Better Supervision better Teaching: A Handbook for Teaching Practice Supervisors

6. The Language of Supervisory Discussion

I฀CHAPTE R฀6฀1฀ The฀Language฀of฀Supervisory฀ Discussion฀ ISSUE฀ In what ways does our use of language affect supervisor y conferences ? INTRODUCTION฀ Our choice of language affects the way our meaning is perceived and the way communication develops. There are , o f course , othe r factor s lik e th e position s an d relationships (roles ) o f th e peopl e involve d (participants) , th e context in which the language is used (setting), etc. A query raised with a perso n yo u d o no t kno w wel l coul d b e interprete d negatively as a criticism, while a person you do know well, e.g. a good friend, might accept the query, worded in exactly the same way, as an open-minded, neutral enquiry rather than as a criticism. 72฀Bette r฀Supervision,฀Better฀Teaching:฀A฀Handbook฀for฀Teaching฀Practice฀Supervisors฀ In supervisory discussions, the roles of participants have some similarities, in that one participant is a teacher or student teacher seeking a professional qualification, and the other is a university supervisor or an experienced mentor teacher who usually has the power t o make, or at least influence, th e decision as to whether the studen t teache r i s grante d th e qualification . Thi s i s ver y different from the relationships one would find, say, between two friends or colleagues of equal status. Nonetheless, eve n th e descriptio n i n th e paragrap h abov e reveals some variation. You would probably talk to experienced teachers seeking the qualification on a part-time in-service course rather differently than you would talk to novices with no teaching experience seekin g th e qualificatio n o n a full-time pre-servic e course. Th e settin g woul d b e different , too , a s th e in-servic e teachers would be in their own schools, with their own students, and thus know more than you do about the classroom situation. On the other hand, novices would be in schools that are not their own, with students they did not know until a few days or weeks ago, and you may well understand some aspects of the classroom situation better than the novices do. There may be variation too with the supervisor. You may have taught the student teacher over some months or even years and so the two participants know each other well. At the other extreme, you ma y b e makin g a singl e visit , fo r th e moderatio n o f assessment, to a student teacher you have never met before. All thi s affect s th e languag e w e choos e i n expressin g ou r meanings, just as it affects the way the student teacher hears and interprets what we say. However, given that we, as supervisors, are conscious of the variation i n participants , role s an d setting s a s w e mak e ou r classroom visit s an d hol d pre - an d post-lesso n discussions , variations i n th e languag e w e choos e t o emplo y ca n mak e a difference i n the way our meaning is perceived and the way the communication develops. Describe฀the฀ •฀participant s฀ •฀role s฀ •฀settin g฀ of฀you r฀mos t฀recen t฀ supervisory฀discussion.฀ How฀muc h฀d o฀thes e฀var y฀ from฀on e฀discussio n฀t o฀ another?฀ The฀Language฀of฀Supervisory฀Discussion฀7 3฀ As an example, consider post-lesson discussions, and whether the supervisor: gives comments makes suggestions gives advice gives feedback raises questions discusses issues points out -problems shares praises raises concerns suggests!offers solutions gives feelings!opinions describes offers help These wer e th e term s use d mos t frequentl y b y supervisor s i n interviews in this study. Discussing issues, for example, may indicate that the supervisor places more weight on the student teacher's views than does giving advice. And raising concerns may sound more negative than raising questions. This chapte r wil l conside r th e languag e tha t supervisor s reported usin g i n si x differen t aspect s o f th e supervisor y discussion. Th e chapte r i s thus divide d int o th...