A Sample Lesson Study with Pre-School Teachers: Dialogic Story Reading Bags

Abstract

The Lesson Study is a professional development model that places teachers at the center of practice and is used in the professional development of teachers who are currently in teacher training or currently in service. In Turkey, the professional development of teachers from various branches is also supported by using this model. However, no previous studies have been found on the use of this model with pre-school teachers. This study was carried out to support and improve the quality of teachers’ picture story reading activities by means of lesson study and therefore support the language and early literacy skills of children. Mixed method design was used in the study by utilizing convergent parallel mixed method design. The study group consisted of 14 teachers employed at two independent kindergartens in Bolu city center and 223 children attending these schools during the 2017-2018 academic year. After obtaining all qualitative and quantitative data, statistical analyses were conducted on the quantitative data and content analysis was performed on the qualitative data. As a result of the study, we determined that dialogic reading bags that are developed through the Lesson Study model support children's language development and early literacy skills. In addition, we determined that the Lesson Study model had a positive impact on pre-school teachers’ professional development. Key words: dialogic reading, language development, early literacy, lesson study, preschool L’etude de cours est un modele de developpement professionnel qui met les enseignants au centre de la pratique et qui est employe dans le developpement professionnel des enseignants en formation ou en service. En Turquie aussi, ce modele sert a appuyer le developpement professionnel des enseignants dans divers domaines. Toutefois, nous n’avons recense aucune recherche anterieure portant sur l’emploi de ce modele aupres d’enseignants au prescolaire. Cette etude a ete entreprise pour appuyer et ameliorer la qualite des activites liees a la lecture de livres d’images et ainsi appuyer les competences linguistiques et les habiletes en lecture et ecriture de jeunes enfants. L’etude repose sur une modele mixte parallele et convergent. Le groupe d’etude etait compose de 14 enseignants provenant de deux maternelles independantes du centre-ville de Bolu et des 223 enfants qui ont frequente ces ecoles pendant l’annee academique 2017-2018. Suite a la cueillette de toutes les donnees qualitatives et quantitatives, les donnees qualitatives ont fait l’objet d’analyses statistiques. Les resultats indiquent que les sacs qui accompagnent la lecture dialogue et qui font partie du modele de l’etude de cours appuient le developpement des competences linguistiques et des habiletes en lecture et ecriture de jeunes enfants. De plus, nous avons determine que le modele d’etude de cours avait un impact positif sur le developpement professionnel des enseignants au prescolaire. Mots cles: lecture dialogique, developpement langagier, litteratie precoce, etude de cours, education prescolaire