Preservice EFL teachers’ collaborative understanding of lesson study

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on a small-scale research undertaken to examine the preservice English as foreign language (EFL) teachers’ collaborative understanding of lesson study. It constitutes the first of two empirical steps undertaken for integrating lesson study in initial EFL teacher education. The paper takes to the belief that preservice teachers’ understanding is a key factor that determines success or failure of lesson study projects and should therefore be investigated. Design/methodology/approach There were four preservice teachers who volunteered to participate in the study. Data were collected based on two procedures. Participants read the works of Lewis and Tsuchida (1999) and Dudley (2014) and were asked to collaboratively reflect about their readings on a WhatsApp platform. They were afterwards brought to a face-to-face discussion guided by questions mostly built from their previous reflections on the WhatsApp platform. Findings Participants have demonstrated a joint understanding which was essentially achieved due to the collaborative procedures. Likewise, participants have collaboratively reflected on the factors that could affect the process of lesson study and its application to EFL classrooms in Niger. These factors have been related to the issues in research methodology and the contextual learning culture. Originality/value The findings from this study draw attention to the need for teacher educators to use interactive and collaborative strategies while instructing preservice teachers about lesson study. The paper also offers insights about contextual factors which require preliminary and immediate actions before implementing lesson study in Niger.