21 their professional identity; learn from, collaborate, or share with their colleagues; and
obtain the feedback from their students in order to improve their teaching practice. In the context of this study, teachers are able to gain understanding of their professional
identity, which has a direct impact on classroom practice, by exploring their lesson video recordings. Collegial dialogues conducted in this study allow teachers to share
their teaching practice and work reflectively with other teachers to develop their teaching further. Student feedback used this study function as an effective source of
information because students are the learners who are the sole purpose of teaching. In other words, self, peers, and students become multiple sources of data to
inform teachers’ practice. The information then could be used to identify the strengths and the areas of improvement. These multiple sources can provide more detailed,
accurate, and comprehensive information of teaching effectiveness than only a single source. This is because using three or more different sources of evidence, the strength of
each source can compensate for weaknesses of the other sources Berk, 2005. Hence, a teacher needs to involve himherself, peers, and students to improve hisher instructional
practice and develop as a teacher. The next subsection of this chapter presents research on teacher self-evaluation.
2.2.2 Research on teacher self-evaluation
Many studies, using various research approaches, have been developed with the aim of analyzing the effectiveness of teacher self-evaluation Lynes, 2012; Morgan,
2000; Warden, 2004; Wesner, 2007; Wright, 1998. One most recent study on teacher self-evaluation, in particular, using videotape recording as a self-evaluation instrument,
was conducted by Lynes 2012 with a sample of preschool teachers in the context of
literacy and language teaching. Her multiple-baseline design study examined the effects of an expert coaching model on: a the implementation of strategies; b generalization
of strategies to other settings; c teacher attitudes towards the coaching model; and d student outcomes. This expert coaching model included teacher self-evaluations of
videotaped observations and reflections on the implementation of open-ended questions and expansions. The findings indicated that self-evaluations increased the use of
teaching strategies, with the addition of modelling and guided practice bringing about continued improvement over baseline values. The study also revealed that the self-
evaluation process was useful in improving teachers use of oral language development
22 strategies. In addition, the majority of students increased the use of one-word and two or
more-word utterances, which resulted in an overall increase in words per minute. Similarly, Wright 1998 conducted a comparative case study to examine the
impact of innovative video-enhanced reflection process, a process that uses video analysis to stimulate reflective thought or teacher reflection-for-action. Wright involved
five untenured teachers and one principal from an elementary school, in a middle class residential area, in the United States as the subject of the study. A series of vignettes
and thematic analysis discussions were used to disaggregate, discuss, and present the data and findings. The findings reported that the video-enhanced reflection process
provided solutions to the barriers e.g., time, tool, support that had traditionally prevented reflection from being meaningful and long lasting. It also had a positive
impact on teacher reflective abilities because it helped them more vividly describe, analyze, and critique their teaching. This study concluded that video provided a richer
and deeper description than when teachers recollected and wrote about in their written reflection papers. The findings also identified that the teachers felt that their analysis of
their teaching performance was more effective when done while using the video- enhanced reflective process.
Morgan 2000 also undertook a study focusing on the use of video as a self- evaluation instrument. The study examined the perceptions of in-service teachers of the
self-evaluation processes through video observation developed by ESL Program Consultants with Toronto Catholic District School Board TCDSB as it was introduced
within their teaching program. The findings indicated that overall, the perception of the instructors of self-evaluation were positive and they said that this process could
enlighten their experience and raise their awareness of their teaching practices. Yet, the teachers also identified some concerns regarding the time involved, something they
lacked within their teaching schedules yet which was essential to carry out self- evaluation and the training they felt would be necessary to successfully carry out this
process. Therefore, Morgan suggested conditions required to ensure the opportunity for teacher development, including training in self-evaluation, an allotment of time to
conduct the process, and on-going support to address the needs and concerns of teachers.
Wesner 2007 supports the view that student feedback does not provide sufficient information to help teachers improve. Therefore, he conducted a qualitative
study with a sample of six teachers, to provide them with data that would inform them
23 whether they have the same perception with their students about their teaching
effectiveness. More specifically, he examined teacher attitudes towards student evaluation feedback from pre-, mid-, and post- study perspective and the extent to
which teachers begin to think differently about their practice, based upon student input, especially when student thinking is represented in comparison with their own. Methods
used to collect data included preliminary questionnaire, individual interviews, and focus group interviews. The findings suggested that although teachers were initially
ambivalent about using student feedback to inform their practice, after looking at comparative data that showed their thinking compared with student thinking, all of the
participants learned from and incorporated student suggestions into their practice. So far, some key studies on teacher self-evaluation have been reviewed. On the
whole, the review of literature in this section suggests the need for teachers to engage in teacher self-evaluation continuously because of its effectiveness to enhance their
instructional practice. However, most researches only focused on the use of a single teacher self-evaluation instrument e.g. videotape recording. In other words, there is
little research that uses multiple self-evaluation instruments to help teachers improve their practice. When teachers start to more openly analyze their practices by using
multiple sources of data, they may start to “make their professional knowledge explicit, and deeply explore complicated matters” MacDonald, 1991, p. 103. Therefore, this
study introduces various teacher self-evaluation tools to Indonesian teachers: teacher self-reflection questions, student feedback, lesson video recording, and collegial
dialogue, in order to help them to get more comprehensive information about their practice in the belief that these tools will impact on teachers’ practice. From Vygotskys
sociocultural perspectives, human learning and development occur in activity, that is, purposeful action mediated by various tools Vygotsky, 1978; Wertsch, 1985. In this
study, I facilitated a group of Indonesian teachers to engage in a professional development activity by utilizing various tools. Hence, I adopted a sociocultural theory
that emphasizes the importance of tools to mediate human actions. The following section introduces Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory in the context of teacher professional
development. After this, the section explores interrelated pedagogical concepts from sociocultural theory including internalization, mediation, and the zone of proximal
development. Finally, I review studies of sociocultural theory in the context of teacher professional development.
24
2.3 Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory
