KHAI THÁC kĩ NĂNG đưa RA và KIỂM TRA lời HƯỚNG dẫn của SINH VIÊN năm 4 TRONG TIẾT dạy VI mô của họ tại KHOA sư PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

This study aims at investigating how giving and checking instructions techniques were applied by the fourth year students in their microteaching. To fulfill this objective, both qualitative and quantitative methods with three research instruments including questionnaires, interviews and observations were employed. The participants of the study were 90 fourth year students at the Faculty of English Language Teaching Education, University of Languages and International Study, Vietnam National University. 7 out of 90 participants were randomly selected to be interviewed and then observed in their microteaching. The most significant finding of the study was that there was a paradox between what the student teachers reported and what they actually performed in a microlesson. Added to this, there were some problems in giving and checking instructions techniques applied by the participants in their microteaching. These problems include language use, engaging students’ concentration and checking understanding. The student teachers tended to use lengthy and polite language and they all delivered handouts before instructing students. Also, a minority of them attracted students’ attention. Moreover, instead of employing a particular technique for instructions, the trainee teachers gave a chain of instructions at a time. Finally, without checking to see whether their instructions were fully understood or not, the trainee teachers carried out the activities right away. The paper would be a good reference for those who want to learn about giving and checking instructions techniques. Besides, from the findings proposed in this research, the fourth year students in the following years can draw experience and learn a lesson for themselves to better their giving and checking skill in their microteaching and future teaching.

This study aims at investigating how giving and checking instructionstechniques were applied by the fourth year students in their microteaching To fulfillthis objective, both qualitative and quantitative methods with three research instrumentsincluding questionnaires, interviews and observations were employed The participants

of the study were 90 fourth year students at the Faculty of English Language TeachingEducation, University of Languages and International Study, Vietnam NationalUniversity 7 out of 90 participants were randomly selected to be interviewed and thenobserved in their microteaching The most significant finding of the study was thatthere was a paradox between what the student teachers reported and what they actuallyperformed in a micro-lesson Added to this, there were some problems in giving andchecking instructions techniques applied by the participants in their microteaching.These problems include language use, engaging students’ concentration and checkingunderstanding The student teachers tended to use lengthy and polite language and theyall delivered handouts before instructing students Also, a minority of them attractedstudents’ attention Moreover, instead of employing a particular technique forinstructions, the trainee teachers gave a chain of instructions at a time Finally, withoutchecking to see whether their instructions were fully understood or not, the traineeteachers carried out the activities right away The paper would be a good reference forthose who want to learn about giving and checking instructions techniques Besides,from the findings proposed in this research, the fourth year students in the followingyears can draw experience and learn a lesson for themselves to better their giving andchecking skill in their microteaching and future teaching

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study

2 Aims and research questions of the study

3 Significance of the study

4 Scope of the study

5 An overview of the rest of the paper

12223

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1.1 Definitions of microteaching

1.1.2 Microteaching cycle

1.1.3 The importance of microteaching

1.1.4 The application of microteaching at FELTE, ULIS

1.2 Classroom management

1.3 Giving and checking instructions

1.3.1 Giving and checking instructions as a part of teacher

talk 1.3.2 The importance of instructions

4468991111121213

1.3.3 Types of classroom instructions

1.3.4 Effective giving and checking instructions

1.3.5 Techniques for giving and checking instructions

2 Related studies

2.1 Related studies on mircoteaching

2.2 Related studies on giving and checking instructions

1317181819

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

3 Data collection procedure

4 Data analysis methods and procedures

21222223242526

CHAPTER IV: RESULTS AND FINDINGS

4.1 Research question 1

4.2 Research question 2

4.3 Research question 3

273640

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION

1 Major findings of the study

2 Pedagogical implications

3 Limitations of the study

4 Suggestions for further studies

45464748

Appendix A: Questionnaires

Appendix B: Guided questions for interview

Appendix C: Observation scheme

Appendix D: Interview transcript

49545657

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES PAGES

Table 1 Syntactic forms of directives

24

32Table 3 Reasons for giving clear instructions in order of importance

40Table 4 Factors influencing the effectiveness of instructions

42Table 5 How the fourth year students apply giving and checking

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Diagrammatic Representation of a Micro-teaching Cycle

16Figure 2 4th year students’ perception of the importance of giving and

checking instructions in a microteaching lesson 39Figure 3 Difficulty level of giving and checking instructions

41Figure 4 The most effective technique for giving and checking

Figure 5 Language of giving instructions

45Figure 6 Pre-plan the instructions before teaching

47

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

VNU Vietnam National University

ULIS University of Languages and International StudiesFELTE Faculty of English Language Teaching Education

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the research

In a study involving 60,000 students, Wright, Horn, and Sanders (1997 as cited

in Marzano, 2003) found out that the teacher is probably the single most importantfactor affecting student achievement Apparently, in order to improve education,bettering the effectiveness of teachers is very much in need A good teacher should notonly have sound knowledge in his/her major but also own some particular teachingskills, one of which is classroom management

In the Faculty of English Language Teaching Education (FELTE),microteaching is a significant activity applied for 4th year students, which is supposed

as the necessary preparation for their practicum In this activity, students have anopportunity to sharpen and develop specific teaching skills as well as to be trainedsome vital skills of classroom management

However, having spent hours observing many 4th year students’ micro teaching,

I have identified several problems related to classroom management, one of which isgiving and checking instruction techniques Hence, I have decided to investigate this

problem in a research paper titled “The exploitation of giving and checking instruction techniques applied by 4 th year students in their microteaching at FELTE, ULIS, VNU”.

