The vietnamese efl teachers’ perceptions of peer observation as a tool for professional development

--- ∞0∞--- NGUYEN HOANG THAO NGUYEN THE VIETNAMESE EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF PEER OBSERVATION AS A TOOL FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL HO CHI MINH CITY, 202

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NGUYEN HOANG THAO NGUYEN

THE VIETNAMESE EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS

OF PEER OBSERVATION AS A TOOL

FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2022

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

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NGUYEN HOANG THAO NGUYEN

THE VIETNAMESE EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS

OF PEER OBSERVATION AS A TOOL

FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Major code: 8 14 01 11 MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Supervisor: LE THI THUY NHUNG, Ph.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2022

Tôi tên là: NGUYỄN HOÀNG THẢO NGUYÊN

Ngày sinh: 11/11/1992 Nơi sinh: TP.HCM

Chuyên ngành: Lý luận và phương pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh

Mã học viên: 1781401110022

Tôi đồng ý cung cấp toàn văn thông tin luận văn tốt nghiệp hợp lệ về bản quyền cho Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh sẽ kết nối toàn văn thông tin luận văn tốt nghiệp vào hệ thống thông tin khoa học của Sở Khoa học và Công nghệ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that the assignment “The Vietnamese EFL teachers’ perceptions of Peer Observation as a tool for Professional Development” is my original work; it is based

on my own research All sources used by me have been documented No other

person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement This piece of work has not previously been submitted for assessment in this or any other subject or course at this University or elsewhere

Ho Chi Minh City, 2022

Nguyen Hoang Thao Nguyen

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In this part, I would like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation to the people who supported me to complete my thesis

First of all, I would like to thank and express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor,

Dr Le Thi Thuy Nhung, who provided me all with her support, guidance, expertise and meaningful feedback for my thesis development Without her advice and patience,

I could not finish my study on time I really appreciate that she took her time to

discuss with me and cared about my thesis Sincerely, I would like to express all my gratefulness to her

Secondly, I would like to give my special thanks to my administrator who allowed me

to have days off to pay attention to my thesis and my colleagues at Cao Thang

technical college who spend their time taking part in my study, especially the ones who allowed me to interview them In addition, my senior colleagues also gave me the useful advice for my thesis and support me at work while I was working on my thesis Thus, I really want to express my appreciation to them

Finally, I am deeply grateful to my parents and my brother for their encouragement and support, which helps me to overcome the difficulties and discouragement

Ho Chi Minh City, March 2022

Nguyen Hoang Thao Nguyen

ABSTRACT

Peer Observation (PO) plays an important role in teachers’ professional development

as it assists them in enhancing their skills, knowledge and experience PO has widely been researched by international scholars and many studies examine the experiences

of teachers of PO in educational settings PO seems to be neglected by the local

educators and researchers which is evidenced by limited research on PO in

Vietnamese contexts This study examines the perception of Vietnamese EFL teachers

of peer observation as the tool for professional development by looking into the

current practice of PO in their institutions and their perceptions of its benefits and challenges The study employed mixed-methods to collect data First, survey

questionnaires were completed online by 22 EFL teachers working in a technical college in Ho Chi Minh City; the convenience sampling was used to gain the

information from this survey Then, semi- structured interviews were conducted with four of those teachers The purposive sampling was chosen to gain detailed

explanation for the participants’ choice in the interview The findings show that teachers’ perceptions and experiences of PO varied among academic institutions The purposes of PO were different among different educational settings PO sessions in many institutions tended to focus more on evaluation purposes than on professional development purposes which aim to improve teaching performance of EFL teachers Also, the procedures of implementing PO were not well-organized in institutions Teachers as they were given opportunities to reflect on their own teaching; they could adopt best practices from their peers to enhance their teaching performance PO also was considered to encourage teachers to share their ideas and experience through discussions and feedback provision On the other hand, PO was found to bring more pressure, stress, anxiety and confusion to observers and their observed colleagues The findings have several implications for stakeholders to reflect on the current practices

of PO in their respective academic institutions with a view to enhancing the quality of this professional development tool

ABBREVIATIONS

EFL : English foreign language

LTO : Language teaching organization

PD : Professional development

PO : Peer Observation

POT : Peer Observation of Teaching

TABLE OF CONTENT

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

ABBREVIATIONS iv

TABLE OF CONTENT v

LIST OF FIGURES vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale for the study 3

1.2 Statement of Problem 3

1.3 Aims of the study 4

1.4 Research Questions 4

1.5 The significance of the study 5

1.6 Organization of the study 6

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Definition of terms 7

2.1.1 The required quality of the language teachers 7

2.1.2 Professional development (PD) 7

2.1.3 Peer observation 8

2.1.4 Perception 9

2.2 Peer observation (PO) and its developmental aspects 9

2.2.1 Functions and models of Peer Observation 9

2.2.2 The benefit of Peer Observation 12

2.2.3 The challenges of Peer Observation 13

2.3 The Procedure of Successful Peer Observation 15

2.4 Feedback: An important element of peer observation process 18

2.5 Implementing peer observation in Vietnamese context 19

2.6 The previous studies 20

2.7 Summary of literature review 21

2.8 The theoretical framework of the study 23

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 24

3.1 Study design 24

3.2 Research setting and participants 25

3.3 Instruments 26

3.3.1 Closed-ended Questionnaire 27

3.3.2 Semi-structured Interview 28

3.4 Data Collection Procedures 30

3.5 Data Analysis 31

3.6 Validity and reliability 31

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 33

4.1 Results 33

4.1.1 Results from the questionnaire 33

4.1.1.1 Participants’ background information and their experience of peer observation………33

4.1.1.2 Teachers’ perceptions of benefits of peer observation 38

4.1.1.3 Teachers’ perceptions of challenges of peer observation 40

4.1.2 Results from the interview 43

4.1.2.1 Teachers’ experiences of the current practice of PO 44

4.1.2.2 The benefits and challenges of peer observation 46

4.2 Discussion of the findings 49

4.2.1 Findings on research question 1: What are the teachers' experiences of the current practice of PO in their institutions? 49

