Social Constructivism as the Theoretical Underpinning for the Employment of Collaborative Approaches such as Lesson Study Towards Teacher Development

Lesson study is a Japanese teacher development framework, known as jugyō kenkyū (授業研究), which has been gaining traction outside of Japan, particularly in mathematics education (Lewis, 2008). In Japan, it is mostly used in the context of primary education in a collaborative form, and non-collaboratively thereafter. Lesson study has been shown in the literature to be an effective way of increasing teacher autonomy and intrinsic motivation while contributing to practical solutions not provided by the traditional transmission model of teacher development. This paper outlines how collaborative lesson study is a viable answer to the problems facing the postmethod language educator and shows how the ideas of social constructivism form the theoretical underpinnings supporting the use of collaboration in teacher development. Teachers should be examples of how learning works. We inquire, explore, examine, process, and consider. We value people over things and excitement over test results. (Kaplan, 1987, p.7