Video-based Classroom Research and the Development of Professional Vision in Language Teacher Education (Speaker: Professor Dr Britta Viebrock, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt)

The purpose of my talk is to present examples of video-based classroom research as part of a large teacher education project – Linking Pedagogic Expertise through Video Enhanced Learning Scenarios (LEVEL) – carried out at the university of Frankfurt between 2015 and 2018 (and possibly beyond). The project is concerned with the development of future teachers’ professional vision, i.e. their ability to observe and interpret events and situations specific to classroom interaction on the basis of pedagogical knowledge about teaching and learning. Professional vision is understood to be an important element of a more general professional development and an indicator of teaching expertise. In my presentation I will examine the concept of professional vision in greater detail and explain how it is put into effect in the LEVEL-project. In addition, I will have a more general look at classroom videography in foreign language education, which forms the foundation of the video enhanced learning scenarios to be developed in the Level-project. By way of example, I will present data from a research project on the development of transcultural competences through literature in the foreign language classroom. Contextual information on the structure and models of (foreign language) teacher education in Germany will also be provided.