4.2.2 Findings on research question 2: What are the teachers' perceptions of benefits and challenges of PO? 51

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 53

5.1 The summary of main findings 53

5.2 Implications of the study 54

5.3 Limitations of the study and recommendation for further study 55

REFERENCES 56

APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE – ENGLISH VERSION 63

APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS – ENGLISH VERSION 67

APPENDIX C: QUESTIONNAIRE – VIETNAMESE VERSION 68

APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW – VIETNAMESE VERSION 72

APPENDIX E: THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE 73

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2: The theoretical framework of the study 23 Figure 3: Explanatory Sequential Design 25 Figure 4: teaching experience 30

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 10

Table 3.1 28

Table 3.2 30

Table 3.3 30

Table 3.4 31

Table 3.5 32

Table 3.6 32

Table 4.1 33

Table 4.2 34

Table 4.3 35

Table 4.4 35

Table 4.5 36

Table 4.6 37

Table 4.7 38

Table 4.8 40

Table 4.9 41

Table 4.10 43

Table 4.11 44

CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Education is defined as a process of acquiring knowledge through teaching and learning activities Undeniably, teachers play an important role in this process

(Krashen, 1982); their capacity or their teaching effectiveness can affect the learners’ outcomes as well as the quality of the education system (Klingelhutz, 2017;

Aghabarari & Rahimi, 2020) Besides, EFL teachers need to keep up with the changes

in learners’ need, tests, curriculum and teaching methods because of the innovation and the development in the field of language teaching for years (Kasapogluk, 2002; Ahmed, 2018) Therefore, it is necessary for the teachers to continue with their

professional development (PD), which is known as an ongoing process that develop the teachers’ skills, knowledge and expertise (OECD, 2009) although the pre-service training is over

Lange (1990) describes PD as the process of building up teachers’ experience, intellection and improving their attitude According to Richards and Farrell (2005), language teachers should engage themselves in self-reflection, develop their

pedagogical skills and enlarge their specialized knowledge As Tosriadi, Asib,

Marmanto and Azizah (2018) states, language teachers should not stop learning during their professional lives to meet the demand of their learners as well as the quality education As the result, the numerous effective strategies supported the teaching practices are employed Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman and Yoon (2001) divides them into two groups First, the professional development activities that take place after school including workshops, seminars and conferences, etc The other activities take place during school days such as action research, team teaching, study groups, peer coaching, peer observation, mentoring, teaching portfolios and presentation of research paper, etc (Garet et al, 2001; Hismanoglu, 2010; Ahmed, 2018) Among these strategies have mentioned, this research will mainly investigate peer

observation, one of an effective approach implemented in many institutes and LTOs

Hockley (2014) emphasizes that Peer Observation is a useful tool for

professional development Peer observation allows the teachers to watch each other’s performance in order to understand some aspects of teaching, learning and classroom interaction (Richards & Farrell, 2005) Moreover, the teacher can receive the

comments from their peers after classroom observation for self-improvement

According to Richards and Lockhart (1992), PO can not only support teacher

effectiveness but also help the administrator promote staff development, which is known as the important resources of each institute

The peer observation is generally classified into three models: evaluation, development and peer review model (Gosling, 2002) Freire (1998) has highlighted that the evaluative observation is not an effective way to improve the teacher’s

teaching practice This model mainly allows the academic managers to achieve the administrative purposes The teacher’ peer may be an institute supervisor or

administrator; the feedback is only given from one side In the other word, the process

is lack of the collaboration Moreover, the evaluative function also encourages the negative reaction of the teachers because of their anxiety of being judged and the stress of receiving the critical feedback Hammersley-Fletcher and Orsmond (2005) stresses that feedback should be constructive to help improve teaching practice and perceive new things; on the contrary, the appraisal may prevent teachers from getting

skills related to the English teaching fields, it can abundantly facilitate EFL teachers’ teaching practice As Cosh (1999) states, in order to avoid the passive role of the teacher in evaluation model, PO should be regarded as a self-reflection and self-

development strategies for both observers and observed teacher Richards and

Farrell’s study (2005) also supports that the development model of PO can provide the good opportunity for teachers to observe other teaching style, discuss teaching

problems and share their ideas together

1.1 Rationale for the study

The motivation of doing the study about Peer Observation comes from the real situation that the researcher experience in teaching As a teacher of the college’s English language center, the researcher has observed and been observed by the

colleagues and the supervisors several times Because the observation followed the evaluation model, it caused the researcher’s anxiety when being observed and the bad impression toward this teaching support strategy Not only the researcher but also the colleagues were uncomfortable when other teachers observe their teaching During the Covid-19 pandemic, few teachers in our English center shared the records of their online session despite of the suggestion from the supervisor The viewpoint of the researcher changed after taking part in the peer observation project with the current supervisor and the team Through many discussions about the teaching methods, the organization of the lectures, the prediction of unexpected situations in class before classroom observation and the constructive feedback received after PO, the researcher realized the benefit of PO in teaching improvement The question raised that whether other EFL teachers consider PO as the evaluative tools of supervisors to control the teaching quality or they perceive it as the professional development tools Only if they have the positive viewpoints about PO, they may get a lot of benefits from it That why this study is carried out; the researcher would like to provide more useful

information about PO and improve the experiences of the EFL teachers in PO activity Therefore, the developmental function of PO is mainly focused in this study

1.2 Statement of Problem

The previous studies have investigated the experience of EFL teachers when engaging in PO and the challenges during implementing the PO in many different places such as Saudi EFL context (Ahmed, 2018), Hong Kong (Santos, 2016), Turkey (Varli, 1994), Abu Dhabi and Dubai (Engin & Priest, 2014), etc However, few

researches related to PO topics take place in Vietnam EFL context Specifically, there was no study which investigated the perception of EFL teachers about PO in the English center of a Technical College As Creswell (2012) states, the same problems can be

studied in different site with the different participants The perceptions of Vietnamese EFL teachers toward PO need to be examined if there exist the differences in findings

of the previous researches because the participants in this study are influenced by the Vietnamese culture which its characteristics are distinct

