2%
Subtotal 20 11%
Pacing Instructional
time
Lesson objectives were partially achieved* 4 2%
Activities not completed in the allocated time* 12 7%
Subtotal 16 9%
Closure Closure
na 0 0%
Subtotal 0 0%
Total 176 100%
Note *: negative event
Table 3 illustrates the aspects under reection during the post-observation meetings after every
lesson or classroom observation. Overall, the conversations between preservice teachers, that
is between peers, reduced to half of the points observed during the lesson. Surprisingly, the
category practice activities did not reach the highest number of occurrences as it happened during
the classroom observation. It is worth mentioning that the opening dimension was the focus of
attention of the post-observation meeting and the pre-observation meeting, too. These results
seem to imply, that preservice teachers were aware of the signicance of starting a lesson with a
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strong sense of achievement; even so, some students’ disruptive behavior appeared to block the
overall effectiveness of a lesson as shown in the development of the lesson.
The results obtained from the sequencing dimension demonstrate that preservice teachers
reected on the positive and negative impacts of their teaching performance. For instance, even
though they managed to get students involved in the lesson through a variety of instructional
materials, they failed to elicit students’ responses during the instructional time because their
instructions or questions were not clear enough. As a consequence, it is almost certain that some
students could not solve the proposed practice activities, and even some students misbehaved
during this lesson stage. Despite these negative impacts, preservice teachers’ reections exhibited
some gains regarding the use of worksheets as useful materials for students’ practice activities.
When it comes to the pacing dimension, preservice teachers’ conversations exposed their
weaknesses in time management for the development of the lesson. This suggests that students
may have not understood all the material which simultaneously may have led to decreased
productivity. As a matter of fact, poor classroom time management limits lesson success. That
being the case, preservice teachers could not progress to carry out the closure dimension of the
lesson as shown in Table 3.
3.3. Discussion
3.3.1. How do peer coaching stages promote seventh-semester preservice teachers’
reective practice during their practicum?
Findings have demonstrated that PSTs were immersed in an ongoing process of reection before,
during, and after the lessons, as evidenced in the registrations in Tables 1, 2, and 3. Peer coaching
involved practitioners in permanent collaborative work during their practicum. Their conversations
and classroom observations allowed them to put into practice their knowledge base by elaborating
their lesson plans and their subsequent implementation. These ndings are consistent with
those of Arslan Dönmez and Sahin (2022), who conrmed that peer coaching promotes reective
practices by involving pairs or groups of individuals in similar roles who collaborate to enhance
their performance. This is achieved through active engagement and the exchange of constructive
feedback. Alongside this, Schön (2017) states that teaching methods expressed in theories are
not vast enough to solve the complexities of real-world classrooms. With this in mind, reective
practice bridges the theory and practice in authentic classroom settings, and peer coaching
reinforces this process through dialogic interaction between peers.
3.3.2. What aspects of teaching are reected during the peer coaching stages?
When it comes to the pre-observation meetings, the instruction aspects indicated that PSTs’
major concern was related to the alignment of the topic and lesson objectives, and the correct
organization and implementation of the lesson. These ndings agree with Lerner and McDougal
(2023) who claim that the correct management of the sequence dimension of the lesson leads
to the achievement of the lesson objectives. Regarding the initial agreements made in the pre-
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observation meetings, they did not completely match with the aspects observed during classroom
observations as discussed in the next section. This is consistent with Showers and Joyce (1996)
who after years of experience on teachers’ peer coaching, found that pre and post- meetings were
ineffective because teaching performance in real-life classrooms is versatile and dynamic.
3.3.3. Discussing peer coaching stage: Classroom observation
As presented in the results, PSTs observations allowed them to identify the upsides and downsides
of their PSTs’ teaching performance. For example, they observed how their peers used worksheets
successfully to help students to develop their practice activities; however, they found that their
peers could not manage the time according to the lesson plan, which provoked students’ disruptive
behavior. This is in agreement with Capan and Bedir (2019) who demonstrated that PSTs’ lack
of experience hindered them in managing the pacing dimension of the lesson which weakened
their classroom management skills. Despite these pitfalls, classroom observations reinforced
PSTs’ pedagogical skills and reective practice by observing their peers’ teaching performance.
