THEME 9 LACK OF ONLINE TEACHING EXPERIENCES 5.4 THE THEMES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
14. Finally, are there any other challenges did you face other than the questions asked?
What are your other suggestions to solve the problems that you have faced during your online teaching practice?
86 Appendix C Interview Transcriptions
Interview Session with Zhi Jun
Sarah : Good morning, before we start the interview, I would like to inform that this interview session will be recorded, and all data collected will be used for research purposes. Any of your personal information will not be disclosed. So you do not have to worry about privacy.
Okay, let me introduce myself, I am Sarah Josephine, a final year student majoring in Bachelor of arts, English Education. The purpose of this interview is to discover the “challenges faced by EL teacher trainees when conducting online classes in secondary school during the covid- 19 pandemic”. This research is also to obtain solutions to overcome the difficulties faced by teacher trainees when conducting their online classes during the pandemic.
Before we start, would you like to introduce yourself?
Jun: so my name Zhi Jun and previously I had my teaching practice in Ipoh, one of the schools is Ipoh.
Sarah: May I know what form did you teach during your teaching practice?
Jun: okay, so I taught form 3 and form 4 classes.
Sarah: okay, how about the number of students per class? What were the numbers during the teaching practice?
Jun: for my form 4 class there were 19 students and for my form 3 there were 22.
Sarah: okay, so basically the numbers were quite similar yeah?
Jun: ah yes, yes.
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Sarah: so for the first question, I would like to ask is, in your opinion, what do you understand about collaborative learning?
Jun: I think collaborative learning means like working together in producing something, like producing an outcome. For example, when the students, they were put in groups and they were given certain tasks and from there they are required to discuss, exchange ideas with each other and come out with a solution in order to solve the problem.
Sarah: okay, so how do you achieve collaborative learning through online teaching, in your opinion?
Jun: uh, during that time, during my teaching practice I did not conduct any collaborative learning when I had my online teaching because most of my students, they actually were having internet connectivity issue. That’s why I couldn’t incorporate this thing in my learning. But in my opinion, collaborative learning is something important in ESL teaching because it allows students to like interact with each other and from there they can learn something. Unfortunately, I was not able to integrate that in my online lesson.
Sarah: okay, so if you didn’t use collaborative learning, what kind of learning strategies did you implement during your online teaching?
Jun: During that time what I can do is I, I think I did a little bit of flip learning which means like I provided them the materials earlier, like I show like maybe I gave them the topic, the worksheet and then let them familiarize the topic first and during the class, I can discuss with them.
Sarah: okay, so that means during the online teaching, you didn’t give them any group task or any assignments to do?
Jun: ah yeah. In terms of group work, no.
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Sarah: okay okay. So uhm, how about problem solving? How do you emphasize problem solving skills through online teaching?
Jun: problem solving. To be honest I don’t think I have emphasize problem solving as well. I prioritize the understanding, because like majority of my students, they’re proficiency level were quite low.
Sarah: so their understanding of the lesson is not up to the standard when applying problem solving skills?
Jun: yeah yeah.
Sarah: okay, so for the next question is what are the challenges did you face when designing the learning materials for your English online lessons?
Jun: uhh, 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.
Sarah: alright, so how about when you’re conducting your lessons online, what were the challenges you faced in terms of establishing two-way communication?
Jun: uhm, I think the challenge would be the lack of responses, like the students they used to keep quiet throughout the entire lesson. So I, what I had tried to make is like I use the platform like lets say padlet, then uhm, I allowed them to provide answers anonymously , which means
89
they won’t need to tell me who they are. And then I realized that by this way, I can get more responses and more ideas from them.
Sarah: I see, okay. So how do you ensure that the two-way communication is established during your online lessons?
Jun: I think I tried to use close-ended questions like they only need to answer me yes or no.
and from there when they felt that it was something easier to answer, then they show their willingness to give responses and from that responses only I initiate discussion.
Sarah: I see, okay the next questions is, what are the challenges did you face when guiding the students with their tasks during online classes?
Jun: 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.
Sarah: I see, alright. Then at the end of the lesson, how did you ensure that the students understood the lessons taught through online platforms.
Jun: I do not think I was capable of ensuring all the students understood the lesson I taught through online platform, what I had done was that I gave them task to be completed, they answer the questions through google form, and from the answers I will be able to know if they can understand the lesson. however, I did realize that they did not really understand certain parts, then I will wait until the next class and give them the feedback.
Sarah: okay, then how about assessing your learning outcome in your lesson plan?
Jun: I will check the answers that they submitted as well. So let’s say they provided something that is not up to the point then I consider that my learning outcome was not being achieved.
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Sarah: alright. During the time when you’re assessing the students’ comprehension of the lesson, what challenges did you face?
Jun: hmm, I think their proficiency might be a problem for me, like have students that did not really understand, even like some simple English, then they might not be able to respond to me.
So there were times when I needed to do a little bit of translation like BM, so that they would know what they have gained through the lesson.
Sarah: I see, okay okay. So finally, are there any other challenges did you face other than the questions asked?
