Presently, learning a foreign language is an essential academic requirement in several contexts, hence the importance and the need for effective teaching in this field at all educational levels starting with the first years of school. As a consequence, teaching and learning in elementary school is a key issue to success in the learner’s future language learning. However, at some public elementary schools in Colombia there are many factors that hinder this process. One of them is the fact that most of the teachers who are in charge of teaching English in elementary schools are not sufficiently trained to do this job (McNulty & Quinchia, 2007). For this reason, the aim of this study is to strengthen the pedagogical practices of the participating teachers. Guided by the theoretical foundations of peer coaching and reverse mentoring , this mixed-methods study examined strategies for professional development via results of an English test, class observations, questionnaires, focus groups, interviews, and journals. Findings show the effectiveness of the proposal in terms of the professional growth of the participants who exchanged teaching experiences and pedagogical tools within a mutual and trusting atmosphere. This helped them to enhance their knowledge about teaching a foreign language and test new teaching techniques and strategies to favor their students’ language learning.

中文翻译：

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反向指导和同伴指导作为职业发展策略

当前，在几种情况下学习外语是一项基本的学术要求，因此从学业的第一年开始，在所有教育水平上有效学习这一领域的重要性和必要性。因此，小学的教与学是学习者未来语言学习成功的关键。但是，在哥伦比亚的一些公立小学中，有许多因素阻碍了这一进程。其中一个事实是，大多数负责小学英语教学的教师没有得到足够的培训来从事这项工作（McNulty＆Quinchia，2007）。因此，本研究的目的是加强参与教师的教学实践。在同伴指导和反向指导的理论基础的指导下，这项混合方法的研究通过英语测试，课堂观察，问卷，焦点小组，访谈和期刊的结果，研究了职业发展策略。调查结果表明，在相互信任的气氛中交流教学经验和教学工具的参与者的专业成长方面，该建议的有效性。这帮助他们增强了关于教授外语的知识，并测试了新的教学技术和策略以促进学生的语言学习。调查结果表明，在相互信任的气氛中交流教学经验和教学工具的参与者的专业成长方面，该建议的有效性。这帮助他们增强了关于教授外语的知识，并测试了新的教学技术和策略以促进学生的语言学习。调查结果表明，在相互信任的气氛中交流教学经验和教学工具的参与者的专业成长方面，该建议的有效性。这帮助他们增强了关于教授外语的知识，并测试了新的教学技术和策略以促进学生的语言学习。