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A STUDY ON MICROTEACHING AS PERCEIVED BY UTM TESL
UNDERGRADUATES
NIK AZRAINI BT. AH’HYAT
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
PSZ 19:16 (Pind. 1/97) UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS TESIS♦
JUDUL: A STUDY ON MICROTEACHING AS PERCEIVED BY UTM TESL
UNDERGRADUATES
SESI PENGAJIAN: 2007/08
Saya NIK AZRAINI BINTI AH’HYAT mengaku membenarkan tesis (PSM/Sarjana/Doktor Falsafah)* ini disimpan di Perpustakaan Universiti Teknologi Malaysia dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut:
1. Tesis adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. 2. Perpustakaan Universiti Teknologi Malaysia dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja. 3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan tesis ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara institusi pengajian tinggi. 4. **Sila tandakan (√)
Disahkan oleh
________________________ __________________________
(TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (TANDATANGAN PENYELIA) Alamat Tetap: PUAN WAN ZARINA BT. WAN ZAKARIA 67, SIMPANG 3 HAJI MUSA, 16030, KOTA BHARU, KELANTAN.
Tarikh: APRIL 2008 Tarikh: APRIL 2008
CATATAN: * Potong yang tidak berkenaan.
** Jika tesis ini SULIT atau TERHAD, sila lampirkan surat daripada pihak berkuasa/organisasi berkenaan dengan menyatakan sekali sebab dan
tempoh tesis ini perlu dikelaskan sebagai SULIT atau TERHAD. ♦ Tesis dimaksudkan sebagai tesis bagi Ijazah Doktor Falsafah dan Sarjana secara
penyelidikan, atau disertasi bagi pengajian secara kerja kursus dan penyelidikan, atau Laporan Projek Sarjana Muda (PSM).
SULIT (Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972)
TERHAD (Mengandungi maklumat TERHAD yang telah ditentukan oleh organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan)
TIDAK TERHAD
√
A STUDY ON MICROTEACHING AS PERCEIVED BY UTM TESL
UNDERGRADUATES
NIK AZRAINI BT. AH’HYAT
A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of the
Bachelor of Technology with Education (TESL).
Faculty of Education
University Teknologi Malaysia
APRIL 2008
DEDICATION
A gift from heart for those who never been tired to be by my side, through thick and
thin, when I need them the most…
To my guardian angel…Tuan Rafuan binti Tuan Mat…
For her endless prayers…you light my way, you keep me strong,
your every tear makes me stronger…
To my father…Ahhyat b. Sulaiman…
You might not say much, but your prayers are always with me to keep me strong…
To my brothers and sisters…Abe, K Intan, Kakak, AF, Man-G, Pooteh…
You guys are the strength to keep me going whenever I feel tired… you guys inspired
me…
To my little warriors…Ayaff, Ayong, Angah, Amsyar
Your laughter and joy tell me to never give up…
To all my beloved friends…Suya, Nas, Alyn, Shila, Yong, Made, Chermz, Reen, Ijad
Thank you for your endless support that keeps me motivate… for always be there
when I need comfort of a family…
And to my special someone…Jamil Tarmizi…
Thank you for keeping me on track… for believing in me and for landing your
hands to guide me whenever I feel lost…
iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Allah the merciful for blessing
me with good health and peace of mind which allow me to stay strong in completing this
report.
A special thank you to my dedicated supervisor, Puan Wan Zarina bt. Wan
Zakaria for her patient and commitment in guiding me to complete this report. Without
her assistance, I will be having a real hard time completing my PSM. I really appreciate
all her comments and advices to improve my work.
I also wanted to thank those who have been sticking closely to me to keep me
motivated in completing this report on time- my family and friends. Without your words
of advices, I am not sure if I am able to stay strong through out the storm.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my respondents for their willingness to
answer my questionnaire which serves as the research instrument in this research.
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR COOPERATION.
iv
ABSTRACT
Microteaching is a compulsory subject to be taken before a student is allowed to
go for the practical teaching. This indicates the importance of microteaching to prepare
the future teacher trainees to teach in school. However, there are some students who take
the subject for granted. Therefore, this research had been carried out to investigate the
perception of Teaching English as Second Language (TESL) students in UTM regarding
their microteaching course. 78 students from the third year and fourth year were chosen
to become the respondents of this study. These respondents had completed their
microteaching course and had done their teaching practice in the previous semesters.
