CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.0 Introduction
4.2 DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION OF PARTICIPANTS
4.3.2 Challenges faced by English language teacher trainees when conducting online classes in secondary level
The data collected have several emerged themes that will be stated in a table below. There are a total of 9 main themes and 30 sub-themes.
Table 4.3.2 Challenges faced by English language teacher trainees when conducting their online classes in secondary level.
Main Themes Sub-Themes
Internet Issue • Rural Area
- Poor Family Background
• Underdeveloped school
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• Lack of internet data
• Unable to conduct long online lessons
• Not allowed to waste students’ data
• Unprovided internet in school
• Incomplete feedback/answers in online platform Responses,
Engagement and participation Issue
• Lack of students’ response - Refuse to respond - Internet issue as excuse
- Refuse to utilize microphone and camera
• Collaboration issue
- Unfamiliar with classmates
• Students’ passiveness
• Lack of group discussion - Lack of Teamwork
• Lack of students’ participation
• Lack of answers - Short answers
- Difficulty in receiving answers - Incomplete homework
- School provided higher level exercises - Delay in work submission
• Lack of concentration Communication
issue
• Unsure of students’ understanding on the instruction.
- Unable to directly guide students - Students do not follow the instructions.
• Unfamiliar with teacher IT Illiterate &
Technical
accessibility issues
• Lack of technology
• Lack of ideas to design the online activities - Issue of creating engaging materials
• Lack of knowledge in using technology
- Unfamiliar in using different online platform
• Materials’ accessibility Attendance issue • -
English Language Proficiency Issue
• Low English Proficiency
- Difference in level of proficiency between students
- Assignment comprehension issue
- Requires slow explanation and translation of other language
- Usage of different assessment method
• Language barrier due to mother tongue Classroom
Management Issue
• Inability to monitor/observe students
• Unable to assess their comprehension
• Lack of classroom management Time Management
Issue
• Time consuming
- Time consuming to copy questions
32 Lack of online
teaching experiences
• Lack of online lesson ideas
• Challenge in adapting textbook materials into online learning
Table 4.3.2 presents the overall findings of the challenges faced by the English language teacher trainees when conducting their online classes during the covid-19 pandemic.
4.3.2.1 Internet Issue
Internet Issue was a major theme from the data collected through the interview. It was reported as one of the biggest challenges that the respondents who were practical teachers at secondary government schools had to overcome. There were several sub-themes emerged from the interview which were related to internet issue. The first sub-theme is rural area. Due to the location where the students were staying, they could not have access to the internet. One of the reasons was also due to the students hailing from poor family background. Therefore, there were practical teachers who did not manage to conduct collaborative learning activities in their lesson. This is evident in the response given by R14.
“Actually, during online teaching, I did not manage to do any group work or like collaborative learning because the students from my school, not all of them come from a very good family background. So, one thing is that the place where they stay is a little more towards the rural areas and Internet connection is already an issue.”
(Respondent 14, page2, paragraph8) Another respondent stated that the internet connection was not stable due to the location of the school is in rural area, thus students tend to drop out from the classroom meetings. This is reported by R9 as below.
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“Due to the Internet connection, because our school is in rural area. So sometimes the Internet might be unstable. So, sometimes they will drop out of the meeting or the Google Classroom.”
(Respondent 9, page3, paragraph8) Besides rural area, another sub-theme related to internet issue was the underdevelopment of the school. One of the respondents reported that the area of the school was not very developed.
Therefore, the internet connection was weak which caused students unable to join the online lessons. R11 stated:
“Because Malim Nawar is not a very developed place. So that Internet connection is quite weak. Many of the students have some problem with their Internet connection, so either they can't even log in, log into class, or they keep breaking off during our lesson.”
(Respondent 11, page3, paragraph 12) Aside from underdeveloped school, some students also lack internet data. In order to participate in online classes which uses applications like Kahoot or Quizziz, it requires the students to have large amount of mobile data to join the online activity. Therefore, due to the lack of internet data, the students are unable to complete the work through online platform which cause the practical teacher to have trouble in assessing their comprehension. This is realized when R9 stated:
“Because for Quizziz or Kahoot, they need a large mobile data. I think that means like they need to have a sufficient amount of data and a stable line.”
(Respondent 9, page 11, paragraph 6)
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Next, the respondents were unable to conduct long online lessons. This is also because the students have trouble in accessing internet. In addition to being unable to conduct long online lessons, R1 also reported that she was not allowed to waste students data, which was why she had to keep her online lessons simple. R1 stated:
“One issue that I had encountered was that I not able to conduct online lesson for too long, because one thing is that they had problems accessing the internet. And what I got is like I cannot waste the students’ data. So, I tried to make my lesson very simple”
(Respondent 1, page 5, paragraph 2) The respondent also faced an issue with internet whereby the school where they were undergoing their teaching practicum did not provide internet to conduct their lessons.
Therefore, they had to use their own mobile data to conduct the class. R12 stated:
“Umm yes. To me still consider question or challenge is that Internet are not provided for my school during the online teaching. So I will have to use data.”
