An investigation into english language teachers and students attitudes towards microteaching at tien giang university

TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF CHARTS ABSTRACT Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1.2 Rationale 1.3 Research aims 1.4 Research scope 1.5 Research questions 1.6 Structure of the thesis Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 11 2.1 Introduction 11 2.2 Definition of key terms 12 2.2.1 Microteaching 12 2.2.1.1 Definition of microteaching 12 2.2.1.2 Aims of microteaching 14 2.2.1.3 Stages of microteaching 15 2.2.1.4 Variants of microteaching 18 2.2.2 Attitudes 20 2.3 An overview of microteaching to English Majored students by Faculty of Foreign Languages at Tien Giang University 21 2.4 Previous studies relating to microteaching 25 2.4.1 Overseas studies 25 2.4.2 Vietnamese studies 30 Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 32 3.1 Introduction 32 3.2 Research methodology 32 3.3 Participants 33 3.4 Data collection tools 33 3.4.1 Document review 33 3.4.2 The questionnaire 34 3.4.3 The interview 34 3.5 Data analysis 35 Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 36 4.1 Findings from the interviews 36 4.1.1 English language teachers‟ attitudes to microteaching 36 4.1.2 Suggestions to improve the effectiveness of microteaching sessions in the methodology course at Tien Giang University 39 4.2 Findings from the questionnaire 42 4.2.1 Second-year English majored students‟ attitudes to microteaching 42 4.2.1.1 Types of microteaching applied in the methodology course 42 4.2.1.2 The application of microlessons 44 4.2.1.3 The students’ exploitation of teaching techniques in teaching practicum 47 4.2.1.4 The common advantages and disadvantages of microteaching in the context of Tien Giang University 49 4.2.2 Second-year English majored students‟ difficulties in microteaching practice 52 4.2.3 Second-year students‟ suggestions to difficulties in microteaching 54 4.2.3.1 Suggestions on the type and the duration of a microlesson 55 4.2.3.2 Suggested solutions to improve the effectiveness of microteaching 57 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 62 5.1 Summary of the findings 62 5.1.1 The situation 62 5.1.2 Advantages and disadvantages 62 5.1.3 Solutions 63 5.2 Limitations of the study 64 5.3 Implications 65 5.4 Suggestions for further study 66  REFERENCES 68  APPENDIX 72  APPENDIX 73 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CASE: Center of Advanced Study in Education ELT: English Language Teaching ELTTP: English Language Teacher Training Project ICT: Information Communication Technology KISS: Keep It Short and Simple MLS: Microteaching Lesson Study MOET: Ministry of Education and Training PPP: Presentation-Practice-Production UK: The United Kingdom LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: Time allocation for ONE micro lesson Chart 4.2: Types of microteaching applied in methodology course Chart 4.3: Types of microteaching applied in methodology course (Group microteaching) Chart 4.4: Frequency of pair/group microteaching Chart 4.5: Application of teaching techniques in the methodology course into microteaching sessions Chart 4.6: Effectiveness of microteaching in preparing students for real teaching experience Chart 4.7: Abilities to deal with students in real teaching experience Chart 4.8: Advantages of microteaching in terms of classroom setting Chart 4.9: Disadvantages of microteaching in terms of students Chart 4.10: Disadvantages of microteaching in terms of classroom setting Chart 4.11: Disadvantages of microteaching in terms of the training course Chart 4.12: Students‟ suggestion of microteaching type Chart 4.13: Students‟ suggestion of microteaching type (number of members) Chart 4.14: The suggested time allocation of a microlesson Chart 4.15: Suggested solutions to improve the effectiveness of microteaching in terms of the students Chart 4.16: Suggested solutions to improve the effectiveness of microteaching in terms of the classroom setting Chart 4.17: Students‟ suggestions to improve the effectiveness of microteaching in terms of the course ABSTRACT Microteaching helps English majored students practice and perfect the teaching techniques before they become real teachers of English The application of microteaching and what is practiced during microlessons in the context of Tien Giang University also reflects its effectiveness in familiarizing students with their real teaching practice Since this issue has not been thoroughly investigated so far, this research aims at providing a closer consideration into the situation, the application of teaching techniques in microteaching sessions, some common advantages and disadvantages of microteaching techniques and also proposing some possible solutions to improve English majored students‟teaching practice at Tien Giang University Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Methodology has long been a compulsory course for English majored students at Teachers‟ Training Colleges and has always been followed by practicum They learn the theories of the Communicative Approach The methodology course provides them with a number of techniques for teaching grammar as well as four