Each respondent was asked to answer a set of questionnaire consisted of 41 items
regarding the microteaching experience. For ease of reference, the researcher divided the
items in the questionnaire into four different sections which are demographic information
of the respondents, opinion towards microteaching, factors affecting perception towards
microteaching and application of the skills learnt in microteaching during teaching
practice. The findings of the study indicated that the students have high level of
perception towards microteaching.
v
ABSTRAK
Pengajaran mikro merupakan satu subjek yang wajib di ambil oleh setiap pelajar
sebelum mereka di benarkan untuk menjalani latihan mengajar. Ini menunjukkan bahawa
subjek ini merupakan subjek yang penting sebagai menyediakan bakal guru pelatih untuk
menghadapi pelajar-pelajar sewaktu latihan mengajar. Namun begitu, terdapat segelintir
pelajar yang tidak mengambil berat terhadap subek ini. Oleh itu, kajian ini telah
dijalankan untuk melihat tahap persepsi pelajar-pelajar Teaching English as Second
Language (TESL) di UTM terhadap subjek pengajaran mikro yang telah di ambil.
Seramai 78 orang responden daripada tahun tiga dan tahun empat kursus tersebut telah
dipilih sebagai responden kajian. Kesemua responden yang dipilih telah mengambil
subjek pengajaran mikro dan menjalani latihan mengajar. Setiap responden diberi satu set
soal selidik yang mengandungi 41 item untuk melihat tahap persepsi mereka terhadap
subjek pengajaran mikro. Untuk bahagian analisis data, penyelidik telah membahagikan
item-item tesebut kepada empat bahagian iaitu latar belakang responden, pendapat
terhadap subjek pengajaran mikro, faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi persepsi terhadap
subjek pengajaran mikro dan aplikasi kemahiran yang dipelajari dalam subjek pengajaran
mikro semasa latihan mengajar. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa tahap persepsi
pelajar-pelajar TESL terhadap subjek pengajaran mikro berada pada tahap tinggi.
vi
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER CONTENT PAGE
DECLARATION OF THESIS STATUS
SUPERVISOR’S CERTIFICATION
TITLE i
DECLARATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
ABSTRACT v
ABSTRAK vi
TABLE OF CONTENT vii
LIST OF TABLES xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xvi
LIST OF APPENDIX xvii
viii
I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Background of the study 4
1.3 Statement of the problem 8
1.4 Purpose of the study 10
1.5 Objectives of the study 10
1.6 Research questions 11
1.7 Hypothesis 12
1.8 Significance of the study 12
1.9 Scope of the study 13
1.10 Limitations of the study 14
1.11 Definitions of terminologies and abbreviation
used
14
II LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction 16
2.1 Implementation of microteaching 18
2.2 Procedure in microteaching 20
2.3 Attitude towards microteaching 23
2.4 Factors affecting perception and
motivation
25
2.5 Previous research done on
microteaching
27
ix
III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 30
3.2 Research sample 31
3.3 Research design 31
3.4 Research instrument 32
3.4.1 Questionnaire 32
3.4.1.1 Pilot study 33
3.4.1.2 Advantages of
using questionnaire
34
3.5 Research procedure 35
3.6 Data analysis 35
3.6.1 Data analysis for ranking items 36
3.6.2 Data analysis for negative
statement
37
IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction 39
4.2 Background of the respondents 40
4.2.1 Gender 41
4.2.2 Grade for microteaching 42
4.2.3 Grade for practical teaching 43
4.2.4 Number of people in
microteaching class
44
4.2.5 Chances to teach during
microteaching class
45
x
4.3 Opinion regarding microteaching course 45
4.3.1 Interest towards microteaching 46
4.3.2 Benefits gained from
microteaching course
48
4.3.3 The supervisor 50
4.3.4 Students’ perception on the
different types of tasks in
microteaching class.
51
4.3.5 Importance of microteaching. 54
4.3.6 Appropriate chances to teach. 55
4.4 Factors affecting perception and
motivation in microteaching.
56
4.4.1 Audience in microteaching 57
4.4.2 Attitude towards microteaching 60
4.4.3 Feedback received 62
4.4.4 Preparation for microteaching
class
63
4.4.5 Teaching performance during
microteaching
64
4.4.6 The role of supervisor 66
4.5 Application of skills learnt in
microteaching during teaching practice.