(Respondent 12, page 8, paragraph 4) The last sub-theme that is related to internet issue was the incomplete feedback/answers in the online platform. R9 stated that she could not receive the answers completed by the students when completing the group task through Google Jamboard. R9 stated:
“Because sometimes it's like from my side, I would say the Internet is really unstable. So sometimes I see the Google Jam board is black, but my students told me that they have filled up all the answers and they have provided the answers in the Google Jamboard. But I couldn't see that. So I think that's the problem.”
(Respondent 9, page 4, paragraph 1)
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As all participants faced many issues with the internet connectivity, they could not conduct their online lessons smoothly. Therefore, many felt frustrated with teaching practical during the time when they had to conduct online lessons for at least 2 weeks.
4.3.2.2 Responses, Engagement, and Participation Issue
The second theme found from the data collected was the students’ responses, engagement, and participant issue. The problem with students’ responses, engagement and participant was another hurdle most practical teacher had to overcome when conducting their online classes. A total of 7 sub-themes emerged when analysing the main theme. The first sub-theme is the lack of students’ responses. This sub-theme mainly corresponds with the issue of refusing to respond during the online classes and also utilizing internet issue as an excuse. These students also refuse to utilize microphones and camera during the online classes which also a challenge for the practical teacher when conducting their lessons. This can be seen in the quotation of the interview below.
“Sometimes they are, they won’t turn on their camera, they won't turn on their mic to answer the question, and also their involvement in online sessions because I can't ensure whether they're listening or not.”
(Respondent 10, page 2, paragraph 9)
“some of the students you asked them to turn on the camera. You asked them questions. They don't. They just don't. They just ignore you. They pretend like it's Internet connection problem.”
(Respondent 11, page 8, paragraph 12) Besides that, there is also the issue with collaboration among students. This is also due to students being unfamiliar with their classmates. With the existence of engagement issue,
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practical teacher finds it hard to allocate groups to complete a task or assignments. This is evident in the following excerpt found in the interview respond.
Especially for form one students because I would say they are new to the school and because I think that week, the week for the online teaching is their first week when they enter from 1. Yeah. So it's that. Most of them were not familiar with the classmates. Yeah, it's. It's like they don't know each other and they don't know how to communicate with each other because this is like really, because the form 1 students will come from the different primary school, right? So most of them didn't know each other. So I think that's the challenge because like when I asked them, who do you want to group?
(Respondent 9, page 5, paragraph 6) In addition to collaborative issue, there is also the challenge with students’ passiveness. Due to students’ passiveness, most of the practical teachers had issue with allocating task while maintaining two-way communication with their students. This is noticeable based on the responses below.
So, uh students also tend to be more passive and remain silent during online lessons and. Yeah, I think that's one of the challenges that I face.
(Respondent 8, page 3, paragraph 2) Oh oh, I think it's the passiveness of my form 2. Class. They are very passive so it's hard for me to even I'm talking. I asked for reply, maybe the most they can do is to reply in a message so they won't on their mic.
(Respondent 2, page 5, paragraph 9)
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Next, as most classes have activities and tasks that have to be done in a group, there is no exception for these practical teachers as they do allocate group assignments during their online lessons. However, they are faced with an issue with the lack of group discussion which correlates with the lack of teamwork. This is evident through the responses stated below.
it's more like the student do go to the group and they do join the group, but some of them they are like keep quiet and not all participate in the learning session. Like maybe there are five people in the room, maybe two or three of them share their idea while the others they just keep quiet and do their own thing and waiting for answer.
(Respondent 4, page 2, paragraph 9)) I believe that students would do much better and understand problem solving skills task if it was conducted physically. So this is because I believe that teamwork and communication would be a great skill to use. And if it's given online, students have a hard time working together. As I said before, not all students actively participate.
Therefore, it leads to the lack of communication and as well as creativity in solving a problem.
(Respondent 8, page4, paragraph 3) Besides that, there is also the sub-theme which is the lack of students’ participation during online classes. Because of this, practical teacher was having trouble with allocating problem- solving tasks during their online classes. This apparent in the response below.
So one of the problem that I face when allocating uhm, when I allocated a problem solving tasks among the students through online is that the students willingness to participate.
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(Respondent 6, page 3, paragraph 10) Aside from the lack of participation, there is also the lack of answers which are caused by the short answers given by the students. These teachers also struggle to receive answers from the students. This is evident in the responses below.
Umm for me was because like the exit ticket they fill in like short answers only, so I can't really tell like in-depth whether they fully understand the topic or not. Uh, yeah. So that is one of the challenge.
(respondent 14, page 8, paragraph 1) OK, one. So for this one of the challenges faced was that it was a difficult to get like the answers from the students because the students, students like they did not like focus well during the lesson.
(Respondent 6. Page6, paragraph 11) Some of the students also handed in incomplete homework when the teacher asks for their work before the class ends. As stated below.