language skills and other techniques such as correction techniques and techniques for presenting vocabulary Practicum helps students apply the techniques they study on the methodology course in the classroom For many teacher training programs in countries where English is the official language, a practicum is a “course (usually in the Applied Studies area) with a substantial amount of supervised, discipline-related time in an actual work setting”(Athabasca University 2007) The practicum course is more difficult to implement in countries where the official language is not English Teaching foreign languages in general requires a great deal of specialized knowledge in the field of teaching and learning, high standards of professional knowledge and high standards of professional conduct as well Moreover, with the development of English language teaching nowadays, there has been an increased demand for language teachers and the compulsion to train these teachers However, the concept of an effective English language teacher is hard to clarify in our educational context of new methodologies, new technologies, and new syllabi in Vietnam Although field-based teaching experiences as the basic connection for integrating theory and practice, and providing opportunities for future teachers to reflect on their teaching have been successful, these experiences have not always led to the attainment of these expectations Local universities have been criticized for their apparent inability to prepare adequately their graduates to be professionally good teachers This can be shown in the results of the so-called good teacher selection contest organized by Provincial Service of Education and Training Consequently, microteaching might help in this case to bring together a whole range of theoretical issues and apply them to a real life situational teaching Microteaching is a unique model of practice teaching The teachers who are trained to use the microteaching instrument are expected to have a greater range of technical teaching skills to choose from for overcoming day-to-day classroom teaching problems Microteaching helps teachers improve both contents and methods of teaching and develop specific teaching skills such as questioning, the use of examples and simple artifacts to make lessons more interesting, effective reinforcement techniques, and introducing and closing lessons effectively Immediate, focused feedback and encouragement, combined with the opportunity to practice the suggested improvements in the same training session, are the foundations of the microteaching technique 1.2 Rationale I choose this topic for my research:An Investigation into English Language Teachers’ and Students’ Attitudes towards Microteaching at Tien Giang University for the following reasons: Tien Giang University has trained students to become junior high school teachers of English since 2008 and there have been no studies related to microteaching so far English majored students study the methodology course in the training curriculum and experience two teaching practicums (one in the second year and the other in the third year) in junior high schools in the province In these two practicums, they have difficulties applying the techniques they have studied on the methodology course They not practice the techniques and steps of teaching thoroughly enough Lecturers who are assigned to teach methodology mainly convey theories of methodology to students rather than organize classroom microteaching They provide the steps of teaching grammar lessons in a communicative way and teaching skills lessons They model the techniques first then ask the whole class to prepare within 10-15 minutes They then appoint one or two students to demonstrate the techniques in front of the class This clearly limits the mastery of the techniques among the other students Most English majored students come from districts in Tien Giang Province and their entrance exam scores are very low When they study the methodology course in the second year, they find it really hard to master theories of the techniques if these techniques are not practiced in groups In other words, they have difficulties working in groups and undoubtedly have greater difficulties microteaching the techniques they have just studied 1.3 Research aims Microteaching, simply defined as a training context in which a teacher's situation, has been reduced in scope or simplified in systematic way, can be used to train the would-be-teachers at Tien Giang University in their second year This technique has been used to teach the course entitled ELT (English Language Teaching) methodology at Tien Giang University for years During this period, the attitudes of ELT methodology learners who are the first target group have not been investigated to examine the impact of such technique on them Therefore, this study aims at investigating the attitudes of second year English majored students towards on-campus microteaching at Tien Giang University Simultaneously, this study also aims at identifying their difficulties in microteaching then suggesting possible solutions to these difficulties 1.4 Research scope This research focuses on investigating Tien Giang University English Language teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards microteaching 1.5 Research questions This study focuses on answering the following questions: 1-What are Tien Giang University English Language teachers‟ attitudes towards microteaching? 2-What are 2nd year English majored students‟ attitudes towards microteaching? 3- What are students‟ difficulties in microteaching? 4-What can be done to solve these difficulties? 1.6 Structure of the thesis The research includes five main chapters Chapter introduces the research Chapter introduces literature review with some definitions related to microteaching Chapter refers to the methodology of the research The most important part is chapter which refers to findings and discussion And chapter summarizes several main findings and gives out some suggestions that might help other researchers with similar interest to conduct further investigation into the same subject matter The research can be summarized as follows: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature review Chapter 3: Research methodology Chapter 4: Findings and discussion Chapter 5: Conclusion and suggestions In short, this first chapter has justified the reasons for conducting this research paper and simultaneously stated the four research questions as an initial guide for the rest of the paper Afterwards, the aims, the scope and the structure of the paper are also provided The next chapter provides a theoretical background of the study and introduces the Vietnamese students‟microteaching at Tien Giang University as well as states some related studies done previously 10 the university classroom were quite different from the reality, which reflected unreliable success of a microlesson compared with a real class To solve these difficulties, they proposed some solutions which were definitely appropriate and could be applied in the next methodology course Consequently, this chapter, to some extent, can help improve the effectiveness of microteaching in the methodology course The final chapter summarizes major findings of this research and states some suggestions to help other researchers with similar interest to conduct further investigation into the same subject matter 61 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS This final chapter summarizes several major findings of this research and states its shortcomings so that other research in this area can minimize them Also, some suggestions are given to help other researchers with similar interest to conduct further investigation into the same subject matter 5.1 Summary of findings: The significant findings of this research concern the current application of microteaching in the methodology course at Tien Giang University, the main advantages and disadvantages of this exploitation and some suggestions to improve the effectiveness of this technique to the teacher trainees‟ preparation for their future teaching practice 5.1.1 The situation: The application of microteaching in the methodology course has been adjusted throughout the world Some adjustments made were: (i) Group microteaching for one complete 30-minute teaching period, (ii) Increased class size for microlessons, (iii) The elimination of the reteach stage, (iv) Microteaching without videotaping, and (v) The two new concepts of microteaching: self-study group (teachers trainees took turns to be mock teachers and mock learners) and peer observation Similarly, there have been some adjustments in the methodology course at Tien Giang University The course length has been increased and the time for microteaching has been longer More importantly, teacher trainees have practiced teaching in their groups outside class more frequently 5.1.2 Advantages and disadvantages: It is interesting to find out that the advantages and disadvantages sometimes coincided with each other The common advantages of microteaching as specified in this research were drawn out from the reality of microteaching practice in Tien Giang University The advantages of practicing microteaching were classified in two groups, in terms of mock students and classroom setting One of them was that microteaching sessions in the methodology course familiarized them to real class problems as their friends took the role of junior high school students Another convenience was that as the microlessons were performed among classmates, the teacher trainees commented that they could get sincere feedback 62 on their demonstration from their peers as well as give feedback on their peers‟ performances without fear of upsetting them The common disadvantages were categorized into three groups regarding the mock students, the classroom setting and the course design The most problematic feature of microteaching was the fact that the mock students‟ high English proficiency Apparently, the mock students‟ command of English was at the same level as the mock teachers, which proved quite different from reality where junior high school students‟ English proficiency was much lower The second group of disadvantages related to the facilities equipped in the classroom which were of higher quality than in reality (in junior high schools where the teacher trainees were supposed to their teaching practicum) The third group of disadvantages sharing similar evaluation from 2nd year students mentioned the amount of time allocation for the lesson less than in reality and the inadequate time allocation for microteaching sessions Additionally, microteaching did not provide the teacher trainees with as many unexpected problems as they expected to encounter The environment in which they taught microlessons was so safe that they felt unprepared for their real profession A more serious problem raised by some students was that microteaching was based too much on theories, not practice The lack of genuine situations might be the biggest concern to all pre-service teachers at Tien Giang University This disadvantage worried them in the sense that they might use the facilities available in their micro-classroom now but might fail to exploit the simple teaching aids at the junior high schools later on This is two sides of a coin which could only be solved when a balanced exploitation of high-tech and traditional teaching facilities were taken into consideration by MOET 5.1.3 Solutions: The most popular types of microteaching was group-of-four microteaching and pair microteaching, which was slightly similar to what was applied in the current microteaching program at Tien Giang University The group-of-four microteaching, however, was more preferred than the pair one, which could be explained that the teacher trainees outweighed collaboration and help in teaching practice From this finding, the researcher comes up with a suggestion that is to provide some basic theoretical background of microteaching for the 2nd year students so that they 63 are provided with the essential knowledge of this technique, helping them to make wiser choice of the appropriate type of microteaching In addition, they should be allowed to decide which types of microteaching will be practiced so as to motivate them more in the microlessons Regarding the microteaching program itself, the solutions were not only given by the 2nd year students but by the researcher as well Most of the students asked suggested that the methodogoly course book should contain more theories of teaching techniques, class activities The second important recommendation was the increased practice time for microteaching in various ways such as self-study group without the presence of supervisors and the implementation of microteaching in the course The last important point is that the mock students in microteaching sessions should be assigned with certain roles to perform in the lessons to avoid the fact that some microlessons turned out to be a play which was not taken seriously by the participants The preassigned roles could serve three purposes: (i) to increase the students‟ engagement in the lessons, (ii) to raise the mock teacher‟s awareness of the role-assigned students‟ feelings, and (iii) to improve the helpfulness of feedback when the mock students could express their feelings about how they were treated by the mock teacher 5.2 Limitations of the study: First of all, it should be noted that this study was carried out within the scope of Tien Giang University only What was true for 2nd year students in this context might not be true for other subjects in different contexts of research The results may be different in terms of the types of microteaching, its advantages and disadvantages which tend to rely on the perception of the students, the classroom settings and design of the methodology course Moreover, although the number of students surveyed in this research and the method of collecting data can be considered to be sufficient to guarantee the representativeness of the subject, stricter control of the methodology should have been applied Secondly, due to the time limit and the scope of this research, the teaching techniques studied in this paper were not investigated as thoroughly as expected Also, the application of these techniques in the microteaching practice was not the main focus of the study They were investigated with a view to analyzing the microteaching practice itself Therefore, it is still in need of improvement in the analysis of this part Lastly, it is a pity that the method of class observation was 64 not exploited in the data collection procedure, which limited the deeper investigation into the students‟ attitudes to microteaching 5.3 Implications: Basing on the analysis of students‟ difficulties in microteaching, the researcher would like to point out some suggestions so as to increase the feasibility of the students‟ solutions and provide more alternatives which are likely to be chosen to improve the application of microteaching Regarding the preferred types of microteaching chosen by the teacher trainees in the survey, it can be seen that each choice was justified by reasonable arguments They showed their preference not only for group microteaching but for a real teaching period as well What they expected from microteaching was that it could help familiarize them with real teaching situations Those arguments seemed to reflect their understanding about microteaching with little application of theoretical background Thus, a solution that the researcher would like to propose to make microteaching become more effective is providing the teacher trainees with the knowledge of microteaching If they are provided with the definition and some basic variants of microteaching, they can make a more reasonable and suitable choice for their own situation as microteaching could hardly persist in their mind Another suggestion is that the students should decide on their own what type of microteaching they will practice From the questionnaire, it can be seen that some students liked group practice but some preferred working in pairs Thus, if they are given the chance to make choices, they may feel more confident and comfortable to prepare and perform their microlessons These above two suggestions not only work well with the preferred types of microteaching but match with its advantages and disadvantages as well Secondly, the discussion of the application of the teaching techniques into microteaching sessions brings home the idea that more practice should be made either in class time or not to make sure that our teacher trainees are able to master them before doing their teaching practicum or applying for a teaching post in the future Moreover, when the teacher trainees begin the microteaching session, they should be required to state clearly the names of the teaching techniques they will perform in the lessons By doing this, the teacher trainees can become more aware of their duty to fulfill the task and simultaneously, the supervisors and fellow trainees also can pay more attention to those 65 techniques to give focused feedback after the lessons Another important suggestion is the pre-assignment of students‟ roles in the microlessons In addition to those mentioned previously, there were many other interesting roles that could be applied in the microteaching practice at Tien Giang University Certainly, some adaptations should be made to make it work properly in this context such as: (i) The number of roles can be cut down to limit the complexity of assigning role task, (ii) The mock teachers are given time to find suitable teaching strategies before conducting the microlessons with these mock students Thirdly, to solve the difficulty of limited time allocation for microteaching, there can be some choices to choose from: (i) the students can create the “self-study” groups on their own without the monitoring of the supervisor and (ii) by “peer feedback”, they can help each other to improve their teaching skills Another suggestion, though not chosen by many teacher trainees, can still be taken into consideration that is to include microteaching right in the methodology syllabus Each microteaching session may last from 15 to 30 minutes in which the students are required to identify the language teaching methods presented in the course book 5.4 Suggestions for further study: As microteaching is an intriguing issue of professional teaching in general and in English language teaching in particular, there remain many aspects of the subject matter which were worth studying The focus of this study was only on the practice stage of microteaching (i.e types of microteaching, its advantages and disadvantages and the students‟ suggestions to improve its effectiveness) Other aspects such as the preparation and the supervisors‟ evaluation of microteaching are advisable matters which can be investigated by other researchers Another suggestion is that it would be a good idea for other researchers who would like to conduct research in this subject matter to combine the three methods of collecting data, including questionnaires, interviews and class observation so that the credibility of the results could be improved The last suggestion is that as the students still encounter a number of difficulties in practicing microteaching, further study in this matter should aim at investigating 2nd year students‟ teaching practice in a larger scale, which begins with microteaching practice and finishes with the students‟ teaching practicum at junior 66 high schools By this way, a more comprehensive view of the teacher training course could be reached, contributing to the success of the whole course In conclusion, this chapter has given a general overview of what this study has achieved and what should be paid attention to when further research in the same subject matter is conducted Although shortcomings are unavoidable, it is hoped that the study has made a contribution to the course of investigating and improving the application of microteaching at Tien Giang University in particular and in other pedagogical colleges in general 67 REFERENCES Adams, R.S.(2001) Realities of Teaching: Explorations with Videotape, Holt, Rinchart & Winston Ahrens, P (1992) Approaching the chalkface: small group microteaching in a preservice teacher education programme Unpublished Moray House Mimeo Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M (1980) Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Allen, D.W et.al.(1969) Micro-teaching – A Description Stanford University Press Allen, D.W & Ryan, K.A (1969) Micro-teaching Reading Mass.: Addison Wesley Allen D.W & Eve A.W (1968) Teaching Competency through Micro Teaching Approach Amobi, Funmi A and Irwin, Leslie.