67
4.5.1 The use of teaching aids in
microteaching class
68
4.5.2 Skills learnt in microteaching
class
69
4.5.3 Classroom management 71
4.6 T-test to determine whether trainees of 3
SPL and 4 SPL perceived microteaching
differently
73
xi
4.6.1 General opinion on
microteaching
73
4.6.2 Factors affecting motivation and
perception towards
microteaching.
74
4.6.3 Application of the skills and
knowledge learnt in
microteaching.
74
V CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction 76
5.2 Discussion of The Findings 77
5.2.1 How do teacher the students
perceived their microteaching
classes?
77
5.2.2 Do third year and fourth year students
have the same perception towards
microteaching?
78
5.2.3 Are there any significant factors
affect their perception towards
microteaching class?
79
5.2.4 Are the skills and knowledge
learnt in microteaching applied
during their practical teaching?
80
5.3 Conclusion of The Findings 81
5.4 Recommendations 83
xii
5.4.1 Recommendations to improve
microteaching
83
5.4.1.1 Allocate more than one
credit hour for the
subject.
83
5.4.1.2 Provide guidelines to
write feedbacks
84
5.4.1.3 Make use of
videotaping
85
5.4.2 Recommendations for future research 85
REFERENCES 87
APPENDIX A 94
xiii
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE
3.1 Four Sections in the Questionnaire 29
3.2 Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Table 30
3.3 Mean Value Used To Measure the Level 32
of Perception
3.4 Division of Items in the Questionnaire 32
According To Research Questions.
3.5 Value given to analyze ranking item 33
3.6 Value given to analyze negative statement 34
4.1 Gender of the respondents 36
4.2 Grade obtained for microteaching 37
4.3 Grade obtained for practical teaching. 38
4.4 Number of people in microteaching class. 39
4.5 Chances to teach in microteaching class. 40
4.6 (a) Attitude towards microteaching among students of 3 SPL 41
4.6 (b) Attitude towards microteaching among trainees of 4 SPL 42
4.7 (a) Benefits gained from microteaching course as perceived 43
by 3 SPL students.
4.7 (b) Benefits gained from microteaching course as perceived 44
by students of 4 SPL.
4.8 (a) Opinion on microteaching supervision among 45
trainees of 3 SPL.
4.8 (b) Opinion on microteaching supervision among 45
trainees of 4 SPL.
xiv
4.9 (a) Frequency and percentage on how students of 3 SPL 46
perceived the task given in microteaching course.
4.9(b) Frequency and percentage on how students of 4 SPL 48
perceived the task given in microteaching course.
4.10 Importance of microteaching as perceived by students of 49
3 SPL and 4 SPL (item 16)
4.11 Appropriate number to teach during microteaching class 50
(item 17).
4.12 (a) 3 SPL students’ perception towards audience in 52
microteaching.
4.12 (b) 4 SPL students’ perception towards audience in 53
microteaching.
4.13 (a) Attitude towards microteching among students of 3 SPL 54
4.13 (b) Attitude towards microteching among trainees of 4 SPL 55
4.14 (a) Perception towards feedback received among students of 56
3 SPL .
4.14 (b) Perception towards feedback received among students of 57
4 SPL
4.15 (a) Preparation for microteaching class among trainees of 57
3 SPL
4.15 (b) Preparation for microteaching class among trainees of 58
4 SPL
4.16 (a) Teaching performance during microteaching among 59
students of 3 SPL
4.16 (b) Teaching performances during microteaching among 59
students of 4 SPL
4.17 (a) The role of supervisor as perceived by students of 3 SPL 60
4.17 (b) The role of supervisor as perceived by students of 4 SPL 60
4.18 (a) The use of teaching aids among students of 3 SPL 62
4.18 (b) The use of teaching aids among students of 4 SPL 62
4.19 (a) The skills learnt in microteaching among students of 3SPL 63
xv
4.19 (b) The skills learnt in microteaching among students of 4SPL 64
4.20 (a) Classroom management skills learnt in microteaching 65
among students of 3 SPL
4.20 (b) Classroom management skills learnt in microteaching 65
among students of 4 SPL
4.21 Opinion regarding microteaching 67
4.22: Factors affecting motivation and perception 67
4.23 Degree of application 68
xvi
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
3 SPL - Third year TESL program
4 SPL - Fourth year TESL program
A - Agree
D - Disagree
ELT - English Language Teaching
PMR - Peperiksaan Menengah Rendah
SA - Somewhat Agree
SPL - Course code for TESL program in UTM.