Furthermore, many previous studies find out that although the teachers have already recognized the undeniable benefits of PO in improving and developing

teaching (Santo, 2016; Todd, 2017; Richards & Farrell, 2005, Hammersley-Fretcher and Orsmond, 2005; Oliver, 2012; Mousavi, 2014), they still have a negative

perception toward PO and are unwilling to be observed (Todd, 2017; McDaniel et al, 2019; Nguyen, 2016) Although the development functions of PO take more

advantages than evaluation one (Hockey, 2014), the models which benefit the

development aspects are not conducted successfully; whereas the evaluation model which has many shortcomings, it is still implemented in the LTOs There exists the contradiction which encourages this study done to investigate the connections and the reasons of the issues influencing the perception of Vietnamese EFL teachers toward

PO

1.3 Aims of the study

This study aims to investigate the Vietnamese EFL teachers’ perception of peer observation in the English center of a technical college The research concentrates on its professional development function instead of evaluative function as well as the effective processes for peer observation

1.5 The significance of the study

As mentioned in the previous studies (Hockey, 2014; Santo, 2016; Todd, 2017; Richards & Farrell, 2005, Hammersley-Fretcher and Orsmond, 2005; Oliver, 2012; Mousavi, 2014), peer observation is considered as one of the useful tools which can enhance the teaching effectiveness However, the language teachers still have the negative perception about PO which may prevent them from taking full advantage of peer observation The study of Todd (2017), McDaniel et al (2019), Le, Nguyen, Nguyen & Barnard (2019) and Nguyen (2016) have identified the psychological barriers of EFL teacher that leads to their unwillingness to experience PO Moreover,

In case ELF teachers perceive PO as a useful tool for their PD and are willing to participate in PO, the problems encountered during the implementation may prevent them from getting much benefit from PO Some obstacles in implementing the

successful peer observation in practice are listed in the studies of Hockey (2014), Ahmed (2018) and Nguyen and Pham (2020)

Therefore, the result of this study can help the teachers realize the major benefits

of PO in developing their teaching professionalism and know how to implement PO successfully Understanding the purpose of PO helps improve teachers’ attitude

toward PO They will gradually reduce their anxiety of being evaluated and be more confident to take part in PO at their work place

Freire (1998) has mentioned that the PO can also allow the academic managers

to achieve the administrative purposes For the administrators or the managers of LTOs, this study can provide them more useful information to identify what the EFL teachers think about PO, find out the suitable solutions to make teachers more

comfortable to participate in PO and make a good preparation for them before

engaging in it It helps the supervisors implement PO more effectively and the

teachers can take a full advantage from it Consequently, the development of the teacher will positively affect the educational quality of the institutes or LTOs

1.6 Organization of the study

This thesis includes five chapters In the first chapter, the background

information including rationale, problems and challenges, aim, research question significant and the organization of this study is provided specifically Chapter 2 will review all the concepts of peer observation and professional development, its

functions and models, the benefits related to the developmental aspects, the challenges

of PO, the effective process of PO, feedback-important element of PO and the

implementation in Vietnamese context In chapter 3, the methodology which helps to investigate the aim of this study are presented by mentioning the research design, research participants and site, instrument as well as explaining why these instruments are chosen to analyze the data Chapter 4 will demonstrate the analysis and interpret the data gathered from questionnaire and interview Based on these figures, the

findings will be discussed The last chapter will describe the conclusion, clarify the limitation, present the implication and offer some possible suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the theoretical framework on peer observation and teacher professional development Firstly, the definitions of peer observation, professional development and perception are provided Secondly, the functions and models of PO will be presented to identify its different purposes Then, the benefit of PO which illustrates how peer observation can enhance the professional development and the possible challenges are clarified more specifically Thirdly, the procedure of

conducting PO is demonstrated and the possible problems which may occur in its processes are stated Feedback – the important element in PO’s procedure is also focused Finally, the chapter discovers the reasons of the EFL teachers’ anxiety when engaging in PO and challenges of conducting PO in local context Vietnam

2.1 Definition of terms

2.1.1 The required quality of the language teachers

Richard (2008) clarifies the need of second language teachers’ quality It

included their target language proficiency, the acceptance of Second Language

Education standards and the language teachers’ professional development which is evaluated by second Language Teacher Education programs That means the

professional development is considered as one of the requirement of the second

language education for the teachers Besides, the rapid changes in educational

paradigms and institutions lead to the changes in students’ need, curriculum and tests Therefore, the languages institutions required the teachers to develop their

professionalism as one of the efficient way to build up their educational quality

the new techniques for teaching effectiveness in their professional life

As the result, language institutions embrace many ways to support the professional development of language teachers such as presentation of research paper, workshops, seminar and formal observation, etc (Ahmed, 2018) Among these strategies, this study will focus on Peer Observation

2.1.3 Peer observation

“Peer observation” is not a new term in EFL teaching and learning According

to West (1999), PO is known as a type of classroom observation which allows the teachers to mutually observe their peer’s teaching for specific purposes

In some cases, a supervisor acts as an observer, watches the teachers

‘performances and gives them comments (Richards & Lockhart, 1992) to achieve the administrative purposes Through this activity, PO encourages the teacher to work in pairs or groups instead of individuals From these partnerships, it gives more

opportunities for them to watch the other teachers’ performances and understand the nature of interaction in class more clearly (Varli, 1994) The peer observation

program is frequently implemented in many LTOs to facilitate both trainees and experienced teachers The pre-service teacher education programmes have been

considered PO as a crucial part (Engin & Priest, 2014) They are usually requested to observe the experienced teachers’ performances during their practicum (Richards & Lockhart, 1992) Besides, the training courses have used peer observation of teaching (POT) as a strategy to develop the teaching skills of the new lecturers (Gosling,

2002) Moreover, peer observation is not only employed in pre-service training but also in-service teacher education programmes Motallebzadeh, Hosseinnia and

Domskey (2017) have indicated that most Iranian EFL teachers have experienced peer observation; on-site peer observation system is designed for the student teachers at the secondary schools in Hong Kong (Santos, 2016) or many Vietnamese schools and institutes have regarded PO as an integral part in their annual working programmes

2.1.4 Perception

Ofxord dictionary defines perception as an idea, a belief or an image you have

as a result of how you see or understand something According to Merriam-webster

dictionary, perception means physical sensation interpreted in the light of experience

Therefore, in order to understand the individuals’ perception, it is necessary to study about their personal experience That is why in this study, the language teachers’ personal experiences of the current practice of PO Observation” are investigated

