A substantial body of research has examined teaching effectiveness in foreign language classrooms, particularly the gap between experienced and novice teachers. While numerous studies have explored ideological differences between the two groups and provided explanations grounded in teacher expertise, direct comparisons of their actual classroom practices remain limited. This lack of empirical comparison has created ambiguity in identifying the key elements of teaching effectiveness, thereby hindering the development of targeted strategies for training novice foreign language teachers. This study investigates the potential of using course video analysis to deepen understanding of this issue. Ten novice and ten experienced teachers each conducted a one-hour online Mandarin Chinese class for elementary-level learners using identical course materials. The recordings were analyzed with the Improved Flanders’ Classroom Interaction Analysis System (iFIAS), and all major indices were compared between the two groups within a teaching effectiveness framework. Two expert teachers also provided subjective ratings, and all participants completed post-lesson interviews after reviewing their own recordings, followed by qualitative analysis. Results show that traditional peer reviews rated experienced teachers as more effective overall. However, objective analyses revealed that the key difference lies in their ability to engage students in classroom interaction. Participants’ reflections corroborated these findings, showing that experienced teachers focused more on learners than on task completion. These findings refine our understanding of foreign language-teaching effectiveness and highlight the potential of video-based analysis as a valuable tool for both research and teacher training.
Zhang et al. (2026) studied this question.