THE ROLES OF W TEACHING PER
Presented to Ob
ENGLISH LANG DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF
SANAT
i
WEEKLY E-REFLECTION IN STUDENTS’ CL
ERFORMANCE IN MICROTEACHING CLAS
A Thesis
nted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements o Obtain theSarjana PendidikanDegree
in English Language Education
By
Andreas Adi Wijaya Student Number: 051214145
ANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM NT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATIO F TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2009
’ CLASS CLASS
ii A Thesis on
THE ROLES OF WEEKLY E -REFLECTION INSTUDENTS’ CLASS TEACHING PERFORMANCE IN MICROTEACHING CLASS
Andreas Adi Wijaya Student Number: 051214145
Approved by
Major Sponsor
iii A Thesis on
THE ROLES OF E-WEEKLY REFLECTION IN STUDENTS’ CLASS TEACHING PERFORMANCE IN MICROTEACHING CLASS
Andreas Adi Wijaya Student Number: 051214145
Defended before the Board of Examiners on October 8, 2009
and Declared Acceptable
Board of Examiners
Chairperson : Agustinus Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A. ____________ Secretary : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. ____________ Member : Agustinus Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A. ____________
Member : Dr. Retno Muljani, M.Pd. ____________
Member : V. Triprihatmini, S.Pd., M.Hum., M.A. ____________
Yogyakarta, October 8, 2009
Faculty of Teachers Training and Education Sanata Dharma University
Dean
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”In order to find the treasure, you will have to follow the omens. God has
prepared a path for everyone to follow . You just have to read the omens
that He left for you.”
(The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho: 30)
This thesis is dedicated to My Beloved Parents (especially My Mom in heaven), My Sister, Uncle Daniel, and Rika Athena for their love, care, devotion, and
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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, October 8, 2009 The Writer
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Andreas Adi Wijaya
Nomor Mahasiswa : 05 1214 145
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya y ang berjudul:
THE ROLES OF WEEKLY E -REFLECTION IN STUDENTS’ CLASS TEACHING PERFORMANCE IN MICROTEACHING CLASS
Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian surat pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta,
Pada Tanggal: 28 Oktober 2009 Yang Menyatakan
vii ABSTRACT
WIJAYA, ANDREAS ADI. 2009. The Roles of Weekly E-Reflection in Student’s
Class Teaching Performance in Microteaching Class. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.
Weekly reflection has been used as a tool to assess students’ learning achievements and has been known as a good technique to promote students’ autonomy in learning, especially in microteaching class. It enables the students to consider and to think of the learning process taken place and also their teaching experiences in it, and also to be responsible for the actions or decisions they choose. These general objectives of implementing weekly reflection have been responded positively by students of microteaching class in the previous research conducted by Nuryadin (2007). These positive responses on weekly reflection indicated that it served positive roles i n microteaching class, especially to student’s class teaching performance. These positive roles are also expected to be obtained in the new applied format of weekly reflection, using blog as the media for writing, which provides larger dialogue opportunity .
This study was intended to seek out: (1) the aspects of teaching performance on general teaching competence and three basic teaching skills (Set Induction and Set Closure Skills, Delivery and Stimulus Variation Skills, and Questioning and Reinforcement S kills) that students reflected and obtained as feedbacks in the weekly e -reflection, (2) the roles of weekly e -reflection in student’s class teaching performance. This study was a qualitative research. The participants of the study were three students of m icroteaching (class C), who originally belonged to the sixth semester of the English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University, academic year 2008/2009. The data were gathered by analyzing student’s documents, weekly e-reflections, and video recordings of class teaching performance, and interviews.
The data analysis showed that, firstly, the reflected teaching aspects varied from participant from participant . The writer could not find the general tendency of them. In addition, none of the aspects was obtained as feedbacks in the column for giving comment in each participant’s blog. Secondly, the data analysis showed that the positive role of weekly e -reflection was as a place for three participants to evaluate and elaborate their teaching experiences in which each participant had their own way in doing reflection. In addition, the roles of weekly e -reflection as effective social media and as a reference of teaching aspects for three participants in preparing their class teaching performance did not appear in this study. These implied that weekly e -reflection might barely play positive role to their future class teaching performance .
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ix ABSTRAK
WIJAYA, ANDREAS ADI. 2009. The Roles of Weekly E-Reflection in Student’s
Class Teaching Performance in Microteaching Class .Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris , Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Refleksi mingguan telah digunakan sebagai alat untuk menilai pencapaian belajar siswa dan telah diketahui sebagai cara yang baik untuk meningkatkan kemandirian siswa dalam bel ajar, khususnya di mata kuliah Pengajaran M ikro. Refleksi mingguan memungkinkan s iswa untuk mengingat dan berpikir tentang proses belajar yang terjadi dan pengalaman mengajar mereka, dan juga untuk bertanggung jawab akan tindakan -tindakan maupun keputusan yang mereka pilih dalam belajar. Tujuan-tujuan umum dari mengimplementasikan refl eksi mingguan tersebut telah ditanggapi secara positif ole h siswa-siswa kelas Pengajaran M ikro dalam penelitian sebelumnya yang dilakukan oleh Nuryadin (2007).Tanggapan -tanggapan positif terhadap refleksi mingguan tersebut menunjukkan bahwa refleksi mingguan memberikan peran-peran positif di dalam kelas Pengajaran Mikro, khususnya pada penampilan siswa dalam praktek mengajar dalam kelas. Peran-peran positif tersebut yang juga diharapkan untuk dicapai dalam format baru penulisan refleksi mingguan dengan meng gunakan blog sebagai medianya yang memberikan kesempatan berinteraksi yang lebih luas.
Penelitian ini bermaksud untuk menemukan: ( 1) apa saja aspek mengajar dalam kompetensi umum mengajar dan tiga keahlian dasar mengajar (keahlian membuka dan menutup pel ajaran, keahlian menyampaikan dan memberikan stimulus belajar, keahlian bertanya dan memberikan penguatan belajar) yang direfleksikan oleh siswa dan juga yang didapat sebagai balikan di refleksi elektronik mingguan, (2) peranan refleksi elektronik mingguan dalam performa mengajar siswa. Penelitian ini bersifat kualitatif. Subjek dari penelitian ini adalah tiga siswa mata kuliah pengajaran mikro (kelas C), yang merupakan mahasiswa tingkat semester enam program studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma, tahun akademik 2008/2009. Data penelitian diambil dengan menganalisa dokumen-dokumen siswa, refleksi elektronik mingguan dan dua rekaman video praktek mengajar kelas siswa, dan juga dengan wawancara.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to God Almighty for His blessings, love, and guidance that have motivated me to accomplish this thesis.
I would like also to express my greatest gratitude to Agustinus Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A., my thesis sponsor, for the opportunity given to conduct this study in one of his microteaching classes and also for his guidance, patience, and constant support so that finally I can finish this thesis. I really appreciate all of his efforts that were given, even when he had many duties and was in a weak condition due to suffering calculus, in order to make me careful in making this thesis.
I would like to thank Maria Stella Gradiana, Maria Henny Sari, and Rufina Andang Paskaningsih for their willingness to be the participants of my study by permitting me to access their weekly e-reflections and videos of their class teaching performance, and setting aside their time to give me the opportunity to conduct interview with them personally. These really help me smooth the process of conducting this research. My sincere gratitude also goes toLaurentia Sumarni, S.Pd., my academic advisor, for her guidance for four years in this campus, and Caecellia Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd., my thesis writing lecturer, for her guidance in discussing this thesis topic in thesis writing class.
xii
my study. My thanks also go to all my PBI fellows, whose names I really, really cannot mention one by one, for their supports while we were struggling together throughout our unforgettable years at English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University.
I would also like to, as always, express my greatest gratitude to my family:My Father, My Mother (Alm), Mbak Nia, Om Yul for their everlasting support in everything I do. I would also like to specially thank the one holding the other part of my soul, Rika Athena, for keeping me sane with her everlasting love and support, particularly during my time of frustrations and depressions.
I am also extremely grateful to have such wonderful friends like Ibam, Ronny, Jody, Verdi, Sam, Gran andDion, who have shared their life with me in Pringgading 9 and Gendis, Esti, Wahyu (Bocong), Julex, Funny, Wiwin, Dea, Mega, and Indra who have shared their life in campus and also Bu Etik and Realians (Ella, Mas Ahmed, Mbak Betha, Mbak Tutu, Mas Ari, Anggo), who always give me support in finishing this thesis.
Finally, my deepest thanks go to everybody who has directly and indirectly helped me write this thesis.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE………...……….……… i
APPROVAL PAGES……… ii
DEDICATION PAGE……….. iv
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY………. v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS……… vi
ABSTRACT……… ……….…. vii
ABSTRAK………..………..……….…. ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……… xi
TABLE OF CONTENTS……….. xiii
LIST OF TABLES……… …. xvi
LIST OF FIGURES…… ………...… xvii
LIST OF APPENDICES……… ……… … xviii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A. Research Background………… ………..…1
B. Problem Formulation…..……… ………3
C. Problem Limitation………..……… ………...…4
D. The Objectives of the Study………...………4
E. The Benefits of the Study ……… ………5
xiv
1. Weekly E-Reflection…...………….………...………6
2. Class Teaching Performance.………...…………...………7
3. Microteaching ………. 7
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE A. Theoretical Description ………..…….…...…….…9
1. Reflection and Self-Assessment in Teacher Education Programs….… 9 a. Weekly Reflection as a Student’s Diary……..………. 11
2. Weblogs as Media for Weekly Reflection .……….…… 12
3. Weekly Reflection andStudent’s Motivation………. 13
4. Microteaching ………. 15
B. Theoretical Framework ……… ……..…… 17
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. Research Method ………..………..……19
B. Research Participants ……… ……… 20
C. Research Instruments ……… ……….……… 21
1. Weekly E-Reflection…..……….……… 21
2. Video Recording………...……… 22
3. Observation Sheet ……… ………….……… 23
4. Interview ……….... 23
D. Data Gathering Techniques.……...……….……… 24
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F. Research Procedure ……… ………….………29
CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH RESULTS AND FINDINGS A. Each Student’s Reflected Teaching Aspects of General Teaching Competence and Three Basic Teaching Skills…….…… ……….. 30
1.Fani …………...…..………...……… 32
2. Santi…………..………..………..…………. 34
3. Sheila……….………..…… 37
B. The Roles of Weekly E-Reflection for Each Student in Their Class Teaching Performances ……… …………...… 40
1.Fani ………...44
2. Santi………. ……….……..…45
3. Sheila ………..… 47
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusions…..………. ………..………50
B. Suggestions……….………52
1. Suggestions for Microteaching Lecturers …………...…...……….……52
2. Suggestions for Future Research……….………..…………. 53
REFERENCES……..………...………..…………...………54
xvi
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
xvii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
xviii
LIST OF APPENDICES
Page Appendix 1: Samples of Students’ E-Weekly Reflections……….. … 58 Appendix 2: Samples of Observation Results of Students’ Class Teaching
Performance………...… 79
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Research Background
Weekly reflection has been used as a tool to assess students’ learning achievement and encourage them more in the learning process. In teacher education programs, reflection, which is defined by Hatton and Smith (1995), as cited in McCotter and Ward (2004: 245) as thinking about practice in order to enhance it, is believed to help the students improve and develop themselves in teaching by relating what they have learned and by exploring further their previous experiences in the classroom.
The use of reflection in teacher education programs is considered essential to build reflective teaching (an enquiry -oriented habit). This habit can be a kind of training of self-assessment for teacher candidates in which they evaluate what they have done in the practices (Srimavin and Darasawang, 2004: 2). Oscarson (1989), as cited in Srimavin and Darasawang (2004: 1), also thinks that self -assessment (an evaluative habit) can build students’ responsibility for their own
Nowadays, together with t he big leap of technology innovation, learning in some ways also has been set up to follow this phenomenon. Reflection processes today can be done in a medium named a weblog or a blog. According to Dudeney and Hockly (2007: 86), a weblog is basically a web page to have a regular diary. One of its advantages as a medium of reflection is that it prov ides larger dialogue opportunities. It is not only the lecturers who can give comments on what the student reflects but also other students who visit his or her b log. Thus, beneficial feedbacks for his or her learning can come from both lecturer and the other students who experience the same learning situation in the classroom.