2 Aims and objectives of the study

The overall aim of this study was to explore how the fourth year students (thestudent-teachers) exploited giving and checking instructions techniques in theirmicroteaching sessions To achieve this aim, firstly, the research is expected to find outhow the fourth year students perceive giving and checking instructions skill Secondly,the student teachers’ real application of giving and checking instructions techniques intheir microteaching was also investigated Finally, the researcher hoped to find out theproblems the student teachers might have when giving and checking instructions intheir micro-lessons

In brief, the study would seek to answer the following questions:

(1) What are the fourth year students’ perceptions of giving and checkinginstructions skills?

(2) How do they apply giving and checking instructions techniques in theirmicroteaching?

(3) What are some problems these students may have when giving and checkinginstructions?

3 Significance of the study

If the mentioned objectives could be achieved, the study would hopefullyprovide a closer look at the 4th year students’ implementation of giving and checkinginstructions in their microteaching Once finished, the paper would be a good referencefor those who want to learn about giving and checking instructions techniques Fromthe findings proposed in this research, the fourth year students in the following yearscan draw experience and learn a lesson for themselves to better giving and checkingskill in their microteaching

4 Scope of the study

The scope of the research has been made quite clear in the research title Theresearcher wanted to investigate the giving and checking instruction skill of the fourthyear students at FELTE, ULIS in their microteaching The reason was that the

researcher was one of these student teachers and it was easier for her to accessprospective participants Besides, giving and checking instructions skill was one of theteaching skills assessed by their university lecturer.

5 An overview of the rest of the paper

In order for the readers to follow this paper more easily, the rest of the paperhas been divided into four chapters as presented below:

 Chapter Two – Literature Review: This chapter provides basictheoretical background to the research problem, helping the readers to better orientatethemselves to the contents of the study

 Chapter Three – Methodology: This chapter is responsible for thedescription of the sampling, participants, instruments used for data collection, andprocedure in which the data were collected and analysed

 Chapter Four – Results and Findings: This chapter is devoted to thepresentation of the findings of the research with reference to previous studies andrelevant theoretical background

 Chapter Five – Conclusion: This chapter summarises the findings of thestudy, states the limitations and gives some suggestions for further research

In short, this first chapter has justified the reasons for conducting this researchpaper and simultaneously stated the three research questions as an initial guide for therest of the paper Afterwards, the significance, the scope and the organisation of thepaper are also provided

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter embraces two main parts In the very first part, some key conceptsrelated to the research topic are elaborated with the aim of providing a theoretical basisfor the study The key concepts cover: 1) microteaching, 2) classroom management,and 3) giving and checking instructions In the next section, the researcher provides abrief overview of some related studies

1 Key concepts

1.1 Microteaching 1.1.1 Definitions of microteaching

The history of microteaching goes back to the early and mid 1960's, whenDwight Allen and his colleagues from the Stanford University developed a trainingprogram aimed to improve verbal and nonverbal aspects of teachers’ speech andgeneral performance The Stanford model consisted of a three-step (teach, review andreflect, re-teach) approach by using actual students as an authentic audience Themodel was first applied to teaching science, and later on it was introduced to languageteaching (Maheshwari, 2011)

In the next years, microteaching was seen as a professional development toolapplied in education Therefore, many educationalists have provided a great deal ofapproaches to microteaching

In 1964, a critical study of microteaching techniques was conducted by Oliverowith a view to suggesting improvement in its implementation in colleges of education.The objective of the investigation was to study the opinions of training-collegeteachers about microteaching in the light of their experience while guiding andobserving lessons The sample consisted of training college teachers teaching differentsubject methodologies and 20 experienced and effective teachers

Allen and Eve (1968, as cited in Maheshwari, 2011) explained that microteaching is a system of controlled practice that makes it possible to concentrate onspecific teaching behavior and to practice teaching under controlled conditions.

Meir (1968), sharing the same idea with Cooper and Stround (1966 as cited inShingh, 2011), defined micro-teaching as a scaled-down sample of teaching In theiropinion, microteaching brings both pre-service and in-service teachers an opportunity

to enhance their pedagogical skills by teaching a small group of pupils (3 to 7) bymeans of brief single concept lessons (3 to 7 minutes) which are recorded on video-tape for reviewing, responding, refining and re-teaching

McKnight (1971) supposed that microteaching is a scaled down but realistic

classroom context which offers a helpful setting for a teacher (experienced orinexperienced) to acquire new teaching skills arid to refine old ones

Passi (1976) described microteaching as a training technique which requires

student teachers to teach a single concept using specified teaching skills to a smallnumber of pupils in a short duration of time According to him, themost important point in microteaching is that the trainee teachers have an opportunity

to practice teaching skills in a definable, observable, measurable and controllableenvironment