These ndings are consistent with those of Arslan Dönmez and Sahin (2022) who highlighted
that peer coaching fosters reective practices by engaging individuals in pairs or groups with
similar professional roles, encouraging collaboration to enhance their performance through active
participation and supportive feedback. A possible explanation for these results may be the short
time allocated for training PSTs in peer coaching. In fact, it is not an easy duty to develop both peer
coaching skills and pedagogical skills at the same time.
3.3.4. Discussing peer coaching stage: post-observation meetings
Results showed that the events under reection were reduced to half of those observed during
classroom observation. Their focus of attention was on the sequencing dimension of the lesson
in which reections about students’ disruptive behavior seemed to delay practice activities. In
consequence, the pacing dimension seemed to be the most controversial one as preservice
teachers’ conversations demonstrated they were not able to control the time according to the
scheduled lesson plan. The frequency of not pacing the lesson correctly was fairly high which
revealed that PSTs’ conversations were not constructive enough to plan properly for future lessons.
These results agree with the ndings of Loman et al., (2020), who considered that peer coaching
generated reection and collaboration among peers during the lessons; however, they did not plan
to improve the negative items for their future lessons. Likewise, Showers and Joyce (1996), after
many years of experience in peer coaching, warned practitioners that post-observation meetings
should be omitted because peers assume the role of supervisors which overlooks the non-
evaluative process of peer coaching.
3.3.5. Which peer coaching stage is the most and least powerful to involve preservice
teachers in reective practice?
It is evident that the most powerful stage of peer coaching is peer classroom observation in
which the observer registers positive and negative teaching performance done by his/her peer.
It is interesting to note that the PST with the role of observer can reect by observing their peer
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teaching in an authentic classroom setting that provides a unique opportunity to critically analyze
and evaluate teaching practices, strategies, and classroom interactions without the pressure of
actively teaching. These ndings conrm what Showers and Joyce (1996) state about the roles that
teachers take during the process of coaching. They state that the coach is the observed teacher
since he or she is implementing the lesson in a real-world classroom and is developing several
instructional methodologies for the observer to follow or to improve.
Peer classroom observation helps teachers critically reect on lesson delivery by identifying
successes, challenges, and areas for improvement through reective questions like what worked
well or bad; or what could have been done differently; or why these events happened are reective
inquiries that both in-service and preservice teachers raise to make sense of their teaching
performance. These ndings corroborate the ideas of Korthagen (2014) who claims that reective
practice is a systematic inquiry about the relationship between the initial intentions of doing
something, the actual things done, and their results.
On the other hand, the least powerful stage to get preservice teachers involved in reective practice
was the pre-observation meetings, in which they had to agree on the items to be observed during
the lesson. During these meetings, PSTs preservice teachers underestimated the relevance of the
opening dimension of the lesson, and what is more, they did not mention the closing dimension.
A possible explanation might be their fear of being evaluated or their inexperience in teaching.
It is encouraging to compare these ndings with those found by Showers and Joyce (1996) who
decided to omit pre-observation and post-observation meetings during teachers’ peer coaching
since they hinder the non-evaluative nature of this model.
Conclusions
Pre-observation meetings revealed that preservice teachers prioritized the sequencing dimension
but overlooked openings and closures, highlighting a need for balanced practice and peer-
supported reection
Peer classroom observations revealed important insights into the reection process. Preservice
teachers emphasized lesson sequencing and student engagement but struggled with instructions,
pacing, classroom management, and closures, highlighting the need for improved formative
assessment and balanced lesson delivery.
Post-observation meetings focused on lesson strengths and weaknesses, but preservice teachers
failed to plan improvements, rendering discussions ineffective. Due to limited time from academic
demands, this peer coaching stage should be omitted in future research, with more time allocated
to peer coaching training and practicum.
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