Abstract
In this paper, the author considers the meaning of the type of "Lesson Analysis" (jugyou bunseki) which was proposed by Takayasu Shigematsu (1961) as a Japanese study on educational practice. Based on the method of this analysis and "relational structure of the pedagogical factors" by Yutaka Hibi et al. (1989), the issues of the method for describing the theoretical structure of the learning process in the classroom are discussed. Lesson analysis is preferred for constructing academic theories of education, where lesson study (jugyou kenkyu) tends to provide an opportunity for improving the classroom lessons and contributing toward teachers' professional development in the school. In Shigematsu's lesson analysis, researchers use audio and visual data and collect various data related to children's learning process such as compositions, notebooks, and other products. These data are analyzed qualitatively and the theoretical findings are produced which can provide an explanation for the whole events observed in the classroom using a hermeneutic approach. To produce an theory through lesson analysis, the method of this research has to meet five conditions: 1) constructing face-based theory, 2) making theory relevant for educational practice, 3) constructing theory with adaptability, 4) clarifying the children's thinking process, 5) and taking a dynamic and relativistic approach. Studies on the relational structure of pedagogical factors have been conducted since the 1980's in the division of education methods in Nagoya University. In these studies the facts and events that were observed or recorded in the classroom were theoretically reconstructed as pedagogical factors within the relational structure. It is further confirmed that they must meet the five conditions. But the process of the analysis requires the researcher's interpretation to find conceptual knowledge in researching children's lived experiences. Therefore, it is difficult to produce theoretical structures based on empirical evidence. For this purpose, a new method for describing the relational structure must be developed.