The study of Dijksterhuis & van Knippenberg (1998) indicates the relationship between the perception and behavior The perception leads to the overt behavior or the behavior might be influenced by changing the individuals’s perception (Reibstein, Lovelock & Ricardo, 1980) To apply in this topic, the language teachers who identify the need of self-enhancement are more willing to take part in the professional

development activities (Varli, 1994) That means teachers’ positive attitude toward Peer observation may lead to their willingness to participate in Peer Observation and get much benefit from it That is the reason why the perception of EFL teachers

toward peer observation should be explored

In order to investigate the perception of EFL teachers toward peer observation

in this study, it is necessary to comprehend its functions, models, benefits, challenges, procedures and the problems of implementing PO in Vietnamese context

2.2 Peer observation (PO) and its developmental aspects

2.2.1 Functions and models of Peer Observation

Hockey (2014) has mentioned two main functions of observation: evaluative tools used to control the teaching quality and developmental tools used to support both observer and observee’s teaching practice This study listed several reasons to clarify the shortcomings of judgemental observation in supporting the observees and the quality of teaching There exists the performance appraisal from the

observers, the observation in just one or two hours per year can’t help evaluating the teaching practice, its process is obviously time-consuming because teachers are

required to spend time taking part in pre- and post- meetings with the managers as well as the observers don’t understand the purposes of classroom observation clearly

On the other hand, both observers and observed teachers can benefit from the

developmental observation If the teachers can collaborate with the experienced colleagues or managers who have been trained how to provide feedback, they can learn a lot through its process From the observers’ side, they have an opportunity to understand the student interaction and watch how the teaching methods are applied in practice

More specifically, Gosling (2002) has indicated three models of peer observation: evaluation, development, peer review model The differences between three models are illustrated by the table below

Table 2.1 Characteristic Evaluation model Development model Peer review model

Who does it &

to whom?

Senior staff observe other staff

Educational developers observe practitioners, or expert teacher observe others in department

Teachers observe each other

Purpose

Indetify underformance, confirm probation, appraisal ,

promotion, quality assurance,

assessme

Demonstrate competency/ improve teaching

competencies;

assessment

engagement in discussion about teaching, self and mutual reflection

How to improve;

pass/ fail

Non-judgemental, constructive feedback

What is

observed?

Teaching performance

Teaching performance, class, learning materials

Teaching performance, class, learning materials

Who benefits? Institution The observed Mutual between

peers

The first model, evaluative observation, is considered as an effective approach

of academic managers to supervise teacher’s performances (Marshall & Young,

2009) The relationship between the observers and observees is not balanced, the observers are usually the evaluator or senior staff (Fletcher, 2017) Therefore, the teacher who is observed feels anxious when finding the administrator sitting on the back row (Richardson, 2000; Hockley 2014) In another aspect, peer observation in this model becomes more threatening when the observees receive the critical feedback from their colleagues On the contrary, Cosh’s study (1998) realized that the staff may provide only positive feedback to their colleagues, which can’t help supporting the development of observed teacher As the result, the teachers have had a negative attitude towards peer observation and cannot realize its advantages (Engin & Priest, 2014) In order to accomplish the professional development purpose instead of

appraisal, either development or peer review models is employed

In developmental observation, the expert teachers observe others in their

department or the more experienced teachers observe the less experienced one to improve the observee’s teaching competencies (Gosling, 2002) Moreover, this model focuses on enhancing the teaching and learning activities, examine the effectiveness

of different teaching methods and the application of the educational theory in practice (Fletcher, 2017) instead of only paying attention to the observed teacher’s personal performance

The last model, peer review, involves the agreement of two teachers to watch each other’s performance This model can benefit both observer and observed by encouraging peer’ s constructive feedback and mutual learning opportunities Because this model can create the judgement-free atmosphere, it’s able to support the self-refection process of both reviewee and reviewer (Fletcher, 2017) After identifying three distinct models of peer observation, it is obviously recognized that PO can be used for different purposes in the field of EFL learning and teaching This study will chiefly pay attention to its developmental purpose and explore how PO can assist EFL teacher’s professional development

In summary, there are two main functions of PO provided by Hockey (2014): evaluative and developmental tools The study clarifies how the developmental

observation can provide more benefits for the language teachers than the judgemental observation Besides, Gosling (2002) differentiates three models of PO: Evaluation model, development model and review model The evaluation model can helps the adminitrators to control the teaching quality while the development and review model can helps the language teachers develop their professionalism The development model can only benefit the observed while the peer review model can benefit both observer and observed

2.2.2 The benefit of Peer Observation

It is undeniable that peer observation has positively influenced on language teachers The study of Todd (2017) reinforces the support of peer observation to the teacher professional growth From the analysis, Santos (2016) affirms the constructive role of Peer Observation in supporting the process of teachers’ professional

development; moreover, the study also explores that teachers can feel excited about peer observation in case its program is well-organized

Besides, many scholars and researches have indicated the significant role of peer observation in enhancing teachers’ pedagogical skill and broaden their teaching experience Richards and Farrell (2005) have mentioned that the observers can have an opportunity to explore their peer’s teaching approaches which they have never tried and learn from the other teacher how to handle their same situations or problems differently In other words, PO can help the teacher who is observed to share their experience in a special way

Kasapoğlu’s (2002) states that peer observation can not only contribute to the development of their teaching skills but also build the collaboration between the

observer and observed teachers Peer observation can foster the fruitful conversation between the observer and the observed to discuss about the effective teaching ideas and share the constructive feedback (Richardson, 2000) Sullivan, Buckle, Nicky, and Atkinson’s study (2012) confirms that peer observation not only can help to improve the teaching skill but also facilitate the observed teachers through receiving beneficial

feedback This process can support the long-term improvement of their profession In addition, the study of P’Rayan (2013) has emphasized that the peer observation can achieve a positive result only if the observer and observed respect each other The PO should not be carried out for appraisal or assessment; it should be employed for mutual reflection

