A STUDY ON TEACHERS’ ASSESSMENT OF MICROTEACHING BY EFL TEACHER STUDENTS AT HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

LIST OF TABLESTable 4.1: Usefulness of microteaching in preparing students for real teaching experience...47 Table 4.2: Criteria used to assess microteaching...54 Table 4.3: Mark distrib

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

-A STUDY ON TE -ACHERS’ -ASSESSMENT OF MICROTEACHING BY EFL TEACHER STUDENTS

AT HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts,

Hue University of Foreign Languages

HUE, 2015

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

-A STUDY ON TE -ACHERS’ -ASSESSMENT OF MICROTEACHING BY EFL TEACHER STUDENTS

AT HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

CODE: 60.14.01.11

SUPERVISOR:

HUE, 2015

i

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

-NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC THỰC HÀNH GIẢNG DẠY THEO QUY MÔ NHỎ CỦA SINH VIÊN NGOẠI NGỮ TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ HUẾ

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC

BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH

MÃ SỐ: 60.14.01.11

NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC:

HUE, 2015

ii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

This work has not previously been submitted for a degree ordiploma in any university To the best of my knowledge andbelief, the thesis contains no material previously published orwritten by another person except where due reference is made inthe thesis itself

Date: 02/ 8/ 2015 Signature

Full name

iii

A combination of both qualitative and quantitative approaches was used in thisstudy In order to collect the data for the research, 100 students from Hue University

of Foreign Languages were invited into the study Questionnaires, interviews andobservation sheet were used as data collection tools The results from thequestionnaires were affirmed through interviews with open questions for 10students In addition, students’ microteaching evaluation sheets were collected toillustrate how teachers evaluated students’ microteaching performance

The results show that students at Hue University of Foreign Languages wereconcerned with microteaching assessment, but their perceptions and reflections onmicroteaching were different Besides, the study found some pitfalls in applyingmicroteaching assessment such as time for microteaching, grading proportions, andclassmate students’ English proficiency

From the findings of the study, some pedagogical implications were made sothat both teachers and students can do better towards assessing microteaching

iv

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to a number ofpeople, without whose support and involvement, this thesis would not have beencompleted

Firstly, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor for her continuous support,encouragement, patience, dedication and critical feedback From her, I haveacquired knowledge and research skills which are not only useful for conducting thestudy reported in this thesis but only for my future career

Secondly, I would like to thank my close friends in MA course at Hue College

of Foreign Languages for their enthusiasm and kindness to me

My thanks are also sent to the fourth-students at Hue College of ForeignLanguages who were willing to take time out of their own busy schedule tocooperate in my interviews and answering the questionnaire

Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my mother, my husband and mychildren for their constant love, patience and support throughout the entire writingprocess

Hue, August 2015

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUB COVER PAGE

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

ABSTRACT

ACKOWLEDGEMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF CHARTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Significance 3

