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- JOURNAL OF SCIENCE OF HNUE Interdisciplinary Science, 2013, Vol. 58, No. 5, pp. 136-142 This paper is available online at http://stdb.hnue.edu.vn USING VIDEO-RECORDINGS TO IMPROVE MICROTEACHING AND SELF-REFLECTION SKILLS FOR TEACHER TRAINEES OF THE FACULTY OF ENGLISH, HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION Thai Thi Cam Trang Faculty of English, Hanoi National University of Education Abstract. To achieve the objectives of their training courses, it is important for teacher trainees to undertake self-reflection regarding their teaching performance. One valuable tools that can help this is video recording their micro-teaching. A study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of using video-recordings to improve teacher trainee microteaching and self-reflection in the course of teaching language components and skills. To fulfill this aim, a basic theoretical background of microteaching, self-reflection and video recording is studied to provide a foundation for the procedure utilized in the research and the input for survey design. To collect data, video clips of micro-teachings, reflection forms and a questionnaire filled by the pre-service students were used. The findings show that all of the subjects had positive attitude regarding the use of video recordings and many teacher trainees recognized that this technique had a good impact on their teaching performance. Keywords: Microteaching, self-reflection, video-recording. 1. Introduction Microteaching has been developed as an integral part of teacher-training courses. It is defined as a procedure through which teacher trainees practice their instructional methods with their peers so that they can build confidence, gain support and get feedback from the trainer and peers on their teaching performance (Nhu & Thuy, 2011). It readily combines theory with practice. When one considers that teacher trainees in many training programs do their practice teaching under inadequate supervision with no student feedback, the relative merits of microteaching become more apparent. Microteaching offers the advantages of both a controlled theoretical environment and a Received January 29, 2013. Accepted April 20, 2013. Contact Thai Thi Cam Trang, e-mail address: trangthaicam@gmail.com 136
- Using video-recordings to improve microteaching & self-reflection skills for teacher trainees... realistic practical experience. It is hardly a substitute for teaching practice but it offers advantages such as close supervision, manageable objectives established according to individual trainee needs and progress, continuous feedback, an unprecedented opportunity for self-evaluation, and immediate guidance in areas of demonstrated deficiency. When these advantages are taken into consideration, microteaching becomes a valuable part of a teacher training program throughout the world. Richard (1991) cited that Bartlett (1990) points out that becoming a reflective teacher involves moving beyond a primary concern with instructional technique and “how to” questions to asking “what” and “why” questions that regard instructions and managerial techniques, not as ends in themselves, but as part of broader educational purposes [4]. Self-reflection in teaching practice activities is a common approach for teacher trainees to ensure their teaching competence. Self-reflection is considered to be crucial to the development process of trainee teachers (Kong, Shroff & Hung, [2]). The using of video recording in teacher training has gained substantial support from educators and students in many parts of the world. Blasco et al. (2008) hold that the video recording technique is considered an important and effective strategy to improve university teaching in novel lecturers to identify problems, to analyze the diction and the structure of the lecture and to observe their own action and students’ perception of them. Kong, Shroff and Hung (2009) developed a web-enabled video system to encourage students to reflect on their teaching performance using a guiding framework. Nhu and Thuy (2011) applied video recording effectively, enhancing pre-service teachers’ self - refection and teaching skills [3]. Since the Credit program began to be used at HNUE, there has come to be less time in class for the students, and this is also the case with the course “Teaching Language Components and Skills.” Because there’s less time in class for teacher trainees’ micro-teaching, teacher trainees’ teaching skills are under expectation. The researcher’s own observations and information gleaned from discussions with other colleagues in ELT methodology division lead to the conclusion that teacher trainees’ self-reflection skills are poor [1]. When considering the importance of the qualification of teacher trainees’ teaching skills and their self-reflection skills in micro-teaching sessions, the researcher wanted to conduct a study entitled “Using video-recordings to improve microteaching & self-reflection skills for teacher trainees of the Faculty of English, HNUE”. To carry out the research, the following research questions were asked: • Could video-recordings be used for teacher trainees’ microteachings? • To what extent could the technique enhance their teaching and self-reflection skills? 137