SPM - Sijil Peperiksaan Malaysia
SPSS - Statistical Package for Social Science
TA - Totally Agree
TD - Totally Disagree
TESL - Teaching English as Second Language
UTM - Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Like any other profession in this world, teaching requires teachers to be well
prepared and armed with good classroom management skills and communication
skill. These skills will be useful to be used in classroom to enable them to handle the
students and the classroom better. Teachers who are not able to handle the students
effectively will find it difficult to deliver a meaningful lesson. According to
Underwood (1987), “a teacher needs to be able to organize and control the pupil’s
behavior and interaction during a lesson”. This requires certain managerial skills
especially on how to conduct the class and setting a rule of discipline that the
students agree to comply with. Therefore, it is essential for teachers to talk the
students into obeying the classroom’s rules so that everybody will be able to learn
better.
2
Nowadays, in the era of science and technology, teaching and education has
taken a different form if compared to the traditional form. Traditional forms of
education for example in language education have gone through several major
changes especially in terms of teaching methods. Language teachers used to give
serious attention to reading comprehension. However, changes in language teaching
methods throughout history have reflected recognition of changes in the kind of
proficiency rather than reading comprehension as the goal of language study
(Richards & Rogers, 1988). The changes are parallel with students’ growing needs
to be more competitive and reading comprehension alone is not enough to make
them able to compete with other students.
Apart from changes in the teaching method, significant social changes in
recent years also have caused teaching profession to undergo transformation from
its original form. “Many teachers find that the traditional forms of motivation such
as urging the students to work hard at school so that they will obtain a good job, no
longer have the appeal they once enjoyed” (Wragg, 1984). Students need more than
just a plain excuse to motivate them in their learning. It is the teachers’
responsibility to ensure that their students are provided with every opportunity to
learn and achieve their goal, be it in education or in life.
It is important for teachers to make the students feel comfortable and
motivated to be in school and at the same time get them to involve actively in
school’s activities. According to Wragg (1984), “teachers need considerable skill to
select topics, activities and ways of working from the vast array of possibilities”. It
is important for teachers to learn how to make their teaching and information
3
delivery meaningful and interesting to capture the students’ attention. In other
words, it is the teacher’s responsibility to engage the students in their learning.
Capturing and engaging students in learning are not the only responsibilities
that have to be carried out by teachers. In fact, teachers are also responsible to
ensure that the students are able to cope with their environment so that they will be
able to learn more whether in class or outside their classroom. To be able to carry
out these challenging tasks, teachers need to be mentally well prepared. That is the
purpose of having teacher training courses. These courses are meant to help those
who are interested to become teachers to prepare themselves in facing their students
and teaching environment as a whole. Microteaching course is created to expose
teacher trainees to classroom environment. From microteaching course, the trainees
will be able to improve on their teaching techniques.
Microteaching is always associated with a very small number of “students”.
This is to allow teacher trainees to practice their teaching skills under observation of
a supervisor. As suggested by McGarvey & Swallow (1986), the main aim of
supervision is to help the students for “self-discovery” by encouraging the
development of the skills of perception and interpretation of significant events
encounters. Trainees who do not have any teaching experience need feedbacks on
their teaching performance. These feedbacks will be great points of departure for
teacher trainees to improve on their teaching skills so that they will be able to
deliver meaningful lessons in the future. This will allow them to manipulate proper
teaching skills so that they will be able to use them in their teaching, be it during
their teaching practice or the real teaching world.
4
1.2 Background of the study
Teaching is a challenging profession which requires a person to be well
prepared and patient. Once a person has decided to choose teaching as his or her
profession, he or she needs to be committed and willing to work hard. A teacher’s
responsibility does not end with the school hours. Sometimes the teacher needs to
run extra classes after the school hours or even at night especially for classes which
are sitting for their major exams for example Peperiksaan Menengah Rendah (PMR)
and Sijil Peperiksaan Malaysia (SPM).