1.3 Research questions 4

1.4 Research scope 4

1.5 Research significance 4

1.6 The structure of the thesis 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Introduction 6

2.2 Microteaching 6

2.3 Aims of microteaching 10

2.4 Stages of microteaching 13

2.5 Steps of microteaching 16

2.6 Variants of microteaching 17

2.7 Assessment 20

2.8 Microteaching assessment 23

2.9 Purposes of microteaching assessment 24

2.10 Principles of microteaching assessment 25

2.11 Types of assessment 28

vi

2.12 Methods of assessment 30

2.13 Previous studies 31

2.13.1 Overseas studies 31

2.13.2 Studies in Vietnam 36

2.14 Summary 37

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 38

3.1 Introduction 38

3.2 Research methodology 38

3.3 Participants 39

3.4 Data collection methods 39

3.4.1.Questionnaire for students 39

3.4.2.Interviews with students 40

3.4.3.Teaching evaluation sheets 40

3.5 Pilot study 41

3.6 Data analysis 41

3.7 Summary 41

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 42

4.1 Introduction 42

4.2 Students’ attitudes towards teachers’ evaluation of microteaching 42

4.2.1 Types and time of microteaching used in practicum 42

4.2.2 The application of teaching techniques in microteaching 44

4.2.3 Students’ exploitation of teaching techniques in teaching practicum 46

4.3 The practice of microteaching assessment 49

4.3.1 Current implementation of microteaching assessment 49

4.3.1.1 Students’ reflections on requirements for microteaching 49

4.3.1.2 Teachers and students’ involvement in creating microteaching requirements 50

4.3.1.3 Teachers and students’ involvement in assessing microteaching 52

4.3.1.4 Teachers’ criteria use to assess microteaching 54

4.3.1.5 Analyzing microteaching evaluation sheets 56

4.3.1.5.1 Marks distribution to students’ microteaching 56

vii

4.3.1.5.2 Mark distribution in assessment criteria 57

4.3.1.5.3 Mark distribution to each criterion in teacher’s assessment 59

4.3.1.6 Principles of microteaching assessment 60

4.3.1.7 Students’ perceptions of the purposes of microteaching assessment 62

4.3.2 Marks distribution to students’ microteaching 64

4.3.3 Types of assessment 66

4.3.4 Difficulties in microteaching assessment 68

4.4 Suggestions for an effective microteaching 71

4.4.1 Students’ opinions in designing microteaching criteria 71

4.4.2 What students want to know about microteaching assessment 73

4.4.3 Suggestions for microteaching assessment 75

4.5 Summary 79

CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS 80

REFERENCES 85

APPENDICES 95

viii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ARG : Assessment Reform Group

EFL : English as a Foreign LanguageLCMT : Learner-Centered Micro Teaching U.S : The United States

ix

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: Usefulness of microteaching in preparing students for real teaching

experience 47

Table 4.2: Criteria used to assess microteaching 54

Table 4.3: Mark distribution in assessment criteria 57

Table 4.4: Mark distribution to each criterion in teacher’s assessment 59

Table 4.5: Students’ perceptions of the principles of microteaching assessment 61

Table 4.6: The purposes of microteaching assessment 62

Table 4.7: Types of assessment 66

Table 4.8: Disadvantages of microteaching 68

Table 4.9: Students’ opinions in designing microteaching criteria 71

Table 4.10: What students want to know about microteaching assessment 73

Table 4.11: Suggestions for microteaching assessment 76

x

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1: Types of microteaching used in practicum 42

Chart 4.2: Time allocation for one micro teaching 43

Chart 4.3: Time for informed criteria 49

Chart 4.4: Time for assessed microteaching 51

Chart 4.5: Involvement of teachers and students in assessing micro-teaching 53

Chart 4.6: Marks distribution to 30 students’ microteaching 56

Chart 4.7: Allocation of marks to students 64

xi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Teacher is one of the most important factors in education of qualified people.The teacher is someone that is trained and certificated to teach He is regarded asthe key player in the entire educational process, the mirror in the society and thefather of knowledge He is also the converter of raw materials to finished productsthrough a systematic procedure in the school which is considered as a humanfactory

According to Aslihan and Ahmet (2013), the most important role of theteacher in a school is to guide students while providing knowledge With this role,the teacher shapes the terminal behaviors of the students, helps the student to havepositive relationships and makes them skillful Besides, Kilic (2010) convinced thatthe role of teacher was not transforming knowledge anymore Their jobs areguiding, orientation in students’ learning styles, positive learning environment However, teachers need to be trained to be able to apply their knowledge inthe classrooms effectively Teacher competencies develop not only based on thetheoretical education during teacher education but through practical applications(Yök, 1998; Nielsen, 2004) It is helpful to offer teacher training both oral andwritten feedback on their micro-teaching activity Due to the importance ofmicroteaching, there have been many researches on microteaching as a tool forimproving teacher education

Actually, microteaching is a unique model of practice teaching so it can helpstudent teachers apply theoretical issues to real life situational teaching The studentteachers who are trained to use the microteaching tool are expected to get goodtechnical teaching skills from their microteaching Microteaching also helps themimprove both contents and methods of teaching According to Can (2009), the moreeffective the microteaching the better the opportunities for student teachers todevelop their teaching skills at their schools of practice This is becausemicroteaching serves as training ground for teaching practice Moreover,

xii

microteaching serves as a meeting point between the theory and the practice for service training of teachers Ike (2003) believed that microteaching was developed

pre-as an answer to the question of how best can teachers be prepared for the teachingprofession It is when student teachers acquire the necessary teaching skills throughmicroteaching that they are posted to the field for teaching practice

Furthermore, microteaching helps teacher trainees develop skills such aspreparing lesson plans, speaking in front of a group, asking questions and usingevaluation techniques, etc In this way there are many opportunities to learnmultiple skills that are important for teaching in a short time Also, it makes itpossible to create an environment that involves thinking differently and interaction(Gee, 1992)

Besides, microteaching is effective for teacher candidates/trainees in acquiringindividual skills of planning lessons, grabbing learners’ attention, presentation,using the necessary materials, using reinforcements, asking appropriate questions,using body language (Ananthakrishnan, 1993) Also, it is known that the act ofteaching a micro-lesson requires both the accuracy (grammar, vocabulary,pronunciation and so on) in structures and fluency as well as the effectiveness incommunication Thus, students can have opportunities to apply all knowledge theyhave learned in teaching a micro-lesson

Microteaching is a compulsory course for the fourth-year English pedagogicalstudents at Hue University of Foreign Languages After students have learned aboutteaching methodology theories, they have one course to practice and apply thesetheories in the real life teaching cases So this course is always important for thepedagogical students It gives students opportunities to practice and master theories

of the techniques in groups Despite the fact that there have been several studies onthe topic of microteaching abroad and in Vietnam, there has been no research tofocus on the actual evaluation of teachers on the microteaching by Englishpedagogical students It is just necessary to carry out the proposed study to examinethe forms and contents of teachers’ evaluation on students’ microteaching

xiii

This study is meaningful to the teachers who are teaching or have taught thecourse of microteaching to pedagogical students Through answers in questionnairesand interview of students, teachers will know their views and expectations so thatthey can help their students learn well and gain high scores in microteaching.Moreover, from evaluation of teachers, students will be able to adapt suitablelearning methods of learning to improve their performance in microteaching to gainthe best results in teaching In other words, both teachers and students will benefitfrom the results of this study

Above are the reasons for which I have decided to choose this topic for my

research: A study on teachers’ assessment of microteaching by EFL teacher

students at Hue University of Foreign Languages.

1.2 Significance

This study aims to investigate the perceptions of EFL teachers and students onteachers’ evaluation of their microteaching the actual microteaching was carriedout Microteaching has been used to train student teachers at Hue University ofForeign languages for many years However, whether microteaching has beenapplied effectively or not and what students think about teachers’ assessment oftheir microteaching has not been studied The study therefore aims to examine howteachers’ evaluation of students’ microteaching, draw out implications to better theprocess of evaluation and propose suggestions for pedagogical students to doeffective microteaching and for teachers to have more effective microteachingcourses Moreover, the research will help teachers to perceive advantages andlimitations in microteaching assessment so that they may have appropriateadjustment to increase efficiency of the course Also, this research will providesome measures to increase the effectiveness for microteaching evaluation.Furthermore, the research will increase students’ awareness of evaluation inmicroteaching It also provides some measures to satisfy their concerns ofmicroteaching assessment

xiv

1.3 Research questions

This study plans to investigate the reality of teachers’ assessment ofmicroteaching by EFL teacher students at Hue University of Foreign languages Inorder to determine how microteaching can be assessed by teachers, it is important toexplore the processes such assessment is achieved Therefore, this study aims atseeking the answers for three following questions:

1 How are EFL teacher students’ microteaching evaluated?

2 What are EFL teacher students’ attitudes toward teachers’ evaluations oftheir microteaching?

3 What are EFL teacher students’ suggestions to teachers’ evaluations of theirmicroteaching?

1.4 Research scope

The study was conducted at Hue University, College of Foreign Languages.The participants of research included EFL teacher students However, only thefourth-year English pedagogical students were invited to participate into the studybecause they have been taught the practicum course to practice their teaching skillbefore graduating Furthermore, assessment refers to general process of monitoring

or keeping track of learning progress Assessment is a broader concept In thisstudy, it is a part of the whole educational process of teaching and learning.Evaluation occurred after assessment information has been collected, synthesizedand thought about It means that evaluating was based on the facts and figures oftesting and assessment to judge the performance of learners

1.5 Research significance

For teachers, this study will help them to recognize advantages and limitations

in microteaching assessment so that teachers can have suitable adjustments toincrease efficiency and reduce the restrictions Furthermore, this study will providesome measures to increase the effectiveness for microteaching evaluation.Moreover, for students, this research hopes to increase students’ understanding ofevaluation in microteaching Besides, it provides some measures to satisfy their

xv

concerns of microteaching evaluation The third significance of the thesis is todocument students’ suggestions to improve the microteaching assessment.

