Implementing instructional coaching using a partnership philosophy model to train teachers in reading skills.

Abstract

This study explores the effect of a five-month instructional coaching program using a partnership philosophy model on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ practices of teaching reading and their beliefs about reading. This action research used an exploratory design with two preexperimental groups at different locations in two high schools of two coastal cities of Ecuador. The participants are six teachers in each school who have an average of 10 years of experience teaching and an intermediate English level of B1 according to the Common European Framework. Two five- week-cycles take place which include workshops, modeling, observation, and reflection. To see the effect of implementing instructional coaching in teaching reading and teachers’ beliefs, pre-post class observations and a teachers’ beliefs survey were applied. Results on observations show a positive increase of usage of reading skills on both sites. Results on the pre- post belief survey in site B show a 16% increase change on teachers’ responses in favor of teaching reading different from site A where the results do not change. Though, there is little evidence that teachers have changed their beliefs on teaching reading, data collected from one of the coaching formats applied at the end of each of the two cycles, show that teachers have changed in their discourse by using the new terminology.