Jun: uhm, 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 assessing the internet. And what I got is like they cannot waste the students data. So I tried to make my lesson very simple, and I gave them the task and they can complete the task themselves at home.
Sarah: I see, alright. I guess that’s it for today’s interview. Thank you very much for participating.
91 Interview Session with Teh Wei Gee
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
So good morning. Before we start the interview, I would like to inform that this interview will be recorded and all the data collected will be used for research purposes. Any of your personal information will not be disclosed, so you do not have to worry about privacy.
0:0:17.650 --> 0:0:18.30 TEH WEI GEE
Umm.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK. So let me introduce myself. I'm Sarah Josephine. A final year student majoring in Bachelor of Arts English Education.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
The purpose of this interview is to discover the challenges faced by EL Teacher trainees when conducting online classes in secondary school during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the purpose of this interview is also to obtain solutions to overcome the difficulties faced by the teacher trainees when conducting their online classes during the pandemic.
0:0:54.510 --> 0:0:58.180
SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
92
Well, before we start, would you like to introduce yourself?
0:1:0.0 --> 0:1:8.330 TEH WEI GEE
Oh, OK. Uh, my name is uh Wei Gee and I have done my teaching practical in the last semester.
0:1:9.630 --> 0:1:10.800 TEH WEI GEE
So yeah.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK. May I know which state and district is your school allocated during your teaching practicum?
0:1:19.680 --> 0:1:22.430 TEH WEI GEE
Ohh my state is at perak, and my district is at Ipoh.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI Well.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI Ah, OK, OK.
93 0:1:28.250 --> 0:1:33.590
SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
Umm what secondary forms did you teach during your teaching practicum?
0:1:34.410 --> 0:1:37.810 TEH WEI GEE
Ohh I teach form 2 during my teaching practice.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI Oh just one class?
0:1:40.120 --> 0:1:42.30 TEH WEI GEE
Ohh form one and form two. Sorry, lower form.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK, OK. How about the number of students per class?
0:1:48.250 --> 0:1:55.540 TEH WEI GEE
Uh, for my form one class is roughly 35 students and my form two class is 20 students.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
94 Wow, that's a lot.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK, so for the first question is, in your opinion, what do you understand about collaborative learning?
0:2:10.170 --> 0:2:26.520 TEH WEI GEE
In my opinion, from what I understand, collaborative learning is where students are in a group work together and they learn something from it and we give a task and they do such as group work. From what I understand.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI okay.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
How do you achieve collaborative learning through online teaching?
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI Ah.
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95 TEH WEI GEE
Umm, actually I did not do much online teaching because we only have one week I guess for online teaching. So, for my collaborative learning I did something like asking them to write something on Padlet. Yeah, that's I did that because it's only a very short period of time.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK. Did you face any problems when incorporating collaborative learning in your online lessons?
0:3:6.600 --> 0:3:27.270 TEH WEI GEE
Yes, I did face a lot of problems such as of students who did not attend, which means that they can't collaborate in a group that I already specify them in, and also most of them have poor attendance. I guess this is the biggest problem and some are very shy. They did not want to type up their answer.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI OK, OK, so how did you solve this problem?
0:3:33.900 --> 0:3:36.90 TEH WEI GEE
Solve. Uhh how did I manage to solve it.
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96 TEH WEI GEE
Ohm by.
0:3:39.600 --> 0:3:51.720 TEH WEI GEE
Texting them and reminding them on the telegram to tell them to attend class later and try to provide some video clips to tell them that, to make it more interesting, I would say.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK. So, the next question is when applying collaborative learning during your online teaching, what are the challenges did you face when allocating group task and assignments to students?
0:4:8.820 --> 0:4:10.680 TEH WEI GEE
Ohh the challenges I face is.
0:4:11.360 --> 0:4:11.780 TEH WEI GEE
Ohh.
0:4:12.820 --> 0:4:24.130 TEH WEI GEE
Because during the time I did online class uh, it was the first time I met my students. So the challenge is I especially for form one student because it’s their first semester.
97 0:4:24.760 --> 0:4:25.380
TEH WEI GEE Uh.
0:4:26.200 --> 0:4:40.970 TEH WEI GEE
The problem I face is I have no idea what is their standard, so I think I might allocate class that is too hard for them, so some struggle, but some did it well, so I guess this one challenge that I did not know they are English standard yet.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK, OK, so how did you overcome this problem?
0:4:47.160 --> 0:4:57.730 TEH WEI GEE
How did I overcome these problems? I give them a short quiz such as grammar quiz. That's how I roughly I kinda know where they stand in their English.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
How do you emphasize problem solving in your online teaching?
0:5:8.880 --> 0:5:11.830 TEH WEI GEE
98 Problem solving. How did I emphasize it.
0:5:12.560 --> 0:5:20.100 TEH WEI GEE
Uh, I guess I give one open-ended question after each lesson I teach them.