In the book “Training foreign language teachers: A reflective approach”,

Wallace (1991) assumed that microteaching indicates a training context in which ateaching situation has been reduced in scope and/or simplified in some systematicway Three factors may be scaled down in microteaching are: the teachers’ task, thelength of lesson and the size of class The trainee teachers usually practice only oneskill at a time, so the teacher’s task is perhaps simplified and more specific Aspertains to time, compared with a standard 40- 45 minute lesson, the “micro lesson’’lasts merely five to ten In the same way, there is a reduction in the size of the class.Normally, a microteaching class is fewer than ten students who may be real students orfellow trainees

From all the perceptions above, it can be drawn that the basic features ofmicroteaching are as follows:

(1) It is a real teaching with the simplification of the classroom teaching interms of class size, time, number of students, content, etc

(2) It focuses on training for the accomplishment of specific tasks.(3) It is videotaped for reviewing, responding, refining and re-

teaching

1.1.2 Microteaching Cycle

Wallace (1991) points out that in tradition, microteaching has four main stages:

“the briefing”, “the teach”, “the critique” (analysis and discussion), and “the re-teach”.However, the flexibility of microteaching allows for a wide range of variation inimplementation

In the book “Microteaching” (2004), Sharma and Singh provide a seven-stepmicroteaching cycle According to them, without these seven important steps, themicroteaching process cannot be completed These steps are as follow:

Figure 1: Diagrammatic Representation of a Micro-teaching Cycle

Modeling the skill

(First step)

Planning a Lesson

(Fifth step)

Critique Session

(Fourth step)

Teachin

Micro-g Cycle

(1) Modeling the Skill:

Orienting the trainees in teaching skills is very essential This may be done bystating the psychological base and rationale of the skill and then demonstrate it Thisstep enables trainee teachers to focus their attention on the skill to be practiced

1.1.3 The importance of microteaching

According to Maheshwari (2011), microteaching is an excellent way to build

up teaching behaviors, skills and confidence “under the micro scope”, in a protectedenvironment of friends and colleaguesand aided by video-recordings

He also puts forward that microteaching session is a chance to adopt newteaching and learning strategies and, through assuming the student role, to get aninsight into students' needs and expectations It is a good time to learn from othersand enrich student teachers’ teaching methods

Through microteaching, student teachers can practice what has been skillfullytaught as well as receive various precious feedbacks from the supervisors in teachingskills In addition, microteaching provides a “safe experimentation” environment for astudent teacher to pilot with new skills of teaching and thereby improve upon them(Wallace, 1991)

Sharma and Singh (2004) pointed out plenty of benefits of microteaching.They supposed that microteaching helps student teachers develop self-confidence andequip them with a collection of teaching skills such as the skill of controlling over thesize of class, quality of the students, the length of the period, and the motivation of thestudents (i.e classroom management skill), which they can apply in the practicum lateron

Besides, microteaching makes trainee teachers get familiar with teaching stylesincluding drawing learners’ attention, using teaching aids, asking questions, and usingand managing time effectively They can acquire the skill to prepare lesson plans,choose teaching goals and appropriate learner activities Through those, the teachers’classroom management skills are improved In addition, microteaching also leadstrainee teachers to focus attention on teacher behaviors, the methods of criticisingstudents’ performance and analysing pupil learning (Sharma & Singh, 2004)

In general, microteaching makes the teacher education program morepurposeful, goal oriented and helps to decide common objectives for the program It

provides individualized training with more realistic evidence to students, whichenables them to develop competency in using specific teaching skills in view of theirunique needs.

1.1.4 The application of microteaching at FELTE, ULIS

At FELTE, microteaching is seen as an indispensible assignment in EnglishLanguage Teaching Methodology 2 and 4 (ELT 2 and 4) for fourth year students Itmeans that the student teachers have two opportunities to microteach their peers beforethey have the teaching practice at secondary schools In ELT2, after being taught abouthow to teach a specific language element (i.e vocabulary, pronunciation or grammar)

or a language skill (i.e reading, listening, speaking or writing), the student teachers areallowed to choose a unit from the English textbook 10, 11 or 12 and teach it in about30-35 minutes In ELT2, the students, most of the time, microteach in pairs or groups ofthree However, in ELT 4, they may have the chance to microteach individually or just

in pairs because this subject only focuses on microteaching

In both ELT 2 and 4, the lecturer as a supervisor sitting at the end of the classobserves the students’ performance and then gives feedback The other fellow studentsact as students, observe and give comments on their peers’ microteaching in class byfilling in an evaluation form The lessons are not video-recorded

After finishing the micro-lesson, the student teachers have the chance to receivecomments and feedback from both the teacher and peer students for more improvement

In ELT 4, they also write a reflection on their own teaching, which helps them identifytheir own strengths and weaknesses

At the time of this research all fourth year student had done their firstmicroteaching in ELT 2 Many of the participants also did their microteaching in ELT4

