Peer teaching as a pedagogical strategy for autonomy in teacher education

This action research study investigates peer teaching as a pedagogical strategy to raise preservice second language teachers’ awareness of autonomy in learning and teaching. Classroom observation, focus group interviews, and questionnaire were used to (a) explore how the student teachers engaged in the practices of peer teaching and learning and reflected on their relevance to their own future teaching careers and (b) identify the major benefits and challenges of peer teaching from the students’ perspectives. Most of the students actively engaged in peer teaching during the course and considered it as a strategy that they might later use in their teaching. Issues such as awareness of teaching elements, opportunities for peer learning, cultural diversity, and English as a medium of instructions brought both benefits and challenges for students in the process of peer teaching. The study points to a research agenda for pre-service teacher education for autonomy that focuses on the long-term impact of students’ experiences of a range of pedagogical strategies for autonomy on their future teaching. Copyright © 2013 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH.