Weekly reflection in microteaching class of the english language education study program of Sanata Dharma University : the implementation and students` perception - USD Repository

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WEEKLY REFLECTION IN MICROTEACHING CLASS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY: THE IMPLEMENTATION AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION

A Thesis

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By Amri Nuryadin Student Number: 021214056

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

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WEEKLY REFLECTION IN MICROTEACHING CLASS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM OF SANATA

DHARMA UNIVERSITY: THE IMPLEMENTATION AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION

Chairperson :

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ACKNOLEDGEMENTS

As always, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the God

Almighty for all blessings, grace, and faith have been devoted to me; and also to the

Prophet PBUH for all of the inspirations.

For sure, I am greatly indebted to my major sponsor, the one and only, Mr. Ouda Teda Ena, S.Pd., M.Pd, for all of his great patience, valuable times, and priceless suggestions from the beginning to the accomplishment of this thesis;

without all of his precious devotions, I would never make this far.

I would also like to sincerely thank Mr. Agus tinus Hardi Prasetya, S.Pd., M.A., for the opportunity given to me to conduct this study on one of his classes, the Microteaching class (Class B). I would also thank all of the students of that

Microteaching class, for all of their remarkable willingness.

Further, I would like to deeply thank all lecturers of PBI (Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris) of Sanata Dharma University, whose names I could not mention one

by one. My gratitude also goes especially to the PBI secretary office staffs, and generally to all staffs of Sanata Dharma University.

I present this accomplishment to the greatest people in my life; my parents

and all members of my big family, for their endless love, supports, prayers, and

encouragements. My special gratitude also belongs to the best friend I have ever had,

Amrita Saraswati Sasongko, for all of her cares and true friendship.

Finally, I would like to thank all friends and relations, for all experiences

and moments shared together. May God always be with them.

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Student autonomy in learning, where students have set up perceptions and mental or psychological attitudes to have self-motivation on their learning process, is the main purpose of every teaching-learning process that EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students have to obtain. In order to enable the students to acquire this mind setting and reflective habits, a lecturer may place the students in a class with certain condition, where they are unconsciously directed and led to have this autonomy. One of the techniques a lecturer may use is through reflection. As a key of psychological components of autonomy, reflection has important roles in the teaching-learning process, especially when student autonomy is the general objective of the course.

This study was intended to investigate the implementation of weekly reflection in Microteaching class of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University, as well as the perceptions of the students towards the use of weekly reflection itself. This study was conducted using qualitative method. The participants of this study were 22 students of Microteaching class (Class B), who originally belonged to the sixth semester students of the English Language Education Study Program, Sa nata Dharma University, academic year 2003/2004. The data were gathered from the result of direct observations and questionnaires.

The data analysis showed two major general conclusions. Firstly, the implementation of weekly reflection in the Microteaching class was effective to lead students of that class to have autonomy in their learning process. This could be seen from the two-way-directed communication which occurred between the lecturer and the students, during the implementation of the weekly reflection. At the end of the course, students were also guided, through the weekly reflection, to reflect on themselves whether or not they had achieved the main purpose of their learning process, besides the autonomy on their learning. Secondly, most of the students in this Microteaching class had positive perception towards the implementation of weekly reflection in the Microteaching class, as well as towards the Microteaching class itself. Only a small part of the students had negative perception towards the implementation of the weekly reflection in that Microteaching class and the Microteaching class.

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x ABSTRAK

NURYADIN, AMRI. 2007. Weekly Reflection in Microteaching Class of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University: The Implementation and Students’ Perception. Yog yakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Otonomi siswa dalam pembelajaran, dimana siswa memiliki persepsi dan kondisi mental atau psikologis yang didasari motivasi diri dalam proses belajarnya, merupakan tujuan utama dari setiap proses pembelajaran yang harus dicapai oleh pelajar bahasa asing. Guna memungkinkan para siswa memiliki pola berpikir dan kebiasan merefleksikan kembali tersebut, dosen bisa menempatkan para siswa didalam sebuah kelas yang memiliki kondisi tertentu, dimana mereka secara tidak sadar telah diarahkan kedalam pencapaian otonomi tersebut. Salah satu cara yang dapat digunakan oleh pihak dosen adalah dengan menggunakan tehnik refleksi (reflection). Sebagai inti dari komponen-komponen psikologi otonomy, refleksi memiliki peran penting dalam proses pembelajaran, terutama jika otonomi siswa merupakan tujuan umum dari pembelajaran tersebut.

Studi ini bertujuan untuk meneliti penggunaan refleksi mingguan didalam sebuah kelas Microteaching, dari Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta. Selain itu studi ini juga dilakukan guna meneliti persepsi siswa terhadap penggunaan refleksi mingguan itu sendiri. Dalam studi ini penulis menggunakan metode kualitatif. Studi ini sendiri dilakukan terhadap 22 orang siswa semester 6 program studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma, tahun akademik 2003/2004 yang mengikuti kelas Microteaching (kelas B). Data untuk studi ini diperoleh dengan metode observasi langsung dan menyebarkan kuesioner, untuk kemudian dianalisis secara kualitatif.

Analisis dari data yang ada menghasilkan dua kesimpulan umum. Pertama, penggunaan refleksi mingguan di kelas Microteaching efektif dalam menuntun dan mengarahkan para siswa di kelas tersebut didalam pencapaian otonomi dalam proses pembelajaran mereka. Hal ini dapat dilihat dari terjadinya komunikasi dua arah antara pihak dosen dan para siswa selama penggunaan refleksi mingguan tersebut. Pada akhir proses pembelajaran, siswa juga dibimbing untuk menilai diri mereka sendiri, apakah mereka sudah mencapai tujuan utama proses pembelajaran tersebut, disamping otonomi yang diharapkan sudah dicapai oleh para siswa. Kedua, sebagian besar siswa memiliki persepsi positif, baik terhadap penggunaan refleksi mingguan di kelas Microteaching tersebut, maupun terhadap kelas itu sendiri. Hanya sebagian kecil siswa yang memiliki persepsi negatif terhadap refleksi mingguan dan terhadap kelas Microteaching tersebut.

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background

Weekly reflections technique is used as a method to evaluate students’

achievements and to encourage them on their learning process. Reflection itself, as

what has been defined by Burden & Byrd as a way of thinking about educational

matter that involves the ability to make rational choices and to assure responsibility

for those choices (1999), is believed will make students be responsible for any

choices they choose on their learning process. Therefore, students also have to

prepare for the consequences of their preferences. Those choices, with all the

consequences that come along, for example to be active students or just as passive

students, are definitely their responsibilities they have to take.

Furthermore, the method which employs weekly reflections is expected to

lead the students to have autonomy on their learning process. Considering reflection

and autonomy on students’ learning process, a number of researchers have described

reflection as a key of psychological component of autonomy. Reflection is one of the

ways to set up students’ perceptions and psychological attitudes to have

self-motivation on their learning process.

Reflections can be in the form of written or spoken. However, it seems that

the first form is more widely used rather than the later form. Written reflections can

be in the form of Case studies , Journals, Structured journals , Team journal,

Portfolios, or Papers. Each of these forms has its own ‘faces’ and ‘characteristics’,

which distinguish them one another.

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Since there have not been many studies on this technique, the use of these

weekly reflections to evaluate students’ achievements and class atmosphere, as well

as the lecturer’s proficiency, is still an important issue to discuss. The

implement ation of this method needs to analyze further whether it gives beneficial

effects for the students or not. That is the reason to do some investigations to find out

the students’ general view towards the implementation of this method on their class,

Microte aching class.

This study is an attempt to investigate how the Weekly Reflections technique

is implemented on one of Microteaching classes of English Language Education

Study Program of Sanata Dharma University and to figure out the perceptions of the

stude nts of that Microteaching class towards the use of weekly reflections on that

class. In order to achieve those purposes, Chapter I presents the discussion on the

background of the study, problem identification, problem limitation, problem

formulation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and the definition of terms.

In Chapter II, theories of the related field will be reviewed as a theoretical

foundation upon which this study is undertaken, covering the theoretical description

and the theoretical framework of the study. Chapter III will give detailed discussion

of the method, the participants, the setting, the instruments, the data gathering and

analysis techniques, and also the procedure of this study. Later on, the data

presentation and data ana lysis will be described on Chapter IV. Finally, the

conclusions and suggestions drawn from this study will be presented on the last

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B. Problem Identification

One of the results from a successful teaching-learning process is when the

students have autonomy on their learning process; that is when the students have

set-up-perceptions and psychological attitude to have self-motivation on their learning.

Having autonomy of the students on their learning process a s the main purpose of the

teaching-learning process, a technique that uses weekly reflections to evaluate the

whole class’ achievements is applied. In order to find out how Weekly Reflections

technique is implemented on Microteaching class and to figure out the students’

perceptions, especially those on that Microteaching class, towards the using of the

technique, an investigation is apparently needed.

C. Problem Limitation

There are several subjects in English Language Study Program of Sanata

Dharma University. However, the writer limits his research only in one subject, and

that is Microteaching class. The writer chooses the Microteaching class; since, on

this class, the students are to practice their teaching skill as well as to learn how to

manage a class. Good teacher is believed as that who has reflective-thinking habits,

which is a result of autonomy on learning process. Since the use of weekly

reflections seems to lead the students to have autonomy on their learning process, the

implementation of weekly reflections technique in Microteaching class will be the

most appropriate one to produce good skilled-teachers.

On this technique, the students have to recall their learning experiences

during the class, by making reflection in written form; and, they have to prepare

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Those are the reasons for the writer to choose Microteaching class as the

research object; and, limit his study on how weekly reflection is implemented in

Microteaching class and also on the students’ perceptions towards the use of weekly

reflections to evaluate the whole class’ achievements.

D. Problem Formulation

Based on the above discussion, there are two problems formulated for this

study. The two problems are:

1. How is weekly reflection implemented in Microteaching class?

2. What are the students’ perceptions towards the implementation of weekly

reflections to evaluate, mainly, their performances in Microteaching class?

E. Objectives of the Study

In the light of the problem formulation previously stated, the objective of this

study is to seek for the information about how a teaching learning process evaluation

method that use weekly reflections is implemented in Microteaching class. This

study is also to find out the students’ perceptions towards the use of weekly

reflections estimating their performances and achievements in Microteaching class.

F. Benefits of the Study

The investigation of this study is aimed to give beneficial contributions,

hopefully for the students, lecturers, other researchers, and generally for all the

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1. Students

For the students this study hopefully gives further comprehension about

the effect of the method and shows what actually the general perception of the

students towards the using of weekly reflections is. And by knowing the effect

of the method, hopefully the students will not hesitate to do the weekly

reflection, or to implement this technique on their future class. This will lead

them to have autonomy and reflective -thinking habits on their learning process,

which are some of the characteristics of good teacher, the students are also

expected to have a more positive perception towards weekly reflection.

2. Lecturers

This study may give evaluation of the method and also may give

contribution to the lecturers for their strategy to improve their students’

achievements.

3. Other Researchers

For other researchers, this study is expectantly to be beneficial and be

very helpful for those who will conduct similar research and further discussion

on the use of weekly reflection on teaching-learning activities.

4. General readers

For all of the readers, this study might broaden their knowledge of

language teaching, especially on the implementation of Weekly Reflections

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G. Definition of Terms

To avoid misleading to occur, and to make common conception with the

readers about some terms used in this study, the writer defines them as follows:

1. Perception

According to Gibson (1975), “perception is the process of extracting

information from stimulation emanating from the objects, pla ces, and events in

the world around us” (p. 13). Meanwhile, Huffman (1997) stated, “perception

refers to process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory data into

useful mental representations of the world” (p. 97). Molkowitz and Orgel

considere d perception as a global or wide range response to a stimulus or a set

of stimuli (1969: 138). In this study, perception deals with the main thought

and view of the students about particular things or events around them.

2. Microteaching

McKnight (1971) defined Microteaching as “a scaled– down teaching encounter

designed to develop new skills and refine old ones.” While on their book,

Program Pengalaman Lapangan (Microteaching), Gilarso and Suseno (1986) considered Microteaching as, “Cara latihan ketrampilan keguruan atau praktek mengajar dalam lingkup kecil/terbatas.” (A method of teacher–skills

practice or teaching practice, conducted on a small scope/limited area). Here,

the teaching-learning situation is deliberately restricted, i.e. the ‘students’/

partic ipants for this condition are the classmates of the student-teachers/

trainees, and the number of the ‘students’ is not as many as on the real

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to control, and in this situation, it is much more effective to intensively develop

the professional teaching competencies of the trainees.

3. Reflection

Burden and Byrd, on their book, see reflection as a way of thinking about

educational matter that involves the ability to make rational choice and to

assume responsibility for those choices (1999). This is the based for the

students to have autonomy and reflective-thinking habits on their learning

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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter is to discuss the related literature as the theore tical base in

doing the study on the perception of the students of the Microteaching class, as it is

outlined in the Chapter I. On this literature review, the theoretical description and the

theoretical framework of the study will be discussed further. The theoretical

description itself is divided into three main points, i.e. the discussion on reflection,

discussion on perception, and the discussion on Microteaching.

A. Theoretical Description

This part discusses the description of reflection in teaching, the description of

perception, and the description of Microteaching.

1 .Reflection

Implementing reflection for the students in teaching– learning activities is a

big decision to make. That is the reason for many researchers to always try to give

the description of reflection as clear and easy to understand as possible. Reflection is

defined as a way of thinking about educational matter that involves the ability to

make rational choices and to assume responsibility for those choices (Burden, P. R.,

& Byrd, D. M., 1999). It will make the students be responsible for any choice they

have in their learning process, and be prepared for the consequences of their choices.

This principle will lead them to have autonomy in their study.

Concerning reflection and autonomy in learning process, a number of

researchers have described reflection as a key of psychological components of

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autonomy. One of the purposes of implementing reflection is to set up students’

perceptions and mental or psychological attitudes to have self– motivation on their

learning processes. Little (1997) considers conscious reflection on the learning

process is a distinctive characteristic of autonomy in learnin g. It is a complex

construct we cannot easily describe.

Reflection itself is implemented as teaching strategies since it has the power

to change students’ behavior, as well as their psychological attitudes. Reflection

gives opportunity to the students to look at what they did in the class room, thinking

about why they did it, and thinking about if it works – a process of self -observation

and self -evaluation. By collecting information about what goes on in the classroom,

and by analyzing and evaluating this information, students identify and explore their

own practices and underlying beliefs. This may then lead to the changes and

improvements on their learning.

To come to the level where students have autonomy on their learning, they

have to through long and complex stages. And teacher must have the understanding

on these stages of change. As what can be seen from the following Table 1.1, to

come to the expected levels of feeling and attitude, students have to through many

stages of their feeling. To come to the level of feeling called permeation, where

students able to perceive themselves and notice that they are “different”, creative and

flexible, students have to be able to conquer and perceive themselves positively.

When students have come to this stage of feeling, they will get themselves more

easily have autonomy on their learning.

Discussing about reflection, Benson (2001) stated that reflection is a mental

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initiated by the reflector, by others, or by other feelings and events. It is

context-bound, we must reflect on something in some specific situation and under specific

constraints. Reflection is goal-oriented, although the goals of reflection vary, but

they generally involve learning. It may or may not lead to action or deep change in

the learner. Reflection leading to deep change is liable to be difficult even painful.

Table 1.1: Stages of Feeling changes

Stages Feeling

Entrenchment Uninterested, dismissive

Opposition Irritated, argumentative, resistant Possibility Doubtful, skeptical, private wondering Dabbling Uncommitted, interested, ‘give it a go’ Agreement Acceptant, ‘like the ideas’

Commitment Enthusiastic, hopeful, talkative

Clarification Puzzling, ‘what does it really mean/involve?’

Introspection Self questioning, self- doubt, ‘what I have been doing?’ Planning Innovative, ‘what can I try out?’

Experimentation Nervous, feeling ‘odd’, excited Reaction Surprised, disappointed

Deflation Disheartened, second thoughts, ‘stuff it’ Projection Angry, blaming, betrayed, misled

Reappraisal Objective, ‘sense of proportion’, ‘not so simple, but…’ Recuperation Recharged, encouraged, ‘feeling better’

Reaffirmation Persistent, more realistic, more solid commitment Extension Inconsistent, fragmented, double standards Evangelism Preaching, over-enthusiastic, bumptious Limitation Judicious, perceiving limits of new approach Consolidation Confident, integrated, ‘I’ve really got it’ Permeation ‘I’m different’: flexible, creative

Claxton, (1989: 120-1)

So, though reflection is a process depending on the students’ eagerness to

make changes in their learning process, reflection is mostly initiated by the lecturers

and people out of the students who have the right to imple ment this technique to

them. It is a context-bond activity and is goal-oriented. Reflection sometimes is hard

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a. Designing and Structuring Reflection Process

Reflection itself has three functions for the teache r. First, it helps to replicate

effective classroom practices and continue to use effective teacher behaviors. It

means that reflection can help the students of Microteaching class, who are further

called trainees, to replicate the effective behaviors of the lecturer, and then to have

those behaviors on their teaching. Second, it helps teacher deliberate among

competing views of teaching, which enables teachers to be informed about events

within a context. It will lead the trainees to contextualize their teaching activities on

their future class. Last, reflection helps teachers reorganize or reconstruct

experiences. Reflection is useful for the trainees to help them reorganized and

reconstruct their experiences, to prepare them to face their future classes. Those in

effect can help transform practice (Burden & Byrd: 9-10).

Figure 1.1 below is based on the design framework of Rama et al. (2000) and

focuses specifically on the design of reflection. As shown in the figure, lecturer must

consider the context of the reflection activities (student characteristics, course

characteristics, and service characteristics) in establishing learning results and in

structuring the reflection process. As an example, frequent reflection and timely

feedback can improve the effec tiveness of reflection. However, a large class size

may limit the ability of the lecturer to organize frequent reflection and to provide

frequent feedback.