Last but not least, Peer Observation is considered as effective approach in

enhancing the reflective practice – one of the necessary parts of teaching profession (Hammersley-Fletcher & Orsmond, 2005) Another benefit of peer observation which has been figured out in the researches of Hendry and Oliver (2012) and Mousavi (2014) is augmenting the self-efficacy for the observers By watching a successful performance of the observed, the observer can have a chance to experience a new teaching method and be more confident to apply it into their own work (often called

“modeling”) Besides, the observees who know that their class is going to be observed has a motivation to prepare their performance more carefully; as the result, it will lead

to their gradual improvement (Motallebzadeh, Hosseinnia & Domskey, 2017;

Tosriadi; Asib; Marmanto & Azizah, 2018)

In conclusion, peer observation can enhance teachers’ pedagogical skill,

reinforce the refection, broaden teaching and learning experience, promote efficacy and encourage the collaboration of the teachers engaging in PO (observer and observed)

self-2.2.3 The challenges of Peer Observation

Peer observation has many undeniable benefits which have been brought up above; however, the big challenge of many schools is that how the PO can be

conducted effectively in practice The previous studies have mentioned several

barriers in implementing the peer observation

The first problem is related to the time According to Hockey (2014), the

teachers don’t have time for well-preparing before PO The study of Nguyen (2020) also demonstrates the difficulty of the participants in arranging time to follow the PO activities Moreover, Hockey (2014) and Norbury (2001) indicate that perhaps

teachers do the observation, but they do notmeet before and do not have a worthwhile

feedback session afterwards The reason is that it is difficult to arrange the suitable time for both observer and observed to take part in the pre- and post-observation meetings (Norbury, 2001) When the observer has a free time, the observed has a class and vice versa There also exists the case that both of them have busy teaching

schedules and they do not have time for these meetings (Alghamdi, 2020) Lacking the discussion time and clear expectations (Alghamdi, 2020) leads to the wrong or unclear purpose in PO (Todd, 2017) As the result, teacher do not know what they need to observe and what criteria they need to consider

Hockey (2014) mentions that the teachers do not know how to observe.That means they don’t know what to do during the classroom observation: just watching,

recording the information or taking notes, etc About taking note, the study of Norbury (2001) also find that most observers don’t follow the items in observation form

because according to them, it’s time-consuming Furthermore, the teachers do not know how to give or receive the feedback (Hockey, 2014) That means they are not trained how to provide or get the feedback These are the practical challenges occurred when conducting the PO program

The attitudinal problem related to the anxiety of EFL teacher when being observed is explained in the previous studies The study of Todd (2017) identifies the observee’s anxiety because of being observed and poor time management

McDaniel et al (2019) also explores that time pressure cause their anxiety In the finding of the study of Alghamdi (2020) and McDaniel et al (2019), one of reasons that the participants reject peer observation is the fear of being criticized by the

observers or receive the negative feedback from them Nguyen (2016) also highlights that observed’s nervousness comes from the fear of losing face when making mistake

or perform their lecture badly The study of Nguyen and Pham (2020) explores the challenge of the observers about giving feedback The observers are not willing to provide the critical feedback or do not hesitate to give the critical feedback directly depending on the level of closeness in their relationship

In summary, when carrying out PO, there are several challenges which should be take into consideration: the lack of time for preparation, pre- and post meetings,

unclear purpose of PO, lack of training in taking note, providing and getting feedback, the observed’s anxiety from poor time management and receiving critical feedback, and the observer’s pressure of providing the appropriate feedback

2.3 The Procedure of Successful Peer Observation

After recognizing the possible challenges which may occur in the PO procedure,

it is necessary to have a careful plan for implementing peer observation In Richards and Farrell’s study (2005), the guidelines for conducting the effective peer observation are provided in details Firstly, the language teachers can choose their peer by

themselves (Richards & Lockhart, 1992) Their choice depends on different purposes

or interest E.g., the collaboration between two teachers who are teaching the same course may provide them the opportunity to observe their colleagues to develop the same lesson in the different way After that, the teachers can take turn to be an

observer and observed, as follow the steps of peer observation

Although there are five stages of peer observation mentioned in the study of Goldhammer (1969): Pre-observation conference, Classroom observation, Analysis, Post-observation conference and Post-conference self-analysis, only three crucial steps - pre-observation Meeting, classroom observation and post-observation feedback meeting (Martin and Double, 1998) - which have already abridged are presented in this study

The five-stage clinical supervision sequence suggested by Goldhammer (1969) has pointed out the tasks of the observer (the supervisor) and the observed (the

teacher) distinctly by providing the key questions for each stage In stage 3 – Data Analysis, the supervisor discusses with the teacher to make sense the raw data, which known as the information that he or she has stored after stage 2 - classroom

observation, and make a specific plan for stage 4 – Post-observation Meeting In the conference (stage 4), the supervisor helps clarify and build the teacher's understanding

of the students’ behaviors and events that occurred in the classroom while the teacher who’s observed critically examine his or her own teaching In the last stage - Post-

conference self-analysis, the supervisor critically examines his or her performance during the clinical supervision cycle to evaluate the peer observation’s success and the teacher also express their opinions to the clinicalsupervisor about how well the

clinical supervision cycle went (Pajak, 2003) It can’t be denied that the clear stage clinical supervision sequence can support the improvement of classroom

five-practice; however, it seems to follow the evaluation purpose, which helps critically examine the teacher’s performance Moreover, in practice, the last three stages can be combined and only one Post-observation meeting is arranged after the classroom observation to reduce the pressure of the teacher as an observed

Last but not least, time limitation is a big issue in peer observation program (McDaniel et al, 2019) According to Nguyen and Pham (2020), the teachers seem to have some difficulties in finding the suitable time for pre- and post- observation discussion; thus, they will be under pressure from arranging time to take part in all three meetings (Analysis, Post-observation conference and Post-conference self-

analysis) after classroom observation The observer and observed can build a careful plan for post- meeting, which considers all the necessary issues chosen from the last three stages of the five-stage clinical supervision sequence Therefore, this study mainly presents the three steps of peer observation, which can facilitate both the observer and observee’s teaching practice in shorter time

Step 1: Pre-observation Meeting/ discussion

In the first step, the peers have a meeting before carrying out the classroom observation to set a time and a place of PO, provide the basic information about

teaching context (e.g class size, student background, materials, typical patterns of classroom interaction, lesson content and learning outcome) (Richards & Lockhart, 1992) and discuss the purpose of the PO (e.g what is being observed, how it will take place and what is the observee’s expectation for the observation) (Ahmed, Nordin, Shah & Channa, 2018) Besides, the teachers should not perceive the PO as the

evaluative instrument, but as effective tool for their professional development The observer and observed are in the equal relationship helping each other to develop Lastly, the pre-observation form can be employed in order to note down the

significant information more systematically.