- Thai Thi Cam Trang 2. Content 2.1. Appendix 1: Reflection form on recorded videos Teacher: ........................ Teaching point: ........................... Table 1. Appendix 1: Reflection form on recorded videos No. Focus Strength Weakness 1 Choosing and designing activities 2 Carrying out activities (step, timing, pace, . . . ) 3 Using eliciting sentences/ questions 4 Using checking questions 5 Correcting student’s mistakes Using English in class (amount of TTT, 6 pronunciation, appropriates of language use, . . . ) 2.2. Appendix 2: Student questionnaire on recorded videos You are kindly requested to answer the following questionnaire which aims to investigate your opinion on the use of the recorded video technique in the course ‘Teaching Language Components and Skills’ at FOE, HNUE. Your answers will be highly appreciated. Thank you for your cooperation! Table 2. Part 1: Please check the box that states your opinions about the following statements Strongly Strongly Statements Disagree Neutral Agree disagree agree 1. It helps me take more responsibility over my learning. 2. It enhances my learning autonomy. 3. It helps improve myself reflection skill. 4. It helps improve my teaching skill 5. It helps improve my observation skill. 6. I feel motivated when using recoded video. 7. It helps me realize my strengths and weaknesses in designing activities. 8. It helps me realize my strengths and weaknesses in teaching. 9. I gain a sense of achievement when using recoded video. 138
- Using video-recordings to improve microteaching & self-reflection skills for teacher trainees... Part 2: Please state your opinion about recorded video by circling the answer to the following questions or completing the statements below: 10. What difficulties did you face when using recoded video? (More than one difficulty is allowed) A. It takes me a lot of time to produce a video B. It is difficult for me to design activities C. It costs me too much for materials D. It is difficult for me to have good teaching condition (room, projector, . . . ) E. The quality of the videos was not as good as expected F. I have no personal computer G. Others (Please specify) ................................................................................. ................................................................................. 11. Your suggestions on how these problems could have been avoided or be solved: ................................................................................. ................................................................................. Table 3. Part 3: Please check the box that states your opinion for each of the following statements Strongly Strongly Statements Disagree Neutral Agree disagree agree After viewing the recorded video, you are able to improve 12. designing activities 13. carrying out activities 14. using eliciting sentence/ question 15. using checking question 16. correcting students’ error 17. using English Part 4: Please state your opinions about recorded video by circling the answer to the following questions. 18. To what extent did you improve your teaching skills after twice using recorded video? A. Very little; B. Some; C. A considerable amount; D. A lot; E. Tremendously. 19. To what extent did you improve your self-reflection skills after 2 times of using recorded video? A. Very little; B. Some; C. A considerable amount; D. A lot; E. Tremendously. 20. Do you think that using recoded video is a good idea in an ELT class? 139
- Thai Thi Cam Trang A. Yes; B. No; C. No opinion. 2.3. Research Participating in this study were 32 students of C59B in FOE when they were in the first semester of their 3rd year. Besides the supervised micro-teaching sessions they had to do in class, the students were required to do 2 others without teacher supervision and these micro-teachings were recorded. In order to collect data for the research, the following tools were used: - The reflection form (Appendix 1) which was to help teacher trainees recognize their strengths and weaknesses on 6 basic techniques and skills that are the main focus of the course. The reflection forms were filled out by the teacher trainees after they viewed the videos of their micro-teachings and of their peers. - The questionnaire (Appendix 2) consists of 20 closed and open-ended questions aimed at investigating the teacher trainees’ attitude, difficulties