From Figure 1.1, it can be concluded that one of the factors that determines

the students’ achievement is the students’ characteristics factor. A variety of student

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students’ learning styles, and students’ intellectual development) gives effects to

students’ learning process.

Figure 1.1: Important Factors in Designing Reflection

Rama et al. (2000)

Lecturers have to know the level of students’ preparation as well as students’

prior experiences. Lecturers must consider student readiness for self-learning

technique, especially when designing appropriate preliminary exercises. Assignments

might be needed to help students acquire required knowledge, prepare students for

solving real– world problems, and help students understand the community.

Students' motivation and goals should also be considered. External motivators

(grades) and internal motivation to learn must be considered in designing reflection

activities. Unless reflection activities are given a reasonable weight in grading,

students may not spend adequate time and effort. Grading methods must be

consistent with reflection. If frequent reflection is required then the time and effort

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weighed in deciding on grading methods. Furthermore, reflection activities

emphasize higher order problem-solving skills.

Lecturers should also consider internal motivation. Students are motivated by

factors such as relevance, appropriate level of difficulty, active involvement of

students, and interaction between students and lecturers. Thus lecturers can motivate

students by designing reflection activities that help students see the relevance of the

activities to their course, by ensuring that reflection activities are at an appropriate

level of difficulty and by giving more opportunities for communication between

students, lecturers and the community.

Lecturers should also consider the constraints on students’ participation in the

self– learning technique and reflection activities. Lecturers must think the constraints

dealing with student time and schedules. If most students work for a significant

amount of time every week, time available for working with teams outside of class

may be limited. Lecturers may need to provide some class– time for group planning

and reflection activities.

Another students’ characteristic lecturers should regard is the students'

learning styles. Students' learning styles must be considered in designing appropriate

reflection. Learning style refers to how students prefer to deal with a learning task.

Students learn best when their learning style is matching with the teaching style.

Most of students acquire better understanding of the theory when they are

exposed to the direct concrete experience. By designing reflection appr opriately,

lecturers can provide adequate direct concrete experience for these students. Using

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knowledge through concrete experience and to process it through active

experimentation.

Lecturers should also consider how students behave in a classroom;

dependent, collaborative or independent. A student may be dependent when starting

a new subject and become collaborative or independent as they obtain knowledge

and become more conf ident. This information can be useful in designing and

implementing appropriate reflection activities.

b. Reflection and Courses

One of the goals of reflection is to connect the reflection to the course. The

intended results from reflection activities must reflect and reinforce the established

course goal. Frequent reflection may be necessary to create strong connection

between the reflection activities and the course. Thus, lecturers need to provide

frequent feedback to facilitate reflection and to help students connect their reflection

activities and other course. Frequent reflection and timely feedback may be

necessary to provide a balance between challenge and support. A reflection in the

end of each semester will not provide lecturers with specific inf ormation about the

areas where students may need additional guidance or further reflection.

Lecturers should consider the use of certain forms of reflection (e.g. journals,

portfolios, logs). These forms of reflection activities can be used by lecturers to

monitor student progress weekly, and allow them to give feedback and support

students as needed.

A variety of activities can be used to motivate students in making their

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encourage students to discuss with their friends about their experiences in the

learning process, or to ask students to prepare reports about their learning progress.

When designing the reflection activities, lecturers should consider certain

factors. Lecturers should aware that reflection activities should involve each student

in a contact with their friends, and their community. Students with different learning

styles may prefer different types of activities. Lecturers should select a range of

reflective activities to meet the needs of different students. Different types of

reflection activities may be appropriate at different stages of the students’

experiences. Reflection activities can involve reading, writing, doing and telling.

Some examples of reflective activit ies are briefly described below.

One of the forms of reflective activities is Case-studies. This form can help students think about what can be expected from the reflection. This reflective activity

may use published case-studies or lecturers developed case-studies based on past

teaching– learning activities.

Another form of reflective activities is Journals. In this activity, students are asked to record thoughts, observations, feelings, activities and questions in a journal

throughout the teaching– learning activities. The most common form of journals is

free form journals. The journal should be started early and students should make

frequent entries. Meanwhile, lecturers are to provide feedback.

The other form, Structured journals, can be used to direct student attention to important issues and to connect the experience to the course. Some parts of the

journal may focus on affective dimensions while others relate to problem-solving

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team members and to introduce students to different perspectives and to give

responses to each other.

Meanwhile, Portfolios may also be used. Lecturer can ask students to select and organize evidence related to accomplishments and specific learning results in a

portfolio. Portfolios can include drafts of documents, analysis of problems, and

activities. In this activity, students are to organize evidence by learning objectives.

Other forms can be used in reflective activities are Papers, Discussions, Presentations, and also Interviews. Lecture can ask students to write an integrative paper on the course. Journals and other products can serve as the building item for

developing final paper. Lecturer can also encourage students to conduct

formal/ informal discussions with teammates, other volunteers and staff to introduce

students to different perspectives , and to challenge students to think critically about

the course. After that, lecturer can ask students to present their experience and

discuss it in terms of concepts discussed in class during the presentations activities.

And last, lecturer may conduct interviews with the students on experiences and the

learning that occurred during the teaching-learning process.

Lecturers should also consider other factors in choosing the most appropriate

form of reflection activities. While frequent reflection and feedback may be

desirable, the frequency of reflection and feedback may be limited by factors such as

class size and the grading system of the class.

Lecturers can use reflection to encourage students to learn independently,

while providing feedback and support as needed to develop student autonomy in

learning. Reflection not only offers lecturers an opportunity to reinforce the students

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the certain level and type of students or not. Reflection is the heart of effective

teaching and learning

2 .Perception

Perception is one of the oldest fields within scientific psychology, and there

are many theories about its fundamental processes. One of the descriptions about

perception is which has stated by Huffman, that perception refers to process of

selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory data into useful mental representations

of the world (1997: 97). While, Leontiev (1981: 31) defines perception as the process

in which the existence of objects and phenomena are reflected in a person’s

consciousness. This process happens with the help of the person’s sensory organs,

i.e. eyes, ears, tongue, nose, and skin. Students may perceive objects, surroundings,

and events around them consciously with the help of their sensory organs. Thus, we

can abridge the concept of perception as a conscious mental process of acquiring,

selecting, organizing, and interpreting information with the help of sensory organs,

and then, followed by the process of responding towards the information.

Perception is a process in which the individual recognizes information, fits

the information, and compares the information with the previous one which is stored

in the person’s memory (Haire, 1956: 40). Here, the Microteaching class students

recognize and fit the information, i.e. the practice of teaching skills, and compare it

with the previous information about the theory of teaching skills stored in their

memory, which they got from , for example, Language Teaching Strategies class,

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skills practice is good, or they have good perception on their teaching skills practice,

when the practice is suitable with the teaching skills theory they have already got.

Perception is also the way stimuli are selected and grouped by a person in

such a way that the stimuli can be meaningfully interpreted (Altman, Valenzi, and

Hodgetts, 1985: 85). It is clear that perception is triggered by the stimuli, i.e. the

sensory and cognitive information from the surroundings. It means that students,

after receiving the stimuli, will identify the stimuli. Then, they will recall their

memory whether the stimuli are the same with the previously received

stimuli/experience or not. If they have received the stimuli, they will recognize the

stimuli/ information. Students then match the information, and compare it with the

previous information/experience the y get in the past.

All of those processes happen within an individual, and involve the feeling of

subjectivity. This is the factor that causes each person will have different perception

in perceiving particular things. It is factual that two people will perceive the same

thing differently. Other factors that affect people in perceiving stimuli are their likes

and dislikes, their experiences, and their environment. There is a mutual relationship

between perception and experience, in which perception is our response to the

experience we are facing.

Gibson (1985:60) defines perception as cognitive process people use to

interpret and understand the world around them. Here, it can be said that organizing

perception is involving cognitive process. It means that it happens in our mind. The

process itself can be influenced by the past experiences. As an instance, a student has

ever learnt (undergoes cognitive processes in his mind), and had experiences with

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the weekly reflection, and could not achieve the goal had been set, he would have

bad perception towards weekly reflection. In other occasion, once again, he faces

other class which uses weekly reflection. Due to his experience in the past, he still

has bad perception towards the new weekly reflection. Thus, as the result of the

cognitive processes, people past experience affects their perception in the future.

To make the description of the perception clearer, let us examine the

following example-case. “A five-year-old little boy sees an iron, and then he uses his

sensory receptors to translate the iron to form a perception of the object, an iron. He

will not use his sensory receptors to form a perception of a grinder.” This occurs

because previously he has experienced of looking that kind of object. He translates

that iron into the perception of an iron, not other. He processes the stimuli (an iron)

in some ways, not in certain way, to arrive at the useful information of his

surroundings (the perception of an iron).

Perception may change, depends on the stimuli someone experiences with.

“As an example, that five -year-old little boy percepts that an iron is not a dangerous

tool and it is okay to play. It happens because he experienced recognizing an iron

when it was not used. But, his perception change after he experiencing touching a hot

iron which burned his skin. His perception towards an iron is changed, and he has

new perception towards an iron, that it can burn his skin and it is not okay to play

with. ” This stimulus affects the little boy to form his new perception on an iron.

Similar to what happened to that little boy, the students’ perception towards

the use of weekly reflection may change when they get new stimuli/experiences. This

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reflection on Microteaching class, and this will be beneficial for the

teaching-learning process.

Nevertheless, “someone’s perception can be formed based on others’

opinion.” He did not experience the object translating process directly, but he got the

stimuli from others. The stimuli are so strong, that it influences his perception

without his self-direct-experience. For example, a student has a perception that one

of the lecturers, for example Mr. Anwar, is a ‘killer’ lecturer, while he himself has

never taken/experienced Mr. Anwar classes. He formed his perception based on his

friends’ perception, not on his own experience. It means that he does not experience

the stimuli directly. In the light of the discussion on this paragraph, we can conclude

that perception can also be formed through sensation.

So, it is clear that perception can be formed by experiences and sensations.

Howeve r, one that is formed through direct experience is hard to change, because

someone will be more impressed when they experience it.

Based on the previous discussion, students will have stronger perception on

the use of weekly reflection if they experience it by themselves. If they only hear

about it from others’ opinions on the use of weekly reflection, it will be weaker. It

also will be more difficult to change their perception towards the use of weekly

reflection if the students form their perception based on their deep experiences and

vision of the technique.

There are four factors which can affect students’ perception, concerning the

stimuli from the surroundings. Those four factors are selection of stimuli,

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a. Selection of Stimuli

In every process of stimuli selection, each student experiences different

things. Since it is impossible to catch all the stimuli exist in their environment,

students have to select certain stimuli and only process those certain stimuli. Students

select stimuli on the basic of their interest towards the stimuli and their surroundings.

Students tend to ignore stimuli or information which makes them less comfortable. It

is in accordance with Gibson (1985:66) statement that people tend to ignore

information or cues that might make them feel discomfort.

For example, when attending mathematics class and this is not their favorite

subject, students tend to ignore the lesson. As a result, they prefer to chat with their

partners or friends, to get rid of their boredom and the less comfortable situation.

Besides, each person ha s different interest from others. This makes people select

what is important or relevant to the fulfilling process of their needs. This is the major

reason why each person perceives things differently. Also for the technique which

uses weekly reflection, some students will be tend to ignore this technique and have

bad perception on the technique, since they do not have any interest on it; while the

rest shows enthusiasm to the weekly reflection and has good perception towards the

technique.

b. Organization

The process is not stopped when the students have got the interesting stimuli

from the surroundings. They have to organize the stimuli in order to be meaningful.

Altman, et. al (1985: 87) stated that “the perceptual organization of information can

help us categorize sensory inputs. The categorization will make the complexity of the

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information.” After the students of Microteaching class experiencing the weekly

reflection for he first time, they will not directly get the autonomy and

reflective-thinking habits on their learning behaviors. To come to the intended purposes,

trainees have to be accustomed to do the weekly reflection and to be assured that

weekly reflection is worthy and meaningful for their future life as a teacher.

c. Situation

Each student has their own experiences and expectations towards a situation

that happens around them. Those experiences and expectations affect what students

perceive on their mind. Students’ past experiences also affect their perception. If

students had a bad experience towards something, the students will have bad

perception towards the similar information. On the contrary, if students had a good

experience, and their expectations were achieved, they tent to have good perception

towards the information.

In accordance to the above case, if the students had experienced bad situation

where the weekly reflection was implemented in the past, they would still have bad

perception towards the weekly reflection implemented in the Microteaching class. If

the students faced good situation where they were able to obtain their expectations,

they were likely to have good perception towards the ‘new’ implementation of

weekly reflection.

d. Self – concept

Self – concept is the way someone perceives his or herself (Altman et. al,

1985: 90). How students feel and see themselves will affect their perceptions of their

surroundings. Self – concept is very important. It will determine what students

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enjoy being in the environment requires their independences. Students’ self –

concepts can shape their like or dislike towards something. Similar to what happens

to the Microteaching class students, since weekly reflection requires them to be

independent, students who feel that they are independent will enjoy doing the weekly

reflection and have good pe rception on it. On the contrary, for the students who feel

that they are not independent enough, they will be reluctant in doing the weekly

reflection and tend to have bad perception on it.

Perception is a mental and cognitive process that enables people to interpret

and understand their surroundings. It means perception may exist as the responses to

the surrounding. Perception is the basic for a thinking process. Gibson (1975) stated

that “perception is the process of extracting information from stimulatio n emanating

from the objects, places, and events in the world around us.” Perception is a set of

factors influencing the motivational state of people in organization. It means that

perception influences students’ motivations in their surroundings.

From other stand point, perception is the process of information extraction

(Forgus, 1966:1). It means that perception is the process where the information is

filtered or selected. Perception is also how students view reality. The way students

view the reality depends on how the information available is organized.

Meanwhile, Huffman (1997) stated “perception refers to process of selecting,

organizing, and interpreting sensory data into useful mental representations of the

world.” From those definitions, it can be concluded that, perception deals with the

general thought and view of the students about something around them. So, it will be

very dangerous if students have the wrong/bad perception or way of thinking

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the wrong/bad perception in learning process. They will have the misleading

concepts of learning, which might be resulting in the lack of motivation in learning.

It is significant to make the students have the good perception in learning.

The good perception will lead them to have self-motivation to learn. When students

have had the good and positive perception and self-motivation in learning, they will

come to the stage where they have the autonomy in learning. Autonomy itself is

defined as the capacity to take charge of one’s own learning (Benson, 2001: 8).

3 .Microteaching

In order to prepare and to make students of an education study program, the

future teachers, to have good teaching skills, a class that provides those students with

opportunities to practice teaching skill is absolutely needed. And as the answer for

the demand, a program which is called Microteaching seems to fulfill all the

requirements to facilitate those future teachers with all the opportunities.

Microteaching itself has been described as a scaled down teaching encounter

designed to develop new skills and refine old ones (McKnight, 1971). Microteaching

provides students with a practice setting in which the normal complexities of the

classroom are reduced. To lessen the complexities of the normal teaching situation,

several aspects are limited. For examples, the duration of the lesson is reduced, the

scope of the lesson is narrowed, and the number of the participants is also lessened.

The students/trainee s get a great deal of feedback on their performance from the

lecturer/supervisor. They also may get feedback from the participants joining the

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have opportunity to repeat the entire process by re-teaching the lesson, and having

their performances critiqued, once again.

Allen and Ryan (1969) consider that Microteaching is an idea, at the core of

which lie five essential propositions. The followings are the five essential

propositions.

a. Microteaching is a real teaching. Although the teaching situation is a constructed

one as a practice class, however real qualified teaching does take place here.

b. Microteaching lessens the complexities of normal classroom teaching. Class size,

scope of content, and time are all reduced.

c. Microteaching focuses on the training for the accomplishment of specific tasks.

These tasks may involve the practice of instructional skills, the practice of

teaching techniques, the mastery of the material, or the demonstration of teaching

methods.

d. Microteaching allows for the increased control of practice. It happens since many

factors such as the setting, time, the students, the methods, etc ., can be

manipulated during this program.

e. Microteaching greatly expands the normal knowledge-of-result or feedback

dimension in teaching.

In brief, Microteaching is real teaching that lessens the complexities of

normal classroom teaching for the students/trainees by focusing on training the

students to accomplish specific tasks, thus allowing for increased control of students

practice which, in turn, gives a focus to students’ feedback that allows it to be greatly

expanded beyond the usual knowledge -of-results dimension which students would

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In conclusion, Microteaching program is to provide the students/trainees with

the scaled-down real teaching experienced, where the lessons were kept short, the

number of the participants was kept small, and the instructional task for a lesson was

well-defined.

B. Theoretical Framework

On educational world, one of the main purposes of the teaching-learning

activity is the students’ autonomy in learning. One of the ways the teaching-learning

process is considered successful is when the students have already come to the stage

where they are able to learn by their own self-motivation. Therefore, teachers, or

future teachers, require mastering the techniques to encourage students to have

self-motivation on their learning process, which one of those is through reflection

technique.

As a teachers -producing agent, the English Language Education Study

Program of Sanata Dharma University includes a Microteaching class as one of the

subjects on its curriculum, to expose its students, the future teacher, to

direct-experiences in teaching process or running a class process. Various techniques and

methods were to master by these future students to make their class be successful.

The sixth semester students of Microteaching class have encountered varied

theoretical and skill courses; and, in this Microteaching class, they are about

experiencing the skills in managing a class. On Microteaching class (Class B), the

lecturer employed weekly reflection to encourage the students to have

self-motivation and autonomy on their learning, as well as to bring them to the

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perceptions on this weekly reflection, which were or were not affected by their

perception on the Microteaching class itself. To obtain thorough information about

the implementation of the reflection in Microteaching class and the students’

perception on the weekly reflection, various types of reflections suggested by Gibson

and Schön , and perception measuring instrument adopted from Brown and Rodgers,

Gibson, and Altman et. al., were employed as the main reference.