Ohh OK, So what at the kind of challenges I face is that sometimes students they don't really fully answer your question. Maybe you expect them to explain more about the topic and there's no time for you to. Get the next update from them. Maybe the next class. They won't be attending or they will give excuses like. The connection is very bad. They won't be able to send you the proper answers of tasks are. there's a lot of hindrance. when it comes to online class
(Respondent 13, page 5, paragraph 11)
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Another reason to why there is a lack of answers during online classes is because the school provided higher level exercises which is a level harder for the students to complete. These are visible based on the statements below.
Especially the form four. And then there's the school is giving them exercise for SPM. So some words are very hard for them. So, uh, they either is they face difficult vocabularies or they can't find answer from it. They don't. They're not sure like is this answer. Is this not the answer?
(Respondent 11, page 12,paragprah 9) An additional reason for the lack of answers during online classes is also due to the delay in work submission. This is noticeable based on the respond below.
Yeah. So it's like, UM, when their parents are using the phone. While working. So that the students are did not have the mobile phone with them. So like the message will be they will see the message after when they are parents go back home. So like they will delay it's a little bit delay when they submit their work because it's like they will submit it at night. Yeah.
(Respondent 9, page 7, paragraph 8) Lastly, another sub-theme found in the main theme is the lack of concentration. This made managing online classes a little tough because some students do not pay attention during the lessons. This is evident in the statement below.
Umm, the challenges that I face by applying problem solving task is that my students, the some students, they wouldn't listen to my class. Uh. Maybe because it's their first time in my class or and it's just they don't want to listen to the class. Yeah. So
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I feel this kind of challenge like. This kind of student won't listen to my class at all, yeah.
(Respondent 12, page 4, paragraph 3) As a conclusion, most of the practical teachers had a lack of responses from their students either due to the fact that the students are unfamiliar with the teacher or the students do not feel the need to participate in the tasks given by the teachers.
4.3.2.3 Communication Issue
The third main theme found through the interview responses is communication issue. Many respondents stated that they had issue communicating with the students during the online lessons which caused several sub-themes to emerge. The first sub-theme is being unsure of students’ understanding on the instructions given during the lessons. This is because the practical teachers are unable to directly guide the students when conducting the activities.
Besides, the students also do not follow instructions. This is evident through the responses collected and stated below.
for me, getting responses from the students were already a big challenge, like when the students did not give response or ask questions, I was not able to know, to monitor and I was not able to guide them which part that they did not understand.
(Respondent 1, page 4, paragraph 4) OK, so like ohh, one of the challenges that I faced with guiding the students with their tasks during online classes is that the students like they did not follow the instructions exactly like all the steps that I taught them
(Respondent 6, page 5, paragraph 9)
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The second sub-theme found is that the students are unfamiliar with the teacher which causes poor establishment of communication between teacher and students. This is apparent in the excerpt stated below.
Establishing to Umm I couldn't get the response from the students because they didn't because I went as a practical teacher so they didn't know me well first thing.
So the communication stuck over there. And the second thing I think they’re scared of me, they see for the first time online learning. So they're really scared to introduce themselves. They really scared to talk in online learning. So the communication was not there.
(Respondent 10, page 5, paragraph 1) In conclusion, communication between the practical teachers and the students were lacking because the teachers could not communicate with their students physically and this causes several issues within their lessons such as the students misunderstands the instructions.
4.3.2.4 IT illiterate & Technical accessibility and issues
The fourth main theme found through data collected from the interview is IT illiterate and technical accessibility issues. This is caused by several sub-themes whereby the main sub- theme is the lack of technology among students. Due to the lack of technology, some practical teachers could not conduct collaborative learning as other practical teachers did. This is evident based on the response stated below.
Uh, actually, during online teaching, I did not manage to do any group work or like collaborative learning because the students from my school. Not all of them come from a very good family background, so one thing is that the place where they stay is a little more towards the rural areas and Internet connection is already an issue.
And then in terms of like to buy data and also using devices, some of them struggle.
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So it's very hard for me to use any like other platforms like maybe. Uh, Google Docs and all these like collaborative platforms for them to work together, so just quite hard for me to do collaborative learning, so I did not manage to use any at all. Yeah.
(Respondent 14, page 2, paragraph 8) In corresponds to the lack of technology, one of the practical teachers could not provide complicated learning materials because the teacher had to ensure the materials were accessible for the students. However, some students did not have proper technology to access such as laptop. This issue is blatant as stated from a response as shown below.
the biggest challenge was that I couldn’t give something too complicated to the students because not all the students they can work by themselves without uhm, the teacher guidance. So that is why I try to give something simple so that they can complete it by themselves at home. Another thing is that I had to ensure that the things I wanted to give to them was something that they can access through their phone. Well because a lot of my students they did not have computer or laptop so they were using phone to connect to classes. So like for example, I need to put my questions in google form, instead of sending them the entire Microsoft word file.
(Respondent 1, page3, paragraph 4) Another sub-theme found is that the practical teacher lack ideas to design online activities, thus have issues with creating engaging materials for their online lessons. This was reported by two respondents as stated below.
I have actually lack of ideas on how to design my activities because we are in our 21st century learning right? And I tend to use a lot of materials and technologies until at one point that I have no ideas on what to design anymore. Because we have online teaching and traditional teaching right, so compared to traditional teaching