and effectiveness in using video-recordings. The questionnaires were delivered to the teacher trainees at the end of the course. Table 4. Attitudes towards using video-recordings Totally Totally Focus on Disagree Neutral Agree disagree agree 1. more responsibility 0.0% 0.0% 3.6% 57.1% 39.3% 2. enhances learning autonomy 0.0% 3.6% 3.5% 50.0% 42.9% 3. improve reflection skill 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 46.4% 53.6% 4. improve teaching skill 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 32.1% 67.9% 5. improve observation skill 0.0% 0.0% 3.6% 67.9% 28.55 6. feel motivated 0.0% 0.0% 14.3% 60.7% 25.0% 7. realize strengths &weaknesses in 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 57.1% 42.95 designing activities 8. realize strengths & weaknesses in 0.0% 0.0% 10.7% 53.6% 35.7% teaching activities 9. gain a sense of achievement 0.0% 5.7% 23.2% 47.6% 23.5% Table 5. Difficulties upon viewing the video Difficulties Frequency Low-quality videos 87.5% Inconvenient conditions 78.1% Much time consumption 65.6% Much time designing activities 31.2% No personal computer 21.8% Much money consumption 0% 140
- Using video-recordings to improve microteaching & self-reflection skills for teacher trainees... As can be seen clearly in Table 4, most of the teacher trainees had a positive attitude regarding the use of video recordings since they mostly agreed with the given statements about the benefits that the technique would bring to them. However, the teacher trainees reported that they experienced some difficulties when recording and viewing their recorded microteachings. The difficulties they encountered most were low-quality videos (87.5%), inconvenient conditions (78.1%) and too much time consumed (65.6%). Table 6. Effectiveness: Overall improvement after viewing Very Very The students were Little Considerable Much little much 1. better at teaching skills 0% 14.3% 21.4% 64.3% 0.0% 2. able to self-evaluate their 0.0% 0.0% 21.4% 60.7% 17.9% microteachings After doing the two microteachings, viewing their own and peers’ microteachings, a majority of the teacher trainees believed that their teaching skills in general had improved greatly (64.3%). More importantly, a large number of the teacher trainees (60.7%) thought they were able to self-evaluate their microteachings. Table 7. Possibility of using video-recordings in ELT class No No idea Yes Using video recording in ELT class 22.0% 7.5% 70.5% Table 7 reveals the fact that the majority of teacher trainees (70.5%) showed their willingness to use video-recordings in ELT classes. It is encouraging for the researcher since the application of this technique encountered a number of difficulties as mentioned in Table 5. 3. Conclusion From the preliminary data analysis, the study has obviously found the answers to the two previously mentioned research questions. After the training course with the use of video-recordings, the teacher trainees experienced some difficulties due to low quality of videos, recording conditions and time consumption. They were aware of and highly appreciated video-recording and were able to recognize their strengths and weakness. However, there was not much improvement between the first and second reflections because of the limited number of reflections. They also showed their desire to use more video-recording in other ELT methodology courses. From the researcher’s position, the following implications were drawn to help promote the effectiveness of video-recording use in developing teacher trainees’ 141
- Thai Thi Cam Trang teaching and self-reflection. First, teacher trainees should realize the significance of video-recording and integrate technology into their ELT syllabuses, especially to widely apply video-recordings for microteaching. Secondly, teacher trainees should take advantage of video-recordings to facilitate their autonomous and reflective learning. Moreover, the management board of FOE should equip an ICT room and provide better-equipped teacher training classrooms. These will help facilitate the use of video-recordings and increase the motivation of all stakeholders. REFERENCES [1] Blasco, M., Fenollosa, M. L., Fuster, L., Garcia, E., Sanchis, P., Tortajada, L. A., Lloret, J., 2008. Video Recordings in University Teachers Training: Benefits and Limitations. International Journal of Education and Information Technologies. [2] Kong, S. C., Shroff, R.H., 2009. A Web Based Video System for Self-reflection by Student Teachers Using a Guiding Framework. Australian Journal of Educational Technology. [3] Nhu, Phan Quynh & Thuy, Ton Nu Thanh, 2011. Video Recording: Enhancing Pre-service Teachers’ Self-reflection and Teaching Skills. [4] Richard, J. C., 1991. Towards Reflective Teaching. Retrieved from http://www.tttjournal.co.uk. 142
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