Step 2: Classroom observation

Firstly, the instructor needs to notify the students of the observation and its purpose to ensure them that they are not evaluated, but the teacher (Donnelly, 2007) During the observation stage, the observer should follow the guideline, observe the student’s reaction and the activities as well as record the details (P’Rayan, 2013) Nevertheless, the observer should notice that the classroom events can be

unpredictable and happen quickly Accordingly, it is more effective to record the information by writing it down Richards and Farrell (2005) has suggested three useful techniques to store feedback: written narrative, field notes and checklists

Among them, checklist seems to be more popular than the others because it can be completed quickly and easily; in addition, the information is arranged in a systematic way In some cases, checklist can be combined with other techniques to reach the purpose Richards and Lockhart (1992) also listed some other ways to gather the information: timed samples – noting down the specific behavior at specified time, coding form – checking a set of coded categories of classroom behaviors, descriptive narrative (broad) – summarizing the main events occurring in class and descriptive narrative (narrow) – listing a particular aspect of a lesson Furthermore, recording the observation process should be taken into consideration because the observers are not able to memorize all of their opinions during peer observation

Step 3: Post-observation feedback meeting

The post-observation meeting can be arranged by peers to provide the

constructive feedback, give suggestion for better teaching and discuss the effective teaching method It can take place immediately after the observation finishes or in the following day (Rhodes et al., 2004) and of course the agreement of peers is required

In fact, a day after observation seem to be a better choice because the observer can have enough time to rearrange the information as well as prioritize the important one; meanwhile, the observed can take a rest and reflect on their own performance

However, the meeting should not be delayed for too long to avoid forgetting the

events or details in the observation

In this part, the way to conduct the effective PO are demonstrated specifically There are three main stages: pre- observation meeting, classroom observation and post-observation meeting The pre-observation meeting is set up to provide the basic information about teaching context and pre-observation form During classroom

observation, the observer should follow the guideline, observe the classroom activities

as well as record the details by using some techniques: written narrative, field notes or checklists The post-observation meeting is conducted immediately or in the following day to provide and receive the feedback

2.4 Feedback: An important element of peer observation process

According to Hammersley-Fletcher and Orsmond (2005), critical feedback can lead to the negative attitude of the observees and fails to support their development If these critical feedbacks can be presented in a constructive way, the participants in peer observation process can learn a lot from it and understand the new things Therefore, it

is necessary to conduct the training session on giving feedback for the language

teachers (Hockey, 2014) In the study of Sullivan et al (2012), the criteria of effective feedbacks are described specifically They should be:

 Descriptive – of the behaviour rather than personality;

 specific and sensitive;

 directed - towards behaviour can be changed,

 timely – given as close to the event as possible (p3)

Cosh (1998) also highlights that the feedback presented in written or oral form should be clarified clearly for the observed teachers because an illogic and unclear feedback can not help them to enhance the developmental process and foster their self-reflection (Hammersley-Fletcher & Orsmond, 2005; Cosh, 1998) The

conversation can be set up to discuss about the selected issues mentioned in the

feedback form

2.5 Implementing peer observation in Vietnamese context

A successful peer observation is a result of the combination of many factors: the non-threating environment (P’Rayan, 2013), an appropriate procedure (Richards & Farrell, 2005) and the collaboration of peers in “critical friendships” relationship

- colleagues help each other to develop (Farrell, 2001) However, it should be noticed that these elements may be influenced by the characteristics of different cultural

context, especially the relationship of observer and observed Consequently, the

investigation of some Vietnamese cultural aspects which impact on the peer

relationship need to be taken under consideration According to Hofstede’s five

dimensions of culture, the theory of collectivism and power distance can be used to partly explain the anxiety of Vietnamese teachers when employing peer observation with their colleagues According to Nguyen (2016), the observed teachers are not willing to be observed because they are anxious about losing face if they make

mistakes or have a bad performance Moreover, an unsuccessful performance also leads to their low self-efficacy (Nguyen, 2017) As the result, the observed teachers don’t volunteer to engage in PO, they may perceive it as the compulsory activities at institutes

In addition, there exist several problems related to peer relationship Nguyen (2016) finds out that more experienced teachers feel that they could not learn much from their junior colleagues because their peer have less experience in teaching than them The cultural factors also influence the way of giving feedback in PO In the study of Nguyen and Pham (2020), under the influence of Confucianism in Viet Nam, the pairs with closeness don’t hesitate to give critical feedback directly which may make the observed teacher vulnerable while the peers without closeness tend to give the compliments and avoid the critical feedback to save the observees’ face These types of feedback can not encourage the self- reflection of the observed

Besides, the study of Nguyen (2020) also mentions the difficulty of the

participants in arranging time to follow the POT project These challenges can explain why it is necessary to investigate the perception of Vietnamese EFL teachers toward

PO as the meaningful strategy to promote their professional growth Only when they

can be aware that PO is non-threatening and follow the PO’s steps sufficiently, they can get much benefit from it

In summary, the Vietnamese teachers’ anxiety is influenced by some cultural factors in Vietnamese context They are anxious about losing face if they make

mistakes or have a bad performance Moreover, an unsuccessful performance also leads to their low self-efficacy Besides, there exist several problems related to peer relationship The more experienced teachers think that they could not learn much from their junior colleagues When giving feedback, the pairs with closeness may hurt observed teacher by critical feedback while the peers without closeness tend to avoid the critical feedback to save the observees’ face

2.6 The previous studies

There are the previous studies that investigated the language teacher’s perception

of Peer Observation

Todd (2017) found that teachers considered peer observation as a useful tool for their professional growth by allowing them to learn new instructional practices and build collegial relationships However, participants also perceived many obstacles to peer observation, such as anxieties about being observed and receiving critical

feedback, the lack of time and uncertainties about its purpose

Tosriadi et al (2018) indicated teachers’ positive perceptions on peer

observation as professional development tool It helped teachers solve the problems they found in their teachings and have opportunity to observe new teaching method from their colleagues