If a person is not mentally prepared to carry this responsibility on his or her
shoulder, the person will not be able to be a good teacher. As stated by Wragg
(1984), “a good teacher is keen and enthusiastic, well organized, firm but fair,
stimulating, know their stuff and are interested in the welfare of the students”. These
are the characteristics of a perfect teacher and normally these perfect teachers are
those with vast experiences. It is true that perfection comes with experience.
However, to be able to gain the experience, teacher trainees need to be exposed to
sufficient knowledge and practice. Microteaching is one of the best ways to put a
person’s knowledge and theories he or she has learnt in class into practice. Jerich
(1986) contends that microteaching is one of the many important approaches to
introduce and to improve teaching skills through participation and observation. It is
important for teacher trainees to be in microteaching class to prepare them for their
practical teaching and later on when they become a teacher.
5
Realizing the importance of providing at least basic classroom knowledge to
its students, the Faculty of Education of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) have
made it compulsory for all second year students to undergo one semester of
microteaching course before they are allowed to do their practical teaching in third
year. This is to help them prepare themselves to face their students in school later
on. This microteaching course is only one credit subject whereby the class is held
once a week for one hour. For undergraduates undertaking Teaching English as
Second Language (TESL) in UTM, they have been exposed to several subjects
which are related to teaching language specifically. The subjects are Methodology I
(SHL 2162), Methodology II (SHL 2183), and Language Learning Theories (SHL
2173). These subjects are taught before these TESL undergraduates go off for their
practical teaching.
The main purpose of introducing Methodology I to these undergraduates is
to encourage them to examine how theories and beliefs of language teaching and
learning are put into practice (Buku Panduan Akademik Ijazah Sarjana Muda sesi
2003/04). In this particular course, students are introduced to major trends and
development in teaching and learning second language. By exposing the students to
the theories and trends in teaching and learning, they will be able to make good use
of this knowledge when they enter the teaching profession.
Methodology II, as the name suggested is a follow-up course to
Methodology I. The aim of this course is to further develop students’ understanding
of the principles and practices of ELT. The emphasis is on the principles of
Communicative Language Teaching and the teaching of the four skills which are
reading, writing, listening and speaking (Buku Panduan Akademik Ijazah Sarjana
6
Muda sesi 2003/04). Apart from that, students are also given practice on writing
lesson plan as to prepare them for their teaching practice the following semester.
During the course, students are required to conduct a lesson by applying any of the
theories they have learnt earlier. The lesson is conducted in group of four or five.
Group members will be taking turns continuously to teach the class for about five
minutes each.
Another course which is quite similar to the two discussed earlier is
Language Learning Theories. This course introduced students to the difference
between first and second language acquisition, the role of first language, age and
motivation in second language learning, Behaviorist, Innatist and Interactionist
views of language learning, group work and Interaction Analysis (Buku Panduan
Akademik Ijazah Sarjana Muda sesi 2003/04). All these are considered as essential
elements in teaching and learning second language. By exposing the students to the
factors affecting second language learners’ motivation in learning second language,
the students will be more sensitive towards the needs of their future students.
All the courses stated above only expose the students to the theoretical
aspects of teaching. However, to be able to prepare the teacher trainees for their
practical teaching, they need both theory and practical aspects of teaching and
learning a second language to enable them to teach effectively. Therefore,
microteaching course is the most suitable platform for them to put all the theories
they have learnt earlier into practice. Teacher trainees will be able to apply those
theories according to the level of their students.
7
Unfortunately, some students misunderstood the underlying principles of
microteaching. These students regard microteaching as the course which will expose
them to the real teaching experience. They expect to be given tasks which will get
them to experience the real classroom situation. As stated by Franklin and Carol
(1981), they do not understand that the purpose of enrolling them into
microteaching course is to allow them to practice a particular teaching skill for
example presenting clear instructions, asking probing questions and using wait-time
appropriately.
This kind of misconception will leave these students feeling down and
unmotivated when they enter the microteaching class. This is because, in the
microteaching class, they only get the chance to teach a small number of “students”
while in the real classroom, the number of the students will be double or triple. This
vast difference in terms of the number of audiences makes them feel that the
microteaching is not that important for them.