1.2 Classroom management

The most important job of a teacher is perhaps creating the conditions in whichlearning can take place The skill of creating and managing a successful class may be

the key to the whole success of a course If lessons do not run smoothly, a number ofdifficult problems can easily and unexpectedly arise Students may lose motivation andconcentration, become disinterested in their studies, and even get to the point wherethey join in with other students’ disruptive behavior as they feel there is no viable

alternative To prevent this problem from becoming a harsh reality, classroom management must be put into place Burden (2003) supposed that teachers who

possess the ability to manage their classrooms are able to create an environment wherelearning is focus Kratochwill (as cited in Dinh, 2011) emphasises the importance ofclassroom management or “classroom discipline” by stating that it is considered as apriority for teachers Furthermore, classroom management and instructional skills arealways identified by teachers as their priority

Marzano (2003) accentuated the essence of classroom management by statingthat in a poorly manage classroom it is impossible for effective teaching and learning

to take place He opines that if the students are disordered, the class is in chaos; insuch situations, both the teacher and students suffer In contrast, a well managedclassroom provides an environment in which teaching and learning can flourish

Classroom management is “the ways in which students’ behavior, movement,interaction, etc… during class is organized and controlled by the teacher to enableteaching to take place most effectively” (Longman dictionary, p74) Classroommanagement is all the actions teachers take to create an environment that supportsacademic and social-emotional learning It includes all of the teacher’s practicesrelated to establishing the physical and social environment of the classroom, regulatingroutines and daily activities, and preventing and correcting behavior According toSasson (2007, as cited in Nguyen, 2010), classroom management is the act of formingand maintaining order in the classroom in which instructions are conducted

Aspects of classroom management may vary in accordance with differentapproaches Evertson and Weinstein (2006) offered the framework indicating thatclassroom management has two distinct purposes: “It not only seeks to establish and

sustain an orderly environment so students can engage in meaningful academiclearning, it also aims to enhance student social and moral growth” (p 4) According tothis framework, the teachers should do the following: (1) develop caring, supportiverelationships with and among students, (2) organize and implement instruction in waysthat optimize students’ access to learning, (3) use group management methods thatencourage student engagement with academic tasks, (4) promote the development ofstudent social skills and self-regulation, and (5) use appropriate interventions to assiststudents who have behavior problems.

In their book, McLeod, Fisher and Hoover (2003) opined that classroommanagement includes three main aspects: (1) managing time and classroom space, (2)monitoring students’ behaviors, and (3) managing classroom instruction In 2010, Toet.al also put forward the framework for effective classroom management with variouselements: managing classroom space, giving and checking instructions, givingcorrective feedback, motivating students, keep disciplines, etc

In the early 1970s, classroom management was seen as separate from classroominstruction Research in the 1980s, however, demonstrated that management andinstruction are not separate, but are inextricably interwoven and complex Plevin (n.d

as cited in Dinh, 2011) stated that classroom management means that the teachers have

to get students to follow their instructions The more clearly students understand theinstructions, the more smoothly the lesson carries on Therefore, giving instructions as

a sub-skill of classroom management plays a crucial role in ensuring the success of thelesson

1.3 Giving and checking instructions 1.3.1 Giving and checking instructions as a part of teacher talk

Nunan (1991, p.189) indicated that teacher talk is of considerable importance,not only for the organization of the classroom but also for the process of acquisition It

is important for the organisation and management of the classroom because it isthrough language that the teacher succeeds or fails to implement teaching plans As

pertains to acquisition, teacher talk is important because it is probably the major source

of comprehensible target language input the learner is likely to receive

Cullen (1998) provided some features of teacher talk as follows: (1) the use of

“referential” questions, (2) content feedback by the teacher, (3) attempt to negotiatemeaning with the students, and (4) the use of speech modification, hesitations andrephrasing in the teacher’s own talk, e.g when explaining, asking questions and givinginstructions, etc

In the classroom context, teacher talk is generally the only source ofcomprehensible input and live target language model Therefore, the amount of teachertalk and speech modification plays an important part, contributing to the effectiveness

of the lesson

According to Nunan (1991), the reason for teachers to modify their talk is tomake their speech “more comprehensible, and therefore, potentially more valuable foracquisition” (p.191) Chaudron (1988, as cited in Nunan 1991) also found out thefeatures of teachers’ speech modification: (1) Rates of speech appear to be slower, (2)Pauses, which may be evidence of the speaker planning more, are possibly morefrequent and longer, (3) Pronunciation tends to be exaggerated and simplified, (4)Vocabulary use is more basic, (5) Degree of subordination is lower, (6) Moredeclarative and statements than questions, and (7) Teachers may self-repeat morefrequently

In the idea of teacher talk needed for good classroom management, Gower,Philips and Walters (1995) explained that giving clear instructions, telling the studentswhat to expect, calling on students by names, etc are dispensable parts of any lesson.Hence, giving instructions can be seen as an essential skill that teachers should develop

1.3.2 The importance of instructions

Barber and Mourshed, as cited in Dean et al (2011), stressed the essential ofinstructions in classroom: “The only way to improve outcomes is to improveinstruction” (p.11) That determines how successfully students will learn depend on

the way instructions are formulated Unless the directions or instructions areeffectively and clearly constructed, there will be unwanted result in the quality of thelecture

Instruction is defined by Huiit (2003) (as cited in Dinh, 2011) as "thepurposeful direction of the learning process" and is one of the major teacher classactivities (along with planning and management) Sharing the same viewpoint, Ur(1991) considered instructions as “the directions that are given to introduce a learningtask which entail some measures of independent student activity” (p16)

“To ensure that all students succeed academically, we believe that high-qualityinstructions must be the norm” (Dean et al., 2011, p.12) This idea indicates that theteachers should develop instructional strategies in order to increase studentachievement

Apparently, instruction is one of the momentous factors contributing to thesuccess of a lesson

1.3.3 Types of classroom instructions

According to Brashaw (n.d) (as cited in Dinh, 2011), instructions in theclassroom include two main types: instructions between activities and instructions toorganize an activity The former one used to guide students’ behaviors between themain activities in classroom are often simple and easy to understand through the givencontext The latter one are supposed to be more problematic because of the quantityand over-complexity of the language use For each activity, instructions may includeexplanation and time limit of the task(s), instructions to group students (if necessary),instructions to check student understanding of the task and signals for beginning thetask

1.3.4 Effective giving and checking instructions

1.3.4.1 Instructional language

After analysing directives in L1 classroom in New Zealand and Britain, Holmes(1983, as cited in Maria, 2002) grouped teachers’ directives or instructions in three

main categories in terms of speech forms: imperatives, interrogatives and declaratives.The classifications are as follows:

Table 1: Syntactic forms of directives Speech Function: Directives

3 Declaratives a Embedded agent

Lewis and Hill (1985) stated that teacher’s instructions in the classroom should

be “simple, precise and explicit” (p.47) If the directives are clear, easy to understandand straight to the points, students will certainly know what they are expected to do

Sharing the same idea, Gower, Philips & Walters (1995) also put forwards thetips to make instructions effective by using simple language and expressions Theysupposed that the language use should be “lower level than the language being taught”(p.40) Thaine et al (n.d) also supported the clear and natural language use in theclassroom They stated that teachers need to make sure that they do not use morelanguage than is necessary with students

Regarding polite language, Gower et al (1995) stated that using politelanguage may waste the time; it just leads the lessons to be slower and hinders studentsfrom understanding Sharing this view, Hughes (2004) opined that instead of saying apolite request, for example, "Would you mind standing up?” teachers might exposestudents to a straightforward way: "Stand up" This way of asking is not regarded asbeing rude or offensive Students may recognise it is a “firm directive manner” of theteacher (p.40).

1.3.4.2 Planning the instructions beforehand

Ur (1991) supposed that teachers should make a preparation before givinginstructions Teachers ought to plan how they are going to give the instructions, whatwords to be used and the illustration for complicated directives

Lewis and Hill (1985) also put emphasis on planning “in advance what is to bedone and how it is to be done” (p.47) If the teacher just only has some woolly ideasabout their instructions in class, the pace of lesson will drop

Hughes (2004) suggested teacher preparing instructions by rehearsing as well asplanning what gestures and words they want to use One of the best ways is let theircolleagues pretend to be students and get their feedback

1.3.4.3 Drawing full attention before giving instruction

According to Gower et al (1995), attracting the students’ attention is regarded

as the very first criterion for effective instructions They advise teachers not to startany explanations until they make sure that students have stopped whatever they aredoing, are turned towards and listen to the teacher

Thaine et al (n.d) recommended teachers not give out the worksheet too early;otherwise, they will lose their students’ attention

Both Gower, et al (1995) and Ur (1991) also agreed that hand-outs, materialsshould not be delivered and group should not be formed during or before givinginstructions which may distract the students’ concentration

1.3.4.4 Breaking the instructions down

In order to prevent students from forgetting the first point in the teacher’sinstructions by the time the final steps are explained, the teacher should divideinstructions into manageable steps (Hughes, 2004)

Because learners have only a short attention span (Ur, 1991), instructionsshould be given in segments rather than given all at once Also, the teacher shouldcheck if the students understand the instructions (Gower et al., 1995)

1.3.4.5 Demonstrating

Demonstrating rather than explaining is one of the best ways to have effectiveinstructions suggested by many scholars Lewis and Hill (1985) indicated thatdemonstration helps “reduce the amount of unnecessary teacher language” (p.51)

Thaine et al (n.d) reported that demonstrating using gestures and bodylanguage is a good way to reduce the amount of teacher talk and make teachers’instructions clearer and more understandable for learners

Scrivener (2005), as cited in Dinh (2011), pointed out teachers shoulddemonstrate whenever and wherever possible

“Showing what to do is more effective than telling what to do” is one piece ofadvice proposed by Gower et al (1995, p.41) It is better to model the task and always

do an example for students in the class

1.3.4.6 Using visual or written clues

Gower et al., (1995) pointed out that visual clues such as real objects, pictures,gestures or mime… are supportive tools to explain or give instructions Moreover,teachers can even note down some key points of their instructions on the board inorder to be easier for students to understand and remember

1.3.4.7 Using L1

Swift (2007), having over thirty years experience in the field of ELT, states thatwith weak students and complicated instructions it is more efficient for the teacher touse L1 With a view to raising students’ proficiency, the teacher should give theinstructions in English first and then in the L1 Later on, as soon as possible, they may

give the instructions in English only but check comprehension by asking the students

to repeat them back in their L1

1.3.4.8 Checking students’ understanding

Always checking students’ understanding before starting an activity is a ruleafter giving instructions According to Ur (1991), just asking students if theyunderstand the instructions or not is not enough

Swift (2007) explained that the question "Do you understand?" is as good asuseless Students may be too shy to admit that they do not understand, or may thinkthey understand when they actually do not She suggested some ways for teachers tohave students confirmed that they heard the instructions as follows:

(1) Ask students Instruction Check Questions (ICQ) which may be Yes/Noquestions or open-ended comprehension checking questions (Wh - questions)

(2) Ask learners to repeat back instructions

(3) Ask students to demonstrate the activity in front of the class

1.3.5 Techniques for giving and checking instructions

Techniques for giving and checking instructions proposed by Nguyen et al(2003, as cited in ELT Methodology II) are “Step by Step”; “Say, Do, Check”; “ShowDon't Tell” and “Recall”

(a) “Step – by – step” or “feed-in” approach:

The teacher gives the students one instruction at a time, not a list of instructionsall together Breaking down instructions into small, separate steps helps the students tounderstand them completely, especially when there is a lot of information in theinstructions and the teacher wants students to understand every word

(b) Demonstrate it, “model” it or “show – don’t – tell”:

The teacher does not talk about what the students must do; instead he/she showsthem what to do by giving a demonstration A demonstration is easier to understandthan an explanation and reduces teaching talking time

(c) Say – do – check

The teacher follows three steps for each instruction First, he/she says theinstructions, then he/she gets the students to do it, then he/she checks that they havedone it correctly before going on to the next instruction Using Say – Do –Check theteacher can tell straight away if the students have not understood something and cantake action to make sure that they understand it.

(d) Student recall

After giving instructions in English, the teacher checks if the studentsunderstand everything by saying “Tell me what you have to do in Vietnamese” or “Say

it again in Vietnamese” Asking the students to recall what they will do in Vietnamese

is helpful as at lower level they may not understand the instructions It makes themclear about what they have to do and allows the teacher to check that they understandwhat to do

2 Related studies

2.1 Related studies on microteaching

Micro-teaching is seen as one of the innovations to strengthen the teachingskills of student teachers It is relatively a new departure in teacher training; it employs

an analytical approach to teaching and training Therefore, there are quite a lot studies

on this issue

In 1964, a significant study of micro teaching techniques with an aim to suggestimprovement in its implementation in colleges of education, department ofpostgraduate education and research was conducted by Olivero The objective of thepaper was to study the opinions of training-college teachers about microteaching in thelight of their experience while guiding and observing lessons The sample consisted oftraining college teachers teaching different subject methodologies and 20 experiencedand effective teachers The study indicated that while training the science student-teachers, activities such as teacher talk, questioning, blackboard work anddemonstration should be taken into account in preferential order

In the context of ULIS, ‘The value of ELTM microteaching from perspective of

4th year students” by Dam Ha Thuy (2009) is an interesting research paper aboutmicroteaching This research attempted to provide a closer look at the situation, theapplication of teaching techniques in microteaching sessions, some commonadvantages and disadvantages of microteaching practice and also suggest some possiblechanges to improve the practice of microteaching According to the researcher, theadvantages and disadvantages coincided with each other Specifically, the use of fellowtrainees as mock students brought a safe teaching environment which was evaluated as

an advantage of helping the teacher trainees feel more confident to perform the lessons.However, from the opposite viewpoint, this could be a big disadvantage as it was notchallenging enough for the teacher trainees to practice their teaching techniques Inaddition, the facilities helped liven up the micro lessons, attracting more attention fromthe mock learners However, those facilities could hardly be handy at their real teachinginstitution – high schools From this finding, the researcher came up with a suggestionthat is to provide some basic theoretical background of microteaching for the 4th-yearstudents and they should be allowed to decide which types of microteaching will be practiced

so that they are furnished with the essential knowledge of this technique, helping them

to make wiser choice of the appropriate type of microteaching

2.2 Related studies on giving and checking instructions

“Classroom management skills among 4th year students during their practicum”

by Vo (2009) and “4th year students’ classroom management skill during theirpracticum at ULIS: Difficulties, causes and solutions” by Nguyen (2010) are tworesearch papers in which giving and checking instructions were seen as one element ofclassroom management skills The significance of these two studies lies in the fact thatthey pointed out the difficulties encountered by pre-service teachers in their practicum

Being carried out in 2011 by Dinh Thi Ha Phuong, “Giving and checkinginstructions skills among 4th year students during their practicum” aims at exploringteacher trainees’ perception of effective instructions and the level of effectiveness with

respect to time, speech modification and techniques In this research, although thetrainee teachers perceived that there was no difficulty in mastering giving and checkinginstructions and self-evaluated that their instructions were effective, according to theresearcher’s analysis, the trainee teachers did encounter some certain problems Thefirst problem was that the student teachers tended to use lengthy and complicatedinstructions and did not know when to give instructions appropriately In addition, theyused the unsuitable techniques to instruct students and did not have effective checkingtechniques In order to solve these problems, the researcher proposed some advice:student teachers should use commands rather than lengthy sentences; teachers shouldonly give instructions when students are attentive; modelling, step-by-step and usingvisual aids should be used to support the instructions; after delivering instructions,checking for students’ understanding was necessary.

Basing on the related studies, the researcher decided to investigate giving andchecking instruction techniques but with different participants – 4th year students intheir microteaching

Summary

In this chapter, theorical basis related to microteaching, classroom

management, giving and checking instructions have reviewed These theorical would serve as the foundation for the researcher to form and conduct the study according to specific methodology that will be elaborated in the next chapter

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

In the prior chapter, the researcher has reviewed some literature on the researchtopic In this chapter of Methodology, the method employed to answer the researchquestions would be described in details to maximise the research’s validity andreliability The participants, the instruments and the procedure of data collection andanalysis would be justified.

1 Participants

Participants of this study are 4th year students at FELTE, ULIS who arerequired to have microteaching lessons as parts of their assignment in ELT course.These students are regarded as the primary target of the research because they learnedthe theory about giving and checking instructions in ELT 2; therefore, they knew how

to apply it into practice In addition, these students were required to be trainee teachers

in microteaching lessons, and they were the pre-service teachers who would do theirpracticum several months after the time of the research They would then become realteachers in the near future, so they really needed an opportunity to practice, improveteaching skills and draw experience from the microteaching

The participants’ answers/ opinions as well as their personal information wereabsolutely confidential and would not be disclosed under any circumstances

90 students from different classes were randomly chosen to take part in thesurvey All 90 participants had done their microteaching in ELT 2, but not all of themhad one in ELT 4 From those 90 students, seven were chosen randomly to take part inthe interview These seven interviewees had not done their microteaching in ELT 4while many of the respondents to the questionnaires had After that, the researcherasked for them and their lecturers’ permission to observe their microteaching lessons.The researcher also videotaped these lessons for later reference

2 Data collection instrument

To fulfill the aims of the study and receive reliable data, both qualitative andquantitative methods with three research instruments including: questionnaires,interviews and observation were applied.

2.1 Questionnaires 2.1.1 Reasons for using questionnaires

Questionnaires as defined by Brown (2001) are “ any written instruments that presentrespondents with a series of questions or statements to which they are to react either bywriting out their answers or selecting them among existing answers” (p 6)

Questionnaires were used as a research instrument for this study for some reasons.Firstly, using questionnaires was economical and practical since questionnaires couldreveal data from a large group of participants (Mackey & Gass, 2005) Besides, sincethe aim of the study was to identify the participants’ perceptions of giving andchecking instructions, questionnaires could assure ultimate anonymity (Brown, 2001,p.77) that helps the researcher get students’ confidential opinions on the asked issues.Finally, questionnaires could be could be sent to the participants in the form of soft-copy and hardcopy, which allowed the researcher to flexibly contact the participants

2.1.2 Questionnaire format and content

All the questionnaires were written in English, beginning with a briefexplanation of the research topic and a request for personal information Both close-ended and open-ended questions were used

There were 12 questions in the questionnaire, which were divided into threeparts Each part of the questionnaire was in charge of a concrete investing task asfollows:

Table 2: Questionnaire content

Part 1 Fourth year students’ general understanding about giving and

checking instructions

 Importance of giving and checking instruction techniques in classroom context

 The level of difficulty of giving and checking instructions in a micro-teaching lesson

 The factors that influence the effectiveness of giving and checking instructions

 The most effective techniques to give and check instruction

The researcher decided to use interviews as another data collection tool toobtain in-depth information due to its remarkable advantages In the first place,

interviews helped “elicit additional data if initial answers” were “vague, incomplete,

off-topic or not specific enough” (Mackey & Gass, 2005, p.173) Also, when there

would be some phenomena not being able to be identified via questionnaires whenstudying the student-teachers’ giving and checking instructions, interviews served theultimate goal of a follow-up insight into the issue In addition, some of the studentteachers were interviewed after their lessons were observed to get more informationabout their application of the giving and checking instruction skill in reality In short,the student-teachers were intentionally invited to participate in the interviews to providethe full information for the research

2.2.2 Interview format and content

The interviews were in form of semi – structured ones, including nine ended questions In order to gain the understanding between the interviewer and theinterviewees, all of the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese so that the

open-interviewees could feel more relaxed and be ready to give their opinions In addition,semi- structured interviews were employed because they would not only create afriendly atmosphere during the interview but also helped the interviewer receiveunlimited ideas from their interviewees’ answers.

The guided questions for interviews were mostly based on the questions in thequestionnaires, which enabled the researcher to have more in-depth data Thesequestions included two main parts to reveal the fourth year students’ perception ofgiving and checking instructions skill and their application of this skill in their micro-lessons

The interviews were conducted before the student teachers’ microteaching.Also, three of these participants were interviewed informally after their lessons wereobserved to get more insight into what they had done in the lessons

For questions utilized in the interviews, please see Appendix B

2.3 Observation 2.3.1 Reasons for choosing observation

According to Brown (2001, p.4), observations are able to “involve direct on-the

spot examination of language use, learning or training.” Also, it is undeniable that

numerous unexpected problems could happen during the lesson in general andspecifically in student-teachers’ giving and checking instructions Therefore,

observation as a research instrument involving “the researcher immersing [him or

herself] in a research setting, and systematically observing dimensions of that setting, interactions, relationships, actions, events and so on, with it” (Mason, 1996, cited in

Mackey and Gass, 2005, p.175) was the most appropriate one to analyse the problemsthe student-teachers encountered when giving instructions In addition, Mackey andGass (2005, p.96) claimed that answers to questionnaires maybe inaccurate or

incomplete in many cases This is the reason why observation might help provide “a

deeper and more multilayered understanding of participants and their content”

(Mackey & Gass, 2005, p.176)

Specifically in this study, observation was served as a tool for collecting asource of information which solidifies the information gathered from thequestionnaires and the interviews to make sure that there was no disunity betweenwhat student teachers’ opinions about giving and checking instructions techniques (inthe interviews) and what they performed in the real microteaching.