1.6 The structure of the thesis

This study consists of five chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction: states a general direction of the thesis, rationale,

purposes, research questions, research significance and the scope of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review: clarifies concepts of terms, relevant literature

review on microteaching assessment, pitfalls in assessment, and assessment criteria.Also the previous studies related to the current are analyzed

Chapter 3: Research methodology: outlines the research approaches, methods

of data collection, and data analysis

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion: report, analyze collected data and discuss

them in the light of the literature

Chapter 5: Conclusion and suggestions: summarize main findings and give

out some suggestions that might help other researchers to conduct furtherinvestigation in the same research topic

xvi

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction

This chapter states a general idea of microteaching It also focuses on definitions

of assessment, and microteaching assessment Furthermore, microteaching purposes,principles and types are presented Lastly, the chapter presents review of previousstudies related to the current one

2.2 Microteaching

Microteaching has been defined as “a scaled down realistic classroom trainingcontext in which teachers, both experienced and inexperienced, may acquire newteaching skills and refine old ones” (McKnight, 1980, p 214) This technique isdeveloped at Stanford University in the United States Stanford and it is a way tobetter trainee teachers in the early and mid 1960’s for elementary school teachers

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the use of microteaching spread rapidly inthe U.S, Europe and some other developing countries In addition, Konstantinos(2012) defined microteaching as a method of teacher training that is current andeffective for acquisition of specific teaching skills It is considered as a trainingtechnique for prospective teachers in Universities and Colleges of Education.Microteaching serves as a precondition for the improvement of the quality ofEducation

Also, microteaching is a method that has been used for many years in learning environments It is a remarkable factor used in teaching practices of pre-service teachers (Görgen, 2003) Microteaching method offers new and differentopportunities to pre-service teachers about the planning and implementation of newteaching strategies Microteaching has an important place in preparation for theteaching profession because of its potential to emphasize the relationship betweentheory and practice (Ajayi-Dopemu and Talabi, 1986) Microteaching is a technique inteacher education which provides a transition from theory to real teaching situations(Çelik, 2001) Microteaching is one of the efforts by the pre-service teachers totransfer the knowledge and skills into action, and thus, they try to bridge the gap

teaching-xvii

between the theory and practice (Gürses, Bayrak, Yalçı Açıkyıldız & Doğar, 2005).

In microteaching practice, lesson duration is short (5-20 minutes) and the number ofthe students is few, with no more than 20 minutes (Külahçı, 1994) In respect tosubject, teachers work to meet the teaching skill

Besides, Görgen (2003) states that pre-service teachers can experience realteaching situations with microteaching, and they have the opportunities to transfertheir teaching knowledge into practice Thus, it can be said that microteaching canprovide the possibility of forming a trial situation for teaching activities Inmicroteaching, pre-service teachers find opportunities to develop skills to preparelesson plans, choose teaching goals, take students’ attention, speak in front ofgroup, ask questions, managing time effectively, and assessment techniques (Kılıç,2010) In this way, pre-service teachers improve their classroom management skills

It provides expert supervision and a constructive feedback and above all if providesfor repeated practice without adverse consequences to the teacher or his students(Ananthakrishnan, 1993) Micro-teaching practices improved both student’s andteachers' self-confidence and the teaching skills are emphasized (Şen, 2009; Şen,2010) There have been researched indicating that microteaching is useful, pre-service teachers can gain much in case of using microteaching and that their views

on teaching can improve much with the help of microteaching

Ofoefuna (2002) defined microteaching as a component skill approach toteachers’ preparation and training Without adequate acquisition of teaching skills,learning process cannot be effective McKnight (2003) viewed microteaching aslaboratory training procedure for simplification of the complexities of teaching –learning process In the attempt to define the concept of micro-teaching, Abifarin(2004) examined the two words involved: micro and teaching Micro meanssomething that is small while teaching means the art of giving instruction When thetwo words are joined together, it becomes micro-teaching, which means givinginstruction on a smaller scale In agreement with Abifarin, Ajayi (2006) describedmicro-teaching as a system of controlled practice that makes it possible for studentteachers to concentrate on specific teaching behaviors

xviii

In addition, Yusuf (2006) described microteaching as the practical trainingtechnique which gives the students and the teacher the opportunity to master theskills inherent in teaching in a laboratory environment before actual classexperience Adewoyin (2007) defined micro