To sum up, some experts’ points of view are taken into account and play

important roles in obtaining, analyzing, and interpreting the information. It provides

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the Method of the study, Research participants,

Setting, Research instruments, Data gathering technique, Data analysis technique,

and Research procedure.

A. Method

The method of this study was qualitative research. Fraenkel (1993: 380)

stated that qualitative research was a study investigating the quality of relationships,

activities, situations or materials. Sprinthall (1991: 102) defined a qualitative

research methodology as a methodology used to gather data systematically, but the

data were purely descriptive instead of numerical. This research methodology was a

suitable tool to answer the second problem formulation, since it dealt with the

students’ perceptions which were explicitly descriptive. Some characteristics of

qualitative research methodology discovered by Sprinthall (1991: 102), which

differentiated this method from the quantitative one, could be identified on this study

The comparison would be briefly discussed in terms of the hypothesis,

purpose, data, and analysis outcome. The hypothesis in the qualitative method could

emerge as the study developed. The qualitative method had purpose to subjectively

understand a problem from the observed perspective. Next, the descriptive data

expected from the qualitative research methodology were gathered from

observations, interviews, and a person’s written or spoken words. At last, using

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qualitative data, the writer was expected to analyze the data into description which

might involve the theory development.

Based on the characteristics presented by Sprinthall, the writer did not

present the hypothesis of the students’ perceptions towards the use of weekly

reflections in the Microteaching class. The writer gathered the data about the

students’ perceptions through observations, and questionnaires. Moreover, the data

gathered were in the form of descriptive data.

According to Ary, Jacobs, and Razavieh (2002), qualitative research

focuses on understanding social events from the perspective of the human

participant s in the study. Since the investigation on this study tried to figure out the

perspective of the human participants, i.e. students of one of the Microteaching

classes of English La nguage Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University,

towards the using of weekly reflection to evaluate their performances and

achievements during the class, this study once more fulfilled one of the qualification

of a qualitative research.

To be exact, this qualitative study is a survey study. Survey study itself is

define d as a process of collecting information from a group of people about a

specific subject. The collected information is useful for describing some aspects or

characteristics of the population of which that group is a part. In order to get the

information, the researcher collects the information from the sample rather than from

every member of the population (Fraenkel & Wallen, 1993). This study was a survey

study, in the light of the objectives of which was to collect information from a group

of sixth semester students of one of the Microteaching classes of English Language

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the data and information, the writer collected it from the sample of the students, not

from the whole population/all students of Microteaching classes.

Since it would not be feasible to study the entire population (all of sixth

semester students who were taking Microteaching classes), the writer then selected a

sample with an assumption that the selected portion of the population was quite

representative for him to study on the perception of the sixth semester students

towards the using of weekly reflections on Microteaching class. Then, the writer

generalized the result obtained from the sample of the population.

The investigation on this study is focused especially to give information

about the perceptions and assumptions of the participants, who were the students of

one of Microteaching classes, about the using of weekly reflection to measure their

achieveme nts in learning process. A set of questionnaires was given to the

participants at the end of the observation time; that is to gather data from the

participants, which were later on used as the base to make conclusion(s) on what

their perceptions towards the use of weekly reflections are. The writer also gathered

information from written sources, to provide more information about the theories and

descriptions related to the topic of this study; also to provide theoretical basis from

books, journals, and theses that can support the study and the writer ’s opinions.

B. Research Participants

The participants investigated in this study were the sixth semester students

in one of the Microteaching classes in English Language Education Study Program

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individuals who are naturally together (Ary et al., 2002). The writer chose those

students, since in the writer’s opinion, during the class, they had to do active

learning, i.e. combining their whole knowledge, experiences, and skills about

Microteaching in order to increase their abilities in teaching English, though in a

scaled-down situation. They also had to make teaching simulations on certain focus

(teaching Grammar, Vocabulary, Speaking, etc.) reflecting the situation and

condition of the class during the teaching-learning process. The writer did not

differentiate the participants based on their level of intelligence, their previous

achievements, nor any other factors. The participants were randomly selected, so

that, it would be clear whether the students had perception that the use of weekly

reflection gave contribution to their learning process or not.

C. Setting

The setting for this study was a Microteaching class consisting of

approximately 20 – 24 sixth semester students of English Language Education Study

Program of Sanata Dharma University.

D. Research Instruments

In this study, the writer used observation sheets and questionnaires to

gather data needed from the participants. The observation sheet used was field notes, which let the writer to make brief notes during the observation and then to expand it

into notes that consist of two parts, descriptive and reflective parts (Ary et al., 2002).

Those field notes let the writer to give complete description about the setting, the

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events. These kinds of notes also gave the writer freedom to tell his personal feelings

or impressions about the events. According to Ary et al. (1990: 91), observation

refers to a strategy that an investigator used to identify, categorize, and record the

behavior of interest either in a natural or a stage situation. The writer did not focus

only on the students, but also on what the instructor did, and how the technique was

implemented.

The questionnaire itself was used to provide the writer with the information

and data needed about the participants’ perceptions. They had to fill this set of

questionnaire at the end of the observation time, and give their true perceptions about

the use of weekly reflection on their class. According to Ary et al. (1990: 421), a

questionnaire was an instrument of the study to gather information through the

respondents’ written responses to a list of questions.

The questionnaire used for this study was divided into 2 sections, section A

and section B. Section A contained 28 statements, of which could be divided into

two main group of measurement, sub-part X and sub-part Y. Sub -part X covered the

first 17 statements which were intended to gather the data about student perceptions

on the Microteaching class itself, covering mainly on the students’ preparation and

readiness before the class, which more or less gave effects to the learning activities

and their general perception towards the class. Sub-part Y covered the last 11

statements that were used to collect data about the student perceptions on the use of

weekly reflection. The data gathered from this section was to answer the problem

formulation number 2. Section B contained 3 essay questions. The students’

responses for the se three questions were to find out the answer for the problem

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In answering the questionnaires, respondents were asked to circle the value

numbers provided for each statement, which corresponded to their responses. The

value number was ranked from 1 to 4, where value number 1 was for strongly agree,

2 for disagree, 3 for agree, and value number 4 was for strongly agree. The

respondents who had good perception on the implementation of weekly reflections

tent to choose value numbers indicated agree or strongly agree responses, except for

statement number 21, 23, 24, and 28, where those four statements had negative

meanings.