As microteaching is a one credit subject, it is even harder for some students
to give their full commitment and effort on this course since it is taught together
with seven or eight other subjects in the same semester which carry more credit
hours and grades. This attitude will somehow have an effect on how they perceive
this subject which eventually hinders them from contributing and participating
actively in the class. When one of the members in the microteaching class is not
willing to give his or her co-operation in giving feedback or comments to others, the
objectives of carrying out the microteaching will not be achieved. This is because
the main aim of microteaching is to have feedback from peers and supervisor at the
end of the session. It is important for all teacher trainees-to-be to see the relevance
8
and importance of microteaching especially when they are about to go out to school
as teacher trainees. They need some experience on teaching to help them handle the
students and the classroom.
Thus, this study is carried out to examine the importance of microteaching as
perceived by teacher trainees especially in preparing them for their practical
teaching. It is true that in TESL program, there are several subjects that are meant to
expose students to teaching experience for example Methodology I and
Methodology II. However, these subjects adopted team teaching method due to time
constraint. So, the students are not really being exposed to preparing lesson plan and
teaching aids on their own. In terms of teaching too, they are not well exposed to
teach and to handle the “students” on their own since the teaching session is divided
into several parts and each group members have to take part and teach.
1.3 Statement of problems
Unlike other students majoring in other courses for example mathematics,
science or physics, TESL undergraduates have more advantages since their
microteaching class consists of 7-8 students only. This means, the supervisor will be
able to pay more attention to each teacher trainee especially the ones who are doing
his or her teaching in that meeting. The supervisor will be able to provide detailed
feedback and give consultation to each trainee under his or her supervision to make
these trainees aware of their teaching performance.
9
However, there is one disadvantage of having a small number of students in
a class which is one person’s attitude will easily affect other classmates. This is
because there are only seven or eight persons in the class. If one student does not
turn up for the class or does not care to participate by being the “students”, the
teaching-learning process will be rather difficult. Every person in the classroom is
needed to enable teacher trainee to practice their skills and teaching techniques
during the class. Furthermore, a person’s concern and sensitivity is needed for the
peers’ feedback. If he or she does not bother to contribute his or her idea and
generous opinion on their friends’ teaching, the peer will not be able to see the
strength and weaknesses of his or her teaching.
Another common problem among TESL students undertaking microteaching
subject is the lack of effort and responsibility towards the subject. Many of the
students are not really prepared for their teaching. When they are doing their
teaching, they will usually do it for the sake of completing it. They do not show
much effort and initiative to make their teaching lively and interesting. This is such
a waste since they are supposed to manipulate this microteaching session to gain as
much knowledge as possible for their practical teaching. One of the possible reasons
for this scenario would be the credit allocated for this subject. As mentioned before,
microteaching is only one credit subject. Therefore, some trainees might regard this
subject as less important if compared to other subjects. Furthermore, some students
do not really see the significance of microteaching classes for their teaching practice
since they could not really see the link between these two subjects. This will
somehow leave them feel unmotivated to give full commitment towards
microteaching.
10
1.4 Purpose of the study
Microteaching serves as a platform to allow the students to practice their
teaching skills and improve confidence under the supervision of a lecturer. Besides,
the feedbacks that they receive from the lecturer and friends are considered valuable
and should be taken seriously by the teacher trainees. Thus, it is important that every
student who is attending the microteaching course is given the awareness on the
importance of the class so that they will be able to put more effort towards the
course and build better perception of microteaching course.
The purpose of this study is to find out what the teacher trainees really think
about microteaching and how their opinion affect their perception and view towards
microteaching. In short, this study is carried out to identify students’ perception
towards microteaching (SPA 2001) course that they had taken in the previous
semester.
1.5 Objectives of the study
The objectives of the study are as follows:
(1) To gather the teacher trainees opinion towards their microteaching class.
11
(2) To determine whether there are any differences between the third year and
fourth year TESL students on how they perceived microteaching.
(3) To identify factors affecting their motivation and perception towards
microteaching subjects.
(4) To determine whether the skills and knowledge learnt in microteaching class
are applied during their practical teaching.
1.6 Research questions
Some of the research questions that are relevant with this study are:
(1) How do teacher trainees perceive their microteaching classes?
(2) Do third year and fourth year students perceived microteaching differently?
(3) Are there any significant factors that affect their perception towards
microteaching class?
(4) Are the skills and knowledge learnt in microteaching applied during their
practical teaching?