According to Katal et al (2022), Peer observation is seen as a beneficial tool for teachers’ professional development Teachers stated that peer observation reduced their worry, hesitancy, and pressure throughout the teaching process However,

participants identified time constraints and teachers’ lack of observation expertise as barriers to peer observation

Motallebzadeh (2017) explored that peer observation could affect on EFL

teachers’ professional development; or it has played a significant role in improving EFL teachers’ professional development

The result of Skripsi (2019) showed that there were some advantages and

disadvantages of peer observation according to the teachers’ perception The

advantages were that peer observation improved the quality of teachers, encouraged teachers to have more preparation in teaching, and increased their knowledge about teaching and teaching techniques The disadvantages were that peer observation made teacher feel bored anxious and intimidated

The study of Ahmed et al (2018) indicated the challenge of Peer Observation due to several factors: their lack of autonomy in choosing peers, lack of pre-

observation conferences due to the loads of teaching hours, observers’ insufficient training and qualifications in conducting PO

In summary, the previous studies found out that the EFL teachers perceived PO

as the useful tools to develop their professionalism It helped them to observe and learn new teaching method, build collegial relationships, solve the problems they found in their teachings, reduced their worry, hesitancy, and pressure throughout the teaching process It also encouraged teachers to have more preparation in teaching, increased their knowledge about teaching and teaching techniques

However, they also pointed out some challegences when conduting the PO in the language institutions There existed some obstacles such as anxieties about being observed and receiving critical feedback, the lack of time and uncertainties about its purpose,teachers’ lack of observation expertise, autonomy in choosing peers and pre-observation conferences due to the loads of teaching hours

2.7 Summary of literature review

In this chapter, the literature review provides the background knowledge and the viewpoints towards PO from the previous studies

First, definitions of key terms in this study – required quality of language teacher,

PO, PD and perception - are mentioned

Second, two main functions of PO – evaluative and developmental tools - are identified The purposes of these functions are explained; the shortcomings of

judgemental observation are listed while the positive impacts of developmental

observation for both observer and observed are presented Moreover, Gosling (2002)

indicates three models of PO including evaluation, development, peer review model The evaluation model can help the supervisor to control the quality of teaching but can not fully facilitate teacher development In order to reach the developmental purpose, two remaining models are considered The development model can help enhance teaching competence, encourage teaching and learning, and examine the effectiveness

of teaching approach in practice Peer review model can reinforce the mutual learning opportunity of both observer and observed as well as encourage their self-reflection Third, based on the findings of the previous researches, the benefit of PO related

to the development aspect are summarised PO can reinforce the self-refection,

pedagogical skill, teaching and learning experience, self-efficacy and the collaboration

of the teachers engaging in PO (observer and observed) Fourth, after identifying the advantages of PO, the challenges of implementing PO are described specifically When carrying out PO, there are several challenges which should be take into

consideration: the lack of time for good preparation, PO participation, pre- and post meetings, unclear purpose of PO, lack of training in taking note, providing and getting feedback, the observed’s anxiety about being observed, poor time management and receiving critical feedback and the observer’s pressure of providing the appropriate feedback

In the next part, the way to conduct the effective PO are demonstrated In this part, as well as three main stages (pre- observation meeting, classroom observation and post-observation meeting) are presented In PO process, it is important to know how to provide and receive the feedback appropriately Therefore, the criteria for effective feedback are listed

Last but not least, the reasons leading to Vietnamese teachers’ anxiety are clarified and the influence of cultural factors in Vietnamese context on peer

relationship is also demonstrate

2.8 The theoretical framework of the study

The theoretical frameowork of this study is illustrated by the figure below

Figure 2.1: The theoretical framework of the study

- Impact teaching strategies

- School quality assessment

The EFL teachers’ personal experiences of PO, their perceptions of benefits and

challenges of PO can affect the extent that they perceive PO as a tool for professional

development Investigating their perception of benefits can understand from what

aspects of teaching they can benefit when taking part in PO and what extend they

perceive PO as the tool for quality assessment As mentioned above, in order to

understand the individuals’ perception, it is necessary to study about their personal

experience Investigating their experience of taking part in PO activity is necessary to

explore the challenges that prevent them from the willingness to participate in PO

Besides, the sufficient procedure can influence their attitude Last but not least, critical feedback, one of the important elements in PO, needs to be considered to understand

the EFL teachers’ perception As the result, the positive or negative perception of PO

can lead to the willingness or unwillingness to take part in PO activity From that, the

possible solutions are suggested

- Ways to improve their Perception

- Conduct the successful PO

- Challenges in conducting PO

- PO’s procedure

- Feedback

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter illustrates the study design and the method of investigation in

details First, the method employing in this study and the rationale of choosing it are

presented Second, the research site and the participants are described specifically

The data collection instruments are mentioned; the kinds of these instruments, their

designs, the procedure of collecting data and the data analysis methods are

demonstrated in turn Last but not least, the validity and reliability are pointed out

carefully

3.1 Study design

The study was conducted by employing mixed-method, the combination of

quantitative and qualitative method in one study (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011, as

cited in Creswell, 2012), to investigate EFL teachers’ perceptions of peer observation

as an effective tool for professional development in Vietnamese institutes The

rationales for choosing this approach were to obtain the deeper understanding of the

research problem (Creswell, 2012) by using one method to give the clearer

explanation for the findings of the other method (Greene et al., 1989) Each method, quantitative or qualitative, has the different strength and weakness, and the

combination of these two approaches can assist each other and support the educational researcher to achieve more authentic findings (Kimmons, 2021) The quantitative

technique could help to identify the Vietnamese EFL teachers’ opinion and provided the general view of how they perceive PO as a useful strategy for their professional

development through collecting numerical data In order to take a deeper view on this problem, the qualitative technique was employed to illustrate the participants’

perspectives more effectively (McMillan & Schumacher, 2001) Therefore, the

mixed-method could satisfy the purpose of this research and reinforce the validity of its findings