The use of e-reflection (electronic reflection) in microteaching class of English Language and Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma Uni versity has been done since 2008. In this class, the students are expected to have a weblog to write what they have experienced, learnt, and practiced during microteaching class weekly, including pair teaching practices, group teaching practices, and class teaching practices. Therefore, students’ weblogs can be their accounts of learning
and teaching practices during mi croteaching class and the places for them to obtain feedbacks.
Nuryadin’s research was students’ perception on weekly paper -based reflection, the writer believes the results of the research can be applied as references to this study since the difference is only on the media of writing the weekly reflection. Three from ten positive responses were that most students felt that doing weekly reflection helped them review each week’s lesson, know their weaknesses, and improve their teaching. This implies that students’ weekly reflections contain a
number of teaching aspects which often appear in the students’ evaluation of their or their friend’s teaching practices. Therefore, the writer, in this study, wants to seek out the reflected teaching aspects which become students’ consideration to
improve their future teaching performance .
Furthermore, those three positive responses also imply that doing weekly reflection can help them improve their future teaching performance. Therefore, this issue will also be one of the aims of this study in which the writer wants to find out the roles of weekly e -reflection in students’ class teaching performance in microteaching class.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the discussion above, there are two problems formulated for this study. The problems are :
2. What are the roles of weekly e -reflection in students’ class teaching performance?
C. Problem Limitation
There are three kinds of teaching practices that the stude nts have to do in microteaching class. They are pair teaching, group teaching, and class teaching. The two initial teaching practices often serve as a place to practice three basic teaching skills separately. These teaching practices were held to help the students enhance their performance later in the class teaching practices in which their performance will be evaluated. Therefore, class teaching practices will be a place for them to perform their integrated teaching skills after they practice them in the pair and group teaching. Then, the students reflect their class teaching performance on general teaching competence and three basic teaching skills. Thus, the writer also would like to see the roles of weekly e -reflection to students’ class teaching performance on those skills.
D. The Objectives of the Study
The objectives of this study are the followings:
1. The reflected teaching aspects of general teaching competence and three basic teaching skills (set induction and closure skill, delivery and stimulu s variation skill, and questioning and giving reinforcement skill) (Puji et al., 2008) that students reflect and obtain as feedbacks every week.
E. The Benefits of the Study
This study is expected to give positive contributions to ELESP students, microteaching lecturers, ot her researchers, and all readers in general. The expected benefits are described as follow:
1. ELESP’s Students
This study is expected to give further compr ehension about reflective teaching in which weekly reflections give positive contribution to teaching practices. Hopefully, by understanding the benefits of reflective teaching in the microteaching class, English Language and Education Study Program studen ts, who are prepared to be teachers, can develop and improve their teaching skills. Therefore, in the future they could be professional English teachers who could give better services to the school and society where they work.
2. Microteaching Lecturers
This study is hoped to give evaluation of the method and also contribution for the microteaching lecturers for their strategy to improve students’
achievement.
3. Other Researchers
For other researchers, this study expectantly is beneficial and very helpful for those who will conduct similar research and further discussion of microteaching.
4. All Readers in General
This study may broaden the readers’ knowledge of what microteaching is
F. Definition of Terms
For the sake of avoiding misunderstanding, the writer provides some definition of terms used in this study. They are stated as follows:
1. Weekly E-Reflection
Boud (2001: 2) defines reflection as a process of looking at experiences and learning new things from them. Reflection often deals with considering a number of experiences and engaging with them to get the picture of what has happened. It often includes lo oking at unpleasant occurrences and concentrating on the thoughts and feelings which go together with them (Boud, 2001: 2)
Schon (1983, 1987), as cited in Tang (2002: 2), views reflections must have the relation with an action. He proposes two kinds of reflection. Firstly, when a student is able to think while acting, he does reflection-in-action. Secondly, when a student is able to consider to what he has done, he does reflection-on-action. Therefore, to reflect means to query what is seen, heard, read, and experienced in teaching practices. Moreover students, then, relate them to what have been learnt and what have been done before in order to help interpret and enrich them, so that future decisions and actions related to students’ teaching performance are enhanced.
and jokes, to a web page (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007: 87). Since reflections often contain one’s thinking of his experiences, weblogs, in microteaching class, can be
suitable media for the students to write their personal reflection, let their thoughts or comments out, and sha re their personal teaching experiences during the microteaching class. Teachers can utilize weblogs as a means of assessing their learners by encouraging each of them to set up and keep using their own individual blogs.
In this study, weekly e -reflections are students’ consideration of the teaching practice they have done and they have experienced in microteaching class (reflection-on-action) weekly and the reflections are written in a blog or a weblog.
2. Class Teaching Performance
In this study, class teaching performance is a student’s teaching performance in class teaching practice in microteaching class of English Language and Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. The performance covers general teaching competence and three basic teach ing skills. They are the skills of setting induction and closure, delivering and varying stimulus, and questioning and reinforcing (Puji et al., 2008).
3. Microteaching
9 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This study aims to find out (1) the reflected teaching aspects general teaching competence and three basic teaching skills (set induction and closure skill, delivery and stimulus variation skill, and questioning and giving
reinforcement skill) that students reflect and obtain as feedbacks every week, and (2) the roles of weekly e-reflection in students’ class teaching performance. Therefore, there are four sections discussed in this chapter in order to help the writer to answer two research questions previously stated. They are reflection and self assessment in teacher education programs, weblogs as med ia for weekly reflection,weekly reflection and student’s motivation, and microteaching.
A. Theoretical Description
1. Reflection and Self-Assessment in Teacher Education Programs
experiences) but also affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings.
Looking at its definition, reflection has been considered imp ortant to be implemented in teacher education programs for the sake of teacher candidate development. During following the programs, teacher candidates is expected to do reflection. They are encouraged to think about teaching practices they have in order to enhance it. Thus, reflection is bound with practices (Hatton and Smith, 1995, Schon 1983 as cited in McCotter and Ward, 2004: 245). In addition, Schon (1983, 1987), as cited in Tang (2002: 2), views reflections must have the relation with an action. He proposes two kinds of reflection. Firstly, when a student is able to think while acting, he does reflection-in-action. Secondly, when a student is able to consider to what he has done, he does reflection-on-action. Therefore, to reflect means to query what is seen, heard, read, and experienced in teaching practices. Moreover students, then, relate them to what have been learnt and what have been done before in order to help interpret and enrich them, so that future decisions and actions related to students’ teaching performance are enhanced.
The use of reflection in teacher education programs is considered essential to build reflective teaching (an enquiry -oriented habit). This habit can be a kind of training of self-assessment for teacher candidates in whic h they evaluate what they have done in the practices (Srimavin and Darasawang, 2004: 2). Oscarson (1989), as cited in Srimavin and Darasawang (2004: 1), also thinks that self -assessment (an evaluative habit) can build students’ responsibility for their own
Thus, self-assessment, which is also associated with reflection, helps the teacher candidates to reflect on their practice and understand that learning is a process (Oscarson, 1989, as cited in Srimavin and Darasawang, 2004: 1). In other words, together with doing reflection in their learning process, the students are expected to evaluate their own level of knowledge, performance, and get information about their learning in order to achieve the objectives of their learning.
a. Weekly Reflection as a Student’s Diary
Concerning the importance of assuring microteaching students to self -assess their learning, their lecturers have applied a tool named weekly reflection in microteaching class. It is based on a perception that s elf-assessment and reflection can be a synergy process, especially for teacher candidates who do teaching practice. By applying weekly reflection, each student is hoped to assess and enhance their performa nce by making individual account which contains their honest, open, and detailed report on their teaching experiences or on what they see in the class. Thus, weekly reflection serves as “a diary study” for microteaching students (Bailey, 1990, as cited in Richards, 1990: 120).
reflection. Thus, students will not just record their teaching experiences or events that took place during the class but also make sense of what they have written.
The process above, thus, can trigger critical reflection. This kind of reflection is defined as an activity or process of recalling, thinking, and assessing an experience for more extensive aims (Richards, 1998: 21). Richards (1998: 21) divides the process in reflecting critically into three parts, namely the event (actual teaching), the recollection of the eve nt (producing an account of what happened), and the review and response to the event (reviewing and evaluating the event in order to be at a deeper level). This reflection process is hoped to be taken place on students when weekly reflections are applied i n microteaching class.
2. Weblogs as Media for Weekly Reflection
According to Dudeney and Hockly (2007: 86), a weblog is basically a web page to have a regular diary. It is generally managed by one person. He will regularly post many forms of content s, such as comments, ideas, opinions, and experiences, to a web page. (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007: 87).
Nowadays, together with the big leap of technology innovation, learning in some ways also has been set up to follow this phenomenon. One of the uses of technology in educational fields is utilizing weblog as students’ journals or diaries. Blogs which serve as students’ diaries are called student blogs (Dudeney
communicate with lecturers and with their peers. In addition, teachers also can encourage their students and th emselves to post comments on blog entries. Comments given, in the setting of microteaching class, are hoped to provide constructive and beneficial feedbacks to the blog’s owner. Thus, here, blogs
establish a cyber-community around teaching topics (social s oftware), and serve as “reflective blogs”. (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007: 87).
3. Weekly Reflection and Student’s Motivation
Previous research carried out by Nuryadin (2007) entitled Weekly Reflection in Microteaching Class of The English Language Education Study
Program of Sanata Dharma University: The Implementation and Students’
Perception showed positive responses from the students towards weekly reflection as a tool of assessment in the class. The result of the study pointed out that:
a. Most students preferred to do weekly reflection in written form. b. Most students preferred to do weekly reflection as home assignment. c. Most students did weekly reflection truly based on the s ituation happening.
d. Most students did weekly reflection based on what is ideal to happen. e. Most students did weekly reflection based on the rules and the form given. f. Most students did weekly reflection based on their own concept, which were often contradictory to what it should be.
g. Most students did weekly reflection not just because it is compulsory or obligatory; it helped them improve their learning.
h. Most students felt that doing weekly reflection helped them reviewing each week lesson and improve their learning.
i. After doing their weekly reflection and knowing their weaknesses, most students reacted to make improvements.
j. Most students did weekly reflection not just to get good marks.
From the results above, some important points are recorded. It is obviously seen from the results that students generally agree that weekly reflection is a written take-home assignment which has its rules and form and has to be developed in students’ own concept, in order to help them improve their learning in microteaching class. Some result points (g and j) also indicate that there is one factor influencing students in doing weekly reflection. It is student’s motivation.
According to Woolfolk (2005: 341), “to be motivated means to move energetically towards a goal or to work hard, even if we are bored by the task.” There are two types of motivation, namely intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is motivation which is stimulated by internal factors. The person will consider activities he does are his own reward. While, extrinsic motivation is stimulated by external factors such as rewards and punishments (Woolfolk, 2005: 341).
The results of the study indicate that most students are in the level in which they are motivated to fulfill their intellectual achievement (Need for Self-Actualization: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, 1973) though this level in fact can never be completely filled. They did the weekly reflection to review what they have learnt and make improvements from their failure in the learning they had attended every week. They wanted to have better teaching performance as their goal.
However, the new implementation of weekly reflection in microteaching class using weblog as the media also could affect students’ motivation in doing
weekly reflection. The result of previous study indeed shows that most students like if it is done in the written form. Despite the similar form applied to implement weekly reflection which is written form, one weblog’s feature, which
provides larger dialogue opportunity so that it enables students to obtain feedbacks, may increase their motivation in doing it.
4. Microteaching
Puji et al. (2008), view microteaching as a subject in which teacher candidates firstly manage a teaching -learning process structurally. In addition, Richards (1998: 20) defines microteaching as “a training-based view of teaching” in which teaching can be broken down into individual skills that can b e isolated and practiced individually.
the whole skills in a practice with time limitation (30 minutes ) named class teaching practice. In the microteaching class, in ELESP, the skills practiced are divided into two. They are general teaching competences and three basic teaching skills. General teaching competences cover material mastery, teaching apperance , classroom management, and language usage.
Besides general teaching competences, Puji et al. (2008) also put three basic teaching skills as the practiced components in the classroom. The first is setting induction and closure. Since the purpose of setti ng induction is to create a stimulating learning atmosphere for the learners, several skills, such as being enthusiastic, motivating, giving the structure of the lesson and making a perception are needed by the teacher candidates. They also needed skills w hich are needed to check learning objectives, which have been set up, to learners’
achievement in the class. These setting closure skills cover reviewing and giving students’ time to reflect their learning.
The second basic teaching skill is delive ring and varying stimulus. Puji et al. (2008) views this skill is mainly required by teacher candidates to help learners comprehend the materials being taught during the learning process. The numbers of teaching components in this skill are quite large. Some of t he components are language, learning media, focusing, eye contact, voice, gesture, facial expression, pause and etc.
answers, diverting students’ answers, and giving verbal and non -verbal reinforcement.
B. Theoretical Framework
Weekly Reflection, in the learning develop ment, has been suggested as an effective assessment tool in microteaching class. Reflection, in the previous sub -chapter, has been associated with deep thought and evaluation of several elements, such as teaching experiences and events, in which students q uestion what they see, hear, read, and experience i n the microteaching class. Boud et al. (1985), as cited in Boud (2001: 2), also add that reflection does not only deal with intellectual activities (thinking and reasoning of experiences) but also affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings. In addition, together with doing reflection in their learning process, the students are expected to evaluate their own level of knowledge, performance, and get information about their teaching experiences in order to achieve the objectives of their learning in microteaching class. These theories, later, are used to answer the first problem formulated in the initial chapter.
students may find somethin g that has not been obvious before when they write their experiences) (Richards, 1998: 21). This is the main and expected role of implementing weekly e -reflection in many subjects, especially in microteaching class. They are just similar with the previous research findings carried out by Nuryadin (2007). The result showed that students perceived that weekly reflection could improve their learning. In ot her words, weekly reflection helps the students increase their knowledge about teaching and improve their teaching performance as well.
The theories above are use to answer the second problem formulated . In addition, based on them, the writer formulates three factors to indicate that weekly e-reflection plays important role in students’ progress in class teaching practice. They are:
1. Weekly e-reflection helps the students to reflect what they have practiced and learnt from others in the classroom.
2. Weekly e-reflection helps the students to post their problems and obtain feedbacks and solution to those problems.
19 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methodology of the research. It consists of six sections. The discussion in this chapter includes research method, research participants, research instruments, data gathering techniques, data analysis techniques, and research procedure.
A. Research Method
This was a qualitative study because the writer intended to gain a holistic picture and an in-depth understanding of human behavior, rather than a numeric analysis of data (Ary et al., 2002:25). Therefore, the writer believed th at the use of qualitative approachwas appropriate to this study since “human behavior is bound to the context, in which it occurs and social reality cannot be reduced to variables in the same manner as physical reality” (Ary et al., 2002: 422). In addition, understanding and portraying the meaning, which was constructed by the participants involved in the setting of microte aching class, were the most important in this study (Ary et al., 2002: 422).
method to describe prevailing practices (Ary et al., 2002: 442). The materials analyzed were each participant’s weekly e-reflections and their video recording s of their class teaching practice.
B. Research Participants
The participants of the study were three sixth -semester students of English Language and Education Study Program (ELESP) of Sanata Dharma Unive rsity. The study took place in the setting of microteaching class. The aim of this class was further to develop students’ teaching performance by applying certain
teaching methodology or approach. There were sev en microteaching classes in the even semester of the academic year 2008/2009 and each class consisted of approximately 20-25 students. All of them had taken all the requirement subjects to join this class, such as Instructional Design, Approach, Method, and Techniques, Language Learning Assessment cl ass and other compulsory subjects. Thus, they had completed the provisions to enroll microteaching class.
participant since the compl exity of procedures of data collection process and data analysis that will be elaborated later in the following parts.
In order to be able to find the answers to the two research questions in the initial chapter, the writer ap plied purposive sampling. Coh en et al. (2003: 103) stated “in purposive sampling, researchers handpick the cases to be included in the
sample on the basis of their judgement of their typicality. In this way, they build up a sample that is satisfactory to their specific needs.” Therefore, in this study, considering the completeness of information needed to answer the research questions, the writer selected the three participants who regularly posted their weekly reflection in their weblogs.
Considering the demand of each participant not to present their real names in presenting the result of data analysis in this paper, the writer also applied “pseudonym”, hiding the real identity of each participant. Therefore, all names in
the next chapter were not the real name of the participants.
C. Research Instruments
In order to answer the problems formulated in the initial chapter, the writer employed four research instruments . They were weekly e -reflection, video recording, observation sheet , and interview.
1. Weekly E-Reflection
weekly e-reflections and video recordings of their performances. These documents were the primary source for the writer because they were the recordings of someone’s firsthand experience in teaching practice in the microteaching class (Ary et al., 2002: 435). In the participants’ weekly e-reflection, the writer rea d and highlighted their reflection on genera l teaching competence and three basic teaching skills (set induction and closure skill, delivery and stimulus variation skill and questioning and reinforcement skill) (Puji et al., 2008) they or perhaps their friends had practiced in microteaching class. In addition, since the weekly e -reflections were written in electronic media called blogs or weblogs, the possibility of giving direct feedbacks on the blog entries likely happened. These feedbacks and students’ teaching aspects in the
reflection were very important as a basis for the next steps in conducting the study.
2. Video Recording
Another document employed in this study was each participant’s video recordings of their class teaching performance. The purpose of observing their performances was to see the roles of weekly e -reflection in helping them perform the teaching aspects in their reflections well.
Video recordings helped the writer see obvi ously the roles of weekly e -reflection by providing complete description of each participant’s class teaching
back. Therefore, the observation could be done in depth using the instrument below.
3. Observation Sheet
Observation sheet was used to evaluate participants’ class teaching
performance on their teaching aspects in their weekly e -reflections. The content of the observation sheet was taken from the observation sheet in the g uideline of microteaching subject published by Faculty of Teachers and Training of Sanata Dharma University. Therefore, the basis for the writer to evaluate participants’
performance in this study was credible.
4. Interview
Concerning the credibility of the study , the writer also applied interview as one method to gain information which could not be obtained through document analysis. This information, later, was used to c onfirm what the writer had found in analyzing the documents.
D. Data Gathering Techniques
Figure 3.1 The Timeline for Gathering Data
The figure above was a timeline for gathering data in this study. There were two periods to gather data for answering two research questions. These two periods were taken based on the numbers of class teaching practice that each participant had in microtea ching class. There were two kinds of teaching practices that each participant had.
There were two kinds of data gathered in this study. The first data was the result of reading each participant weekly e -reflections. The second data was the result of observing each participant’s recorded teaching performance in their class teaching practices. Both two kinds of data were gathered twice based on the timeline above. The writer did the process because the writer wanted to see the roles of weekly e-reflections in each period in their each class teaching performance.
To obtain the first data, firstly , the writer read carefully the reflection and highlighted the teaching aspects both from the reflections and the comments or feedbacks left. The data were the reflect ed teaching aspects of general teaching competence and three basic teaching skills they had practiced or they noticed from other students’ practice in microteaching lab, which told both the well-done and
Class Teaching Practice I
Class Teaching Practice II
Weeks before class teaching I
poor performance, and also the comments or feedbacks given by the visitors to them. The writer clustered the information which was obtained by reading weekly e-reflections into two groups. The first was the information obtained in each participant’s e-reflections in the weeks before their first class teachi ng. The
second was the information obtained in each participant’s e-reflections in the weeks before their second class teaching.
Figure 3.2 The Process of Gathering Data from Participants’Weekly E-Reflection
The second kind of data the writer obtained was the result of observing participants’ class teaching performance. The writer observed participants’ class teaching performances, especially their performance on the aspects that they had reflected in the weekly e -reflections. To ease the process of gathering data in this step, the writer utilized observation sheets which were complemented with spaces to note down the description of class teaching situation and participants’ class teaching performance. The writer described the class situation or even transcribed
Reading each participant’s weekly e-reflections which were
written in the first period and highlighted the reflected
teaching aspects
Data A
Reading each participant’s weekly e-reflections which were written in the second period and highlighted the reflected teaching aspects
the participants’ utterances in their teaching on the field notes. This data gathering process was also conducted twice based on the timeline. Therefore, the writer observed both the first and second class teaching performance of each participant.
Figure 3.3 The Process of Gathering Data from Observing Video Recording
The second kind of data was in the form of mark s and notes of participants’ performance. The presence of notes on the observation sheet
provided detailed information about the performance. These notes also inf luenced the writer in giving the score to participants’ teaching performance on the indicator of certain teaching component. The range score was 1-5. On the observation sheet, every observed teaching component had two indicators to be achieved to gain the maximal score which was 5. Number 1, for the score, indicated that the participants’ teaching performance did not meet two indicators given. Number 2 and 3 showedthat participants’teaching performance met one of
Observing and noting down each participant’s first class teaching performance, especially on several
teaching aspects reflected in the weekly e-reflections.
Data B
Observing and noting down each participant’s second class teaching performance, especially on several teaching
aspects reflected in the weekly e-reflections.
the indicators given. Number 4 and 5 indicated that the participants’ teaching performance met both indicators of certain teaching component on the observation sheet. However, the firstly-mentioned numbers, 2 and 4 , showed that the participants did not perform the indicators optimally. Whereas, t he late-mentioned numbers, 3 and 5, indicated that they performed the indicators optimally.
Table 3.1 The Scoring System of the Observation Sheet (Puji et al., 2008)
E. Data Analysis Techniques
After collecting all the data needed, the writer then analyzed them. Firstly, to answer the first problem formulated the writer used the first kind of data (data A and data D, figure 3.4). The writer also did not only present the reflected teaching aspects but also interpreted what the participant’s thought in their e -reflections. The writer considered this manner since reflection is a mental process.
Secondly, to answer the second problem formulation, the writer needed to go through several stages. The fi rst stage was that the writer compared the result of reading weekly e-reflections and observing each participant’s class teaching performance in order to see whether or not each participant performed well the teaching skill aspects in their weekly e -reflections. The well-performed teaching skill was indicated by good rating of performance (it was indicated by red shading
Score Notes
on the score sheet). If the reflected teaching skills which had been classified in to several practice components, whose number was not giv en turquoise shading on the observation sheet, indicated a good rating, it implied that weekly e -reflections played positive roles in improving or mainta ining good teaching performance or otherwise. The previous sentence was the writer’s hypothesis.
In the next step, the writer conducted two interview sessions with the participants to confirm the hypothesis. The writer would like to see whether each participant made use of their weekly e -reflections in preparing their class teaching performance by asking more detail information, especially about the findings obtained from the previous step. The writer, then, combined the result of the previous step with the findings obtained through interview to draw a conclusion on the roles played by weekly e -reflections to their class teaching performances (figure 3.4, data C and data F) .
Figure 3.4 The Process of Analyzing Data Data E
Data D
Compared Hypo II Interview result
confirm
Data F Data A
Data B
Compared Hypo I Interview result
confirm
F. Research Procedure
This sub-chapter described the whole process which the writer applied in the study. In general, there were two identical steps taken by the writer in order to gather and analyze the data and information needed to answer the research question in the chapter one. In each step, the writer started by reading participants’ weekly ereflections. The writer, thus, used the result of reading weekly e -reflections to nswer the first problem formulation. In the next stage, the writer observed each participant’s recorded teaching performance. In observing their class teaching performance, the writer utilized several observation sheets which were also used in observing students’ teaching practice in microteaching class.
30 CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH RESULTS AND FINDINGS
This chapter presents the answers of the research qu estions into two parts. The first is the reflected teaching aspects of general teaching competence and three basic teaching skills that participant s reflected and obtained as feedbacks every week. The second is the roles of weekly e -reflections for each participant in their class teaching performance s.
A. Each Student’s Reflected Teaching Aspects of General Teaching Competence and Three Basic Teaching Skills
In reading students’ weekly e-reflections, the writer found that each
student’s reflection contained aspects of teaching performance on general teaching
competence and three basic teaching skills. Unfortunately, there were none of them that were given as feedbacks. It indicated that each student had realized one of its functions as a place to translate their experiences in microteaching class into words. This finding mirrored the previous research findings by Nuryadin (2007), which showed that students did weekly reflection to help them review each week’s lesson and know their weaknesses. The writer found these in their reflection in the form of two factors. They were observers’ comments (to know
was their mental image of an ideal teacher. The pattern of the emergence of the teaching aspects above in the weekly e -reflections was also recognized. Firstly, the teaching aspects which derived from observers’ comments always came in the
reflection of the week they had teaching practice, for instance pair teaching, group teaching, and class teaching. The writer also found one interesting phenomenon in reading those reflections. He found that the observers’ comments of their own
performance were the only teaching aspects presented. There were no reflec ted aspects of her partner or classmate’s performances (See Santi, Personal Blog,
March 19, 2009; Sheila, Personal Blog, February 16, 2009; Fani, Personal Blog, March 30, 2009). The writer assumed this phenomenon as a normal behavior of human since when a person experiences a single moment, especially an unpleasant moment, the person will store it in his mind.
Secondly, the teaching aspects were self -thoughts or opinions towards their friends’ performances. The opinions were usually pointed out in general. However, there were sometimes some sentences which were specifically presented to clarify the opinion, for example:
I was impressed by their performance. They have their own strengths and also weaknesses. The first teacher had a fluent English and good d iction although sometimes he spoke slowly in the speed. Perhaps, he felt so relaxed that he did not necessary to get hurry. Well, he should be more enthusiastic next time so that the students will be more motivated to respond his questions.
(Fani, Personal Blog, March 18, 2009)
presented their mental image of an ideal teacher, Sheila and S anti. In her reflections, Sheila stated that a teacher was an entertainer (Sheila, Personal Blog, January 30, 2009), while Santi stated that a teacher was a presenter of a live music concert (Santi, Personal Blog, February 12, 2009).
Though the writer found the similar characteristics of each student’s weekly e-reflection, he discovered that each student had their own thinking of learning process taken place in the same microteaching class by presenting different content in their weekly e -reflections. The writer, then, elaborated the teaching aspects of each student’s reflection in the following sequence.
1. Fani
(Source: Fani, Personal Blog, February 3 –March 30, 2009)
The writer found that in reflecting teaching aspects from her observers’
comments, Fani balanced her reflection by presenting both positives and negatives of her teaching performance. The positives were her confidence, way of delivering materials, and even her progress in improving her performance in setting good closure and allocating time sufficiently for the closure part. The last aspect was the significant one for her. The negatives were her mispronunciation and her unnecessary gestures when she was teaching (Fani, Personal Blog, February 12 and 19, 2009).
The writer also got her idea o f a teacher. She reflected it after seeing her friends’ performance in teaching practice while waiting her turn for the first
induction and main activities. She always thought of her class activities which would be presented for her first class teaching practice. She really enjoyed a communicative and attractive teacher and of course a teacher who wa s competent in English (Fani, Personal Blog, March 3, 12, and 18, 2009).
The teaching aspects above were the focus of the writer in observing her performance in the first class teaching practice. Preparation was the main teaching aspect (besides the other aspects) of her elaboration in her reflection before conducting the first class teaching practice.
In the e-reflections after she had her first class teaching practice, the main aspect Fani reflected was her English. It was her unconvincing performance in her first class teaching. After teaching, she reflected that she had poor English, especially when she wanted to give instruction to her students. She also often mispronounced and used inappropriate words in her teaching. In her next reflection, when she saw her friend’s teaching performance, she stated that the teacher who taught in that day had better English than those she performed in the previous week (Fani, Personal Blog, March 30, 2009).
Moreover, the writer viewed that observers’ comments also strongly affected her in looking back her first teaching. The writer noticed her admittance of being unable to perform English well in her first teaching due to having inadequate preparation for it. However, the writer noticed that she pointed out some positive observers’ comments on this. She stated other teaching aspects which also came from the observers’ point of view. They were about confidence,
assumed that observers’ notes might play important role in helping the performer in reflecting her own performance.
At last, several teaching aspects elaborated previously were the focus of her reflection during the period of waiting for her second class teaching turn though she also stated several aspects in the week she observed her friends’ performance. Most of them were her ideas of a teacher that had been presented in her several previous reflections which mainly pointed out about preparation (appropriate material selection and inter esting activities), and good English (Fani, Personal Blog, March 30, 2009).
Thus, from reading Fani’s weekly e-reflections, the writer found that Fani reflected mainly teaching aspects that she experienced and saw in the microteaching class. Firstly, it told about her unpleasant experiences in her teaching practices. Secondly, it told about her positive experiences of her teaching practices, including a progress she had made. Lastly, it was her criticisms on her classmates’ teaching performance and uniquely the criticisms were her thinking of an ideal teacher.
2. Santi
(Source: Santi, Personal Blog, February 2 –May 30, 2009)
language to deliver the materials, and communicative personality (Santi, Personal Blog, February 2, 2009). Thus, she would feel annoyed especially when she saw her friends being unprepared in their c lass teaching (Santi, Personal Blog, March 3, 2009).
The writer also noticed that her mental image of a good teacher might affect her performance in pair and group teaching. The writer saw that her reflected aspects, especially the negatives, which were obtained from observers’ comments, had not been thought by her before, for instance she had to give background information (orientation) in the introduction. The writer also saw her strong aspects of teaching, for instance presenting appropriate activities and eliciting her students’ participation in learning, as the actualization of her mental
image of a good teacher, which was well - prepared and communicative (Santi, Personal Blog, February 12 and 19, 2009).
The reflected teaching aspects above were the f ocus of the writer in observing her performance in the first class teaching practice. Her points of view of a good teacher, preparation, were the main aspect (besides the other aspects) of her elaboration in her reflection before she conducted the first cl ass teaching practice. Another aspect, which was as important as preparation, was induction. The writer considered this as the essential idea since normally people tend not to make the same mistakes in the second opportunity.
though she presented her thought of it, for in stance better set induction, poor time allocation. The writer perceived that in the microteaching case in which a performer practicing teaching which was observed by some observers, the evaluation or feedbacks from those people were still considered import ant for the performer. Looking at her previous reflections, especially the reflections after she had pair and group teaching, the writer, then, assumed that Santi also had the previous character.
Another reflected aspect was about setting good closure (Sa nti, Personal Blog, March 25, and April 2, 2009). The writer viewed that this idea came up after she might wonder of what good closure was. The writer assumed that it was because she might not really perform the closure well and she might think that her friends’ performance on closure and hers were alike.
The writer also found her previous mental image of a teacher (in her e -reflections before she had the first teaching practice) in her reflection which was posted on April 15, 2009. The writer saw this in the way she reflected one of her friends’ performance.
I was amazed of Tata’s performance. She knew well how to make the students understood the material. She gave a lot of example that could help the students concluded what was going to be discuss I clas s. She was also able to attract the students’ interest of the class activity. The most significant thing that Tata did is the ability to switch the language to be simpler and understandable to junior high students. Two thumbs up for Tata, she is really a teacher^^.
(Santi, Personal Blog, April 15, 2009)
because in the previous sentences in the reflection on the same date, she explained the things that she could not perform well and she exampled those things by means of describing her friend’s performance. Thus, the writer recognized a pattern of her reflections in which she typically thought of her poor performance that had not performed well. It was the normal tendency of human character.
Thus, from reading Santi’s weekly e-reflections, the writer found that Santi also reflected mainly teaching aspects, which she experienced and saw in the microteaching class, as well as Fani did. Firstly, she reflected both the strengths and the weaknesses of her teaching perform ance in her teaching practices. Secondly, she reflected teaching aspects as her criticisms towards her classmates’
performances which did not accord with her idea of an ideal teacher.
3. Sheila
(Source: Sheila, Personal Blog, January 30 –May 22, 2009)
The writer obtained two ideas which were contradictory to each other in Sheila’s initial e-reflection. She had an opinion that a good teacher was an
entertainer. However, in the same reflection, she also stated the thing that she had not had yet to be a teacher (if she defined a teacher as an entertainer). It was her confidence.
"Microteaching.."
When I hear this word I always notice a picture of me with a doubtful teaching. I can have my blood 'frozen' when I must speak in public. Everything is cold and I cannot move...
In addition, the writer really re -noticed her natural character, nerves, in her following reflections as the weak aspect of her teaching. The writer found this in her reflections in the weeks she practiced pair and group teaching (Sheila, Personal Blog, February 8 and 16, 2009). Thus, the writer uniquely noticed that she had already presented the real weak teaching aspect of her. It was slightly different from the two previous performers, Fani and Santi, in which they admitted and presented their weak aspect from the observers’ point of views.
Another weak teaching aspect, that the writer found, was her seriousness in teaching. She still considered her students as her friends. The writer assumed that this problem normally happened and if she had entered th e real teaching world, she would have different approach since her students were not really her friends. However, if this friendship consideration had been viewed as approaching close friends (Sheila, Personal Blog, March 3, 2009), it would have made a hab it for her to be subjective to her favorite students.
There was another unique attitude recorded from reading her weekly e -reflections. The writer found that she did not merely admit and accept observers’
comments on her performance in pair and group tea ching (she acknowledged her weak aspect) but she also presented reasons to the thing she felt fine.
Ragil said my opening was too short. …….. ………..
(Sheila, Personal Blog, February 8, 2009) The second thing is I should give a preview about the reading passage before I ask the students to read it. I taught reading and I give a reading passage, The Rabbit in the Moon, to be read. My pair told me that I should give a more familiar reading passage or I should give preview about the reading passage. Actually, I like reading a ne w thing . That's why I give a new reading passage. Next time I must not forget to give a preview about the reading passage.
(Sheila, Personal Blog, February 16, 2009)
The reflected aspects above were the focus of the writer in observin g her performance in her first class teaching practice. Confidence (excitement) was the main aspect (besides the other aspects) of her elaboration in her reflection before conducting the first class teaching practice.
In the e-reflections after Sheila had her first class teaching practice, the writer could not really find any strong aspects of teaching skills reflected in her weekly e-reflections (Sheila, Personal Blog, March 11 - May 8, 2009). Even, there was no her deep thought of her first class teaching practice. During this period, she just answered the guided questions given. She would just simply answer the questions in five rows at the max. Thus, the writer assumed that the reflected aspects of teaching skills were sudden opinions which came up to her mind during the reflection writing process.
From reading Sheila’s weekly e-reflections, the writer found that she did not only reflected her weak points which came from the observers’ comments but
was her opinion towards her classmates’ performance. It appeared briefly in her several last weekly e-reflections.
B. The Roles of Weekly E-Reflection for Each Student in Their Class Teaching Performance s
The writer assumed that weekly e -reflection might play different roles in each student. The writer in the theoretical framework had presented three roles which might be played in the consideration of the recent applied form of weekly reflection in the microteaching class (see Theoretical Fr amework). After reading students’ weekly e-reflections, observing students’ performance through video, and conducting interview with them, the writer thought that each student did not experience those three roles.
There were two significant roles of weekl y e-reflections that were not taken place on three research participants as microteaching students. Firstly, considering weblog as the media for weekly reflection, the new applied format of this assessment did not serve as social software which could creat e an online community of microteaching students (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007: 87). It was because the absence of any comments towards certain reflection in a certain week. If there was a comment, it did not discuss what was being concerned in the reflection. Here was the example of irrelevant comment:
NirlcireeSays:
April 5, 2009 at 6:56 am|Reply
(A Response to Santi’s Personal Blog Titled “Set Closure”, March 25, 2009)
Another example of this was that the absence of any replies towards question posted by one student in the blog. Even, the student did not obtain any answers to the question until she conducted class teaching practice though she repeated the question for the second time.
Observing class teachings, I found a big question: “how to make good and proper set closure?” Most of the students (inclu ded me) have problems in set closure and time management. A bad time management is the main factor of improper set closure.
(Santi, Personal Blog, March 25,2009)
The same problem that often happened in class teaching is time management. It seems that the students (included me) are difficult to manage the time in the last minutes of the teaching, so most of the students (included me-again^^) have improper set closure. Related to set closure, I am still questioning the same question as last week’s reflection: how does
the good set closure look like?