The students’ responses to the statements indicate what the students

perceiving are. Those responses were used as the data of this study. From those data,

the writer could determine the students’ perception, whether they had “good”

perception or “bad” perception on the use of weekly reflection. From the data, the

writer were able to know whether the technique that used weekly reflections brought

improvements for the students, and made them learn better (affected by their good

perception) or not.

One of the advantages of using questionnaire was it guaranteed more

truthful responses than what were obtained by personal interviews. Since, the

interviewees sometimes felt reluctant to give information for they had awkward and

clumsy feelings towards the interviewer. Moreover, the interviewer’s performance

and mood could influence the interview result. Nevertheless, it was easy for the

respondents to lay the questionnaire aside and forget to return it. To anticipate it to

happen, the writer gave the exact time for the respondents to fill in the questionnaire

at the exact place, and then collected the questionnaires had been filled in, right after

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questions by the respondents, due to the investigators’ poor wording or different

perception of the meanings of a term. To encounter this problem, the writer had tried

to formulate the questions in a straight-and-clear short form, and with no term that

would potentially make ambiguity to arise.

E. Data Gathering Technique

The methods and techniques used for gathering data for this study were

observation and questionnaires. The writer conducted direct observation to the

chosen Microteaching class, to provide information about the running of the class

and what happens during the teaching-learning activities, and recorded it on the

observation sheet, i.e. field notes. There were several statements listed on the

observation sheet. Those statements were as the guidance for the writer to select the

data needed for the study. The statements were also to make the data collection

process be come easier to conduct by the writer, since the ideas of the data needed for

the study was already framed. The observations were conducted directly for several

times, on February 13, 2006; April 3, 2006; and on May 12, 2006. Those

observations were conducted to provide the writer with the data for answering the

problems formula ted.

The writer also distributed a set of questionnaires to the sample s, to collect

information and data for the sake of this study. The samples of this study were the

students of one of Microteaching classes which used weekly reflection technique, in

the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University,

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almost all of the students in the class, since on the day of distributing the

questionnaires, some students might be absent.

F. Data Analysis Technique

For the purpose of answering the problems of the study presented in the

problem formulation, the writer analyzed the data gathered using qualitative

methods . Several steps were taken. First, the writer read the responses of the

questionnaires carefully. After that, he classified the same answers of each statement.

Four choices of response to the statements on the questionnaire were provided. 1 was

for strongly disagree, 2 was for disagree, 3 was for agree, and 4 was for strongly

agree. After the sorting of the same answers had finished, the writer was then

calculating the percentage of each response, followed by the calculation of the

average response of each statement. This average depicted the major

answer/response for each statement. The percentages of the response of each

statement were presented in bar graphs before the writer analyzing it.

The students’ scores could show the perceptions of the students on the

Microteaching class (result of Section A sub-part X) as well as their perception on

the use of weekly reflections (result of Section A sub-part Y). Each respondent’s

score showed which classification they belonged to. There are two kinds of major

group of classification of the respondent scores, resulted from the responses towards

the questions on the questionnaire Section A sub-part X and sub-part Y. For the

student scores resulted from the questions of Section A sub-part X would be

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Students whose scores were 61 – 68 were considered to have “very good” perception on the Microteaching class. Students whose scores were 44 – 60 were considered to have “good” perception on the Microteaching class. Students whose scores were 27 – 43 were considered to have “bad” perception on the Microteac hing class. Students whose scores were < 26 were considered to have “very bad” perception on the Microteaching class.

For the student scores resulted from the questions of Section a sub-part Y

would be classified as follows. Students whose scores were 40 – 44 were considered to have “very good” perception on the use of weekly reflection. Students whose scores were 29 – 39 were considered to have “good” perception on the use of weekly reflection. Students whose scores were 18 – 28 were considered to have “bad” perception on the use of weekly reflection. Students whose scores were < 17 were considered to have “very bad” perception on the use of weekly reflection.

The above classification was derived from the maximum total score for

each value number. The maximum score for value number 4 or strongly agree for

sub-part X was 68 (4 X 17), and for sub-part Y was 44 (4 X 11). The maximum

score for value number 3 or agree for sub-part X was 51 (3 X 17), and for sub-part Y

was 33 (3 X 11). The maximum score for value number 2 or disagree for sub-part X

was 34 (2 X 17), and for sub-part Y was 22 (2 X 11). The maximum score for value

number 1 or disagree for sub-part X was 17(1 X 17), and for sub-part Y was 11 (1 X

11).

The data collected from questionnaires were recorded as a raw data. The

writer presented and interpreted the data in two ways. The first was by the students’

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classification of the perceptions based on their responses to the questionnaires. The

writer presented the students’ responses in the form of paragraph. The raw data was

presented in a form of table. There were two tables, Table 3.1 and Table 3. 2. The

first table, Table 3.1, was about the students’ responses on each statement of the

questionnaire. The second table, Table 3.2, was about the students’ classifications of

perception based on their responses on the questionnaire. All the raw data, including

the tables of opinions and suggestions were provided on the appendix.

In Table 3.1, there were two main columns. The first main column was

number, which represented the statements on the distributed questionnaire. The next

main column contained five sub-columns. Sub columns with the numbers 1 up to 4

were the choices of the response to the questionnaire’s statements. Number 1 was for

strongly disagree, 2 for disagree, 3 for agree, and number 4 for strongly agree. The

sub-column with Average was the average response of the students for each statement on the questionnaire.

Students’ responses No

1 2 3 4 Average

1

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Table 3.1: Table of students’ responses on each statement of the questionnaire.

Students’

Weekly reflection in microteaching class of the english language education study program of Sanata Dharma University : the implementation and students` perception - USD Repository