This study followed the explanatory Sequential design in order to clarify the

research problem more entirely According to Creswell (2012), explanatory Sequential Design is the most popular choice in the educational researches using the mixed-

method Following the sampling procedure described in the study of McMillan and

Builds to

Quantitative Data

Collection and

Analysis

Schumacher (2001) and DeCuir-Gunby and Schutz (2017), the quantitative data

providing the participants’ opinion and understanding about the peer observation and its development function was collected and analyzed first Based on the result of the first method, the participants joining in the qualitative method was selected purposely and the questions in the second method was designed carefully to achieve more

specific details helping clarify and elaborate on the findings of quantitative method

Figure 3: Explanatory Sequential Design (Creswell, 2012, p.541)

3.2 Research setting and participants

This study is conducted at the English center of an technical college In this center, they teach English, which is a compulsory subject, for the technical students This center takes place in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam In this center, the Peer Observation program is designed by the administrator and implemented in both offline and online classes to build up the teachers’ professionalism All teachers are required to take part

in this activity

According to Creswell (2012), it is necessary to determine the population for the study The population is defined as a group of individuals with similar characteristic

In this study, the population was a group of Vietnamese EFL teachers who are

working at the English center of Cao Thang technical college The same

characteristics that they share were illustrated more specifically in the next paragraph Convenient sampling which allows the researchers choose the participants who are willing to take part in the study (Creswell, 2012) is used The participants in this research were 22 Vietnamese EFL teachers, male and female, who were full time and casual teachers at English teaching centre of an technical college in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam Because they were the researcher’ s colleagues, it was easier to invite them

to take part in mixed methods research; besides, they might provide the more reliable responds instead of choosing the answers randomly They both had more than one

interpretation

Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis

year of teaching experience and had experienced peer observation in their teaching periods or organized the peer observation programs All teachers were the observers and observed in classroom observation The administrator also required them to have

a post-observation meeting and give the feedback for the observed Furthermore, in some small groups of teachers in this center, they made a discussion about the lessons and the teaching techniques before conducting the classroom observation During Covid 19 pandemic, this activity was maintained by recording the videos of online classes and sending to the observers After watching, they needed to write down their comments and had a meeting online These experiences made them become the ideal participants for this study

The researcher sent invitation letter to the participation via their organization email address The link of the questionnaire designed in google form was sent to each participant through email; as the same time, the researcher also asked for permission through the group in Zalo – one of the Vietnamese familiar message applications Fortunately, most of them agreed to take part in this study The data from the

questionnaire was gathered in November, 2021 After collecting and analysing data for about two weeks, the chosen participants for the interview were invited via Zalo personal message The list of questions was given to them before they took part in an interview The interview was held in Zoom - videotelephony software program The interviews were conducted in the 5th and 6th week, in December, 2021

questionnaire form, the particular ones were chosen in purpose for the semi-

structured interview The combination of these two techniques helped supplement the shortcomings of each one; as the results, the data which was collected was more reliable, valid and rich

3.3.1 Closed-ended Questionnaire

A questionnaire is considered a simplest form to collect the quantitative data systematically and rapidly (Codó, 2008) This instrument is effective to discover the beliefs and attitudes (McMillan & Schumacher, 2001) In this study, the questionnaire was conducted to clarify the opinion and viewpoint of 22 Vietnamese EFL teachers about PO as well as understand their experience in PO The convenient sampling was used to collect the questionnaire’s answer This approach can helps the research to save time because the data collection takes minimal time The data collection’s

process is more accessible because the participants are the researcher’s colleagues (Nikolopoulou, K., 2022)

In order save time for collecting data, web-based questionnaire was chosen in this study With the development of technology, implementing web-based surveys can help the researcher design the questionnaire and gather extensive data more easily and quickly (Creswell, 2012) The respondents sent their answers to the researcher through the Internet on the second week of November, 2021 Specifically, the questionnaire was designed in Google form and the link was sent to the participants through their emails and Zalo - Vietnamese messaging application Besides, it was written in

English and Vietnamese (see appendix A and C) but only the Vietnamese version was sent to the participants to avoid the misunderstanding which might lead to their

imprecise responses

The questionnaire was developed by following this research aim and the

theoretical framework mentioned in the second chapter The several questions were referred to previous studied about PO done by Ahmed, et al (2018), Kasapoğlu (2002) and Abdallah (2018) There consisted of four parts in the questionnaire Three types of questions including personal, behavioral and attitudinal were covered in the

questionnaire In the first part, two questions getting participants’ background

information (e.g., age, teaching experience) were presented In the next part, eight behavioral questions were used to identify the experience about PO that EFL teachers had The multiple-choice questions were employed in the first two parts

In some questions, the participants can choose more than one answer and give their personal idea when choosing “other” option In the third parts, there consisted of ten attitudinal questions which helps to explore the benefit of PO In the fourth part, fifteen behavioral questions helped to recognize the challenges in implementing PO The five-point Likert scale (from “strongly agree” - 5 points to “strongly disagree” - 1 point) was designed in the last two parts to achieve this purpose According to Vagias (2006), Likert scale is an effective method to assess the attitude and perceptions The table 3.1 illustrates the organization of this questionnaire more clearly

Teachers’ experience about peer observation 3 – 10

The benefit of peer observation 11 – 20

The challenges of peer observation 21 – 36

Table 3.1: the issues of investigation and items in questionnaire

3.3.2 Semi-structured Interview

After collecting and analyzing the quantitative data, about four chosen EFL teachers were invited to take part in one-on-one interview which allowed the

interviewees to clarify their questionnaire responses and provided more detailed

explanation related to their circumstance The purposive sampling was chosen to gain detailed explanation for the participants’ choice in the interview This approach refers

as non-probability sampling in which participants are selected “on purpose”

(Nikolopoulou, K., 2022) These four chosen participants showed their different

perception of PO through their answers in the questionnaire Two participants showed their positive attitude of PO, one participant showed her unwillingness to take part in

PO and the left one showed her expertise of designing the PO program and conducting feedback Their answers needed to be explained more to get the rich data

During the interview, the interviewer could understand the participants’ attitude and behaviors by observing their body language and the tone of voice which could not

be noticed in questionnaire The one-in-one interview was chosen instead of the focus