(2009) Implementing on-campus microteaching to elicit 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Do you think microteaching can be applied to both English majored classes and NonEnglish majored classes? How much you think microteaching helps prepare the students for their future teaching jobs? Do you think that microteaching acivities require much time? Why/Why not? How you evaluate the theories provided for students in your class? To what extent you think facilities such as classrooms, tables, chairs, etc in Tien Giang University facilitate microteaching activities? How you evaluate your students‟ demonstration of the technique or the whole lesson? Do you use an observation sheet? Why/Why not? In what ways you think the teacher‟s feedback and peers‟ feedback on the student‟s teaching can help him/her in the next teaching practice? How much you think microteaching helps students interact with the teacher and other students? 10 What you think should be done to improve the effectiveness of microteaching as a tool of teaching practice at Tien Giang University? THANK YOU 72 APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRES For 2nd year English majored students A The practice of Microteaching: What kind of microteaching you take part in ? a Pair microteaching b Group microteaching (number of group members: …… ) c Others (specify): ………………………………………………………………… How often you teach the lesson in your pair/group? a.Always b.Usually c.Sometimes d.Seldom e.Never How much time is spent on ONE microteaching lesson in your class? minutes To what extent you apply the theories of teaching methodology course into your microteaching? a.Very much b.Quite a lot c.So-so d.Not really e.Not at all In what way you think the theories of methodology course helped prepare you for the REAL teaching experience? You can choose MORE THAN ONE option a I feel more confident in front of my students b I react to unexpected classroom problems better c I design the lesson plan more properly d I allocate the time for each activity more appropriately e Others (specify): ………………………………………………………………… B The advantages and disadvantages of Microteaching in methodology course: How well could you deal with your students in the REAL teaching experience? You can choose MORE THAN ONE option a I taught mock students who are my friends b Good students could help answer difficult questions c The mock students learnt the lesson very quickly d Others (specify): ………………………………………………………………… How could microteaching activities help you in terms of classroom setting? a I could organize activities easily thanks to the desk-chair arrangement 73 b I could use available facilities in well-furnished classes c I taught a small number of students d Others (specify): ………………………………………………………………… What are the disadvantages of microteaching in terms of students? You can choose MORE THAN ONE option a The mock students‟ English proficiency was higher than that of real students b The mock students took part in the lesson with unexpected mood c The mock students raised difficult questions d Others (specify): ………………………………………………………………… What are the disadvantages of microteaching in terms of classroom setting? a The classroom facilities were of higher quality than the reality b The desks and chairs were arranged differently from the real class (in rows) c The amount of time allowed for the lesson was less than in reality (1skill/period) d Others (specify): ……………………………………………………………… 10 What are the disadvantages of microteaching in terms of the training course? a The time allocation for microteaching activities was inadequate b The theories of methodology given were insufficient c The practice of microteaching was unreal d Others (specify): ………………………………………………………………… C Suggestions to improve the helpfulness of the Microteaching: 11 What type of microteaching you think should be used the most in your methodology course? Choose ONE type only a Pair microteaching b Group microteaching (number of members : _) c Others (specify): ……………………………………………………………… Reasons for your choice: ………………………………………………………… 12 In you opinion, how long should a microteaching session be? a - 10 minutes b 15 - 20 minutes c 30 - 45 minutes 74 d Others (specify): ………………………………………………………………… 13 What you think should be done to improve the effectiveness of microteaching as a tool of teaching practice? You can choose MORE THAN ONE option - In terms of the students: a Classmates should be strictly assigned to play the roles of mock students in class b Classmates should be students of low English proficiency c Classmates should totally obey the mock teacher trainee d Others (specify): ………………………………………………………………… - In terms of the classroom setting: a The use of modern facilities should be limited b The number of mock students should be the same as that in a real class c The number of mock students should be smaller than that in a real class d Others (specify): ………………………………………………………………… - In terms of the course: a The time alloted for microteaching practice should be increased b Microteaching should be implemented earlier c More theories of teaching skills should be provided in the methodology course d Others (specify): ………………………………………………………………… THANK YOU 75