0:5:20.880 --> 0:5:36.980 TEH WEI GEE
So I ask them something open-ended or something more of like hots and opinion to ask them about their own opinion and then ask them, “OK, can you give me example about the solution that you have given?” So this is a small way of asking them how to.
0:5:37.840 --> 0:5:41.860 TEH WEI GEE
solve the problem, but it's more like giving an opinion, yeah.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
Are there any challenges did you face when you were applying this problem solving task within your online classes?
0:5:51.730 --> 0:6:3.270 TEH WEI GEE
Yes, which is whereby there is not much response I would say because it's something very open ended and they feel scared I think. So they did not do well in this class, so.
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99 TEH WEI GEE
Yeah, that's the challenge I faced and how to attract them to answer.
0:6:9.250 --> 0:6:9.520 TEH WEI GEE
Yeah.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK, how did you actually manage to solve this problem? Like how to attract them? How did you solve the problem?
0:6:18.920 --> 0:6:25.530 TEH WEI GEE
I think I did not manage to solve that in online that because it's a very short period of time only so.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI Ohh yeah.
0:6:26.430 --> 0:6:28.840 TEH WEI GEE
yeah, so I did not managed solve it.
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100 SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK, OK. So the next question is what are the challenges did you face and you were designing your learning materials for the English online lessons?
0:6:42.560 --> 0:7:10.190 TEH WEI GEE
Oh, oh, challenge. Like, thinking what to teach based on their textbooks. So uh, their textbook is physical, right? I need to adapt something to make it interesting as well. So the challenge is, is very busy. I need to create a PPT for them and I'm the create worksheet. And also I need to prepare for the meeting. So the challenge is adapting the materials.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK, so when you were conducting your English lessons through online platform, what are the challenges you face in terms of establishing two way communication?
0:7:26.810 --> 0:7:46.240 TEH WEI GEE
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.
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101 SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
How did you solve?
0:7:49.270 --> 0:7:50.800 TEH WEI GEE
For me to communicate and.
0:7:53.10 --> 0:7:53.640 TEH WEI GEE
How did I solve?
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI Yeah. So how did you?
0:7:56.330 --> 0:7:57.540 TEH WEI GEE
I solved it by.
0:8:1.710 --> 0:8:6.840 TEH WEI GEE
On the camera, I was thinking what interesting, but I think it.
0:8:7.750 --> 0:8:11.30 TEH WEI GEE
Did not do anything, so I did not manage to solve this problem.
102 0:8:11.200 --> 0:8:24.340
SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK, OK, OK. So in your opinion, how do you ensure two way communication is established during your online lessons?
0:8:26.510 --> 0:8:39.740 TEH WEI GEE
Alright, ensure that the students are there and very actively whereby when I ask questions and they are willing to answer, this is where I feel that they are there and we are able to communicate more.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
I see. OK. So you know when guiding your students with their task assignment homework during the online classes, right. Did you face any challenges?
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI When guiding the students.
0:8:58.980 --> 0:9:1.30 TEH WEI GEE
Yes, in some sense that.
0:9:2.260 --> 0:9:9.90 TEH WEI GEE
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when students struggle, I cannot really see because of usually in online class I give them a task.
0:9:12.210 --> 0:9:12.560 TEH WEI GEE
So.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI Alright.
0:9:13.640 --> 0:9:22.210 TEH WEI GEE
I did tell them if you have any questions or any probably you can find me, but I feel that even I asked them there is no reply so I am not sure if it was
0:9:24.260 --> 0:9:25.210 TEH WEI GEE
Successfully or not?
0:9:29.790 --> 0:9:36.80
SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
So at the end of the lesson, how do you ensure the students understood your lessons?
0:9:38.480 --> 0:9:48.790 TEH WEI GEE
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Ohh uh, they will submit. Uh, sort of a Google form whereby they do their questions and I can see their marks or mark from there. And then this is how I ensure that they managed to understand.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
Also, how do you assess your learning outcome in your Lesson plan at the end of the lessons?
0:9:58.850 --> 0:10:17.820 TEH WEI GEE
Oh, I will check, cause usually my lesson outcome will have very specific one, so it's the students managed to finish 9 out of 15 questions. So I need to check a few student. If a few students managed to finish and fulfil the requirement then I feel like OK, I've achieved my learning outcomes.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK. Did you face any problems or challenges when you were assessing the students’
comprehension?
0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:34.800 TEH WEI GEE
Ohh challenge I faced ah?
0:10:39.780 --> 0:10:53.230 TEH WEI GEE
105
I think yes because I am in a class where it's very mixed, so there's a very strong ability and yet there is a weak ability. So I need to have different method for me to access your comprehension.
0:10:54.60 --> 0:10:55.980 TEH WEI GEE
I need provide like different worksheet as well.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI Yeah, understood.
0:10:59.540 --> 0:10:59.900 TEH WEI GEE
Ohh.
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI
OK, so finally, are there any other challenges did you face other than the questions asked, challenges that you faced during your online teaching?
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SARAH JOSEPHINE POH GOON KEI Yeah.
0:11:10.980 --> 0:11:13.320 TEH WEI GEE