2.3.2 Observation focus

During the observation, the checklist was utilized so that the researcher couldtake notes of related data for deeper analysis The criteria for the evaluation were takenmainly from the literature review

For more details of the observation checklist, please see Appendix C

3 Data collection procedure

The procedure of data collection could be put in phases as follow:

3.1 Phase 1: Preparation

In this phase, the researcher managed to firstly, design the questionnaires, theinterview questions and observation checklist Secondly, she piloted the questionnairesand interview questions with five students Next, she made adaptations and finalisedthe design of data collection instruments

3.2 Phase 2: Dissemination of questionnaires

After getting the timetable of the fourth year students at FELTE, the researcherchose students from different classes randomly to survey Before the questionnaireswere handed out to the students, the researcher briefly explained the purpose and theterms to the students The students were supposed to finish the questionnaire and hand

in to the monitor and then the researcher came to collect these questionnaires

3.3 Phase 3: Carrying out the interviews

In this phase, the researcher employed in-depth semi-structured interviews toinvestigate more deeply the students’ perceptions of giving and checking instructions.Seven students were chosen randomly to take part in the interview after they answeredthe questionnaires This enabled the researcher to compare and contrast the answers as

well as to find emergent patterns among them Also, to get more information, threestudent teachers were also interviewed after their lessons were observed Theresearcher intended to interview all the seven student teachers whose lessons wereobserved, but the time was limited.

3.4 Phase 4: Observing micro-lessons

In this phase, seven micro-lessons of the seven interviewees were observed andvideotaped with the permission of the lecturers and the student teachers Observationstook place in three weeks, from week three to week five of the second semester of the

4th year

4 Data analysis methods and procedure

Content analysis was used to investigate the data The answers to thequestionnaires were divided into categories according to the research questions so

it would be easy to classify the information After collecting and sorting out the area ofthe research it supported, the information from the questionnaire was synthesised andillustrated by diagrams or tables based on each research question Specifically, resultsfrom the questionnaires helped answer the first and second research question about thestudent teachers’ perceptions of giving and checking instructions as well as the waythey give and check instructions in their micro-lessons

Besides, content analysis also helped the researcher analyse data from theobservations and interviews It was difficult for the researcher to illustrate theinformation from these two data collection tools into charts and graphs; instead, sheoften quoted and interpreted the participants’ ideas to support the point Results fromthese instruments helped give answers to both research question two and three

The above method and procedure of data collection provided the core anduseful materials for the researcher to gather comprehensive and rich data for her study.Basing on such data, interesting and meaningful results would be presented in the nextchapter – RESULTS AND FINDING

CHAPTER 4: RESULT AND FINDINGS

While the previous chapter specifies the methodology of the research paper, thischapter presents the results exposed through the analysis of the collected data Three

parts, corresponding to the three research questions, are included in this chapter: thefirst part embraces 4th year students’ general understanding about giving and checkinginstructions The latter part exhibits how 4th year students applied giving and checkinginstructions skill and their self-assessment on this skill in their micro-lesson The lastone reveals some problems of 4th year students in giving and checking instructions.

4.1 Research question 1: What are fourth year students’ perceptions of the giving and checking instructions skill?

To answer this questions thoroughly, both the questionnaires and interviewswere used The results from these two research tools were synthesised, classified andpresented in four small sections below, which would reveal how the participantsperceived the giving and checking instructions skill

4.1.1 Importance of giving and checking instructions

Figure 2: 4 th year students’ perception of the importance of giving and checking

instructions in a microteaching lesson

As can be seen from the figure, most students (77.8%) reckoned that givingand checking instructions was very important 20% of students thought this skill wasimportant and the rest supposed it was moderately important No participant negatedthe importance of giving and checking instructions in class

Through the interviews, the students explained reasons why they thought thatteachers’ instructions held an essential role in every lesson in general and a micro-lesson in particular When being interviewed, student 2 opined:

I think the teacher’s instructions are extremely important because only from what teachers instruct, students know what to do In contrast, if the teacher’s instructions are not effective, the lesson may fail Therefore, giving and checking instructions is an indispensible skill for the teacher in every class.

Student 4 agreed with that idea, she supposed that the success of the lessonrelied much on the teacher’s instructions Likewise, student 1 stated that teacher’sunclear directives led students not to get the teacher’s intention; therefore, it took theteacher much time to explain again She also pointed out that learners would murmur

or even mess up if they did not understand the teacher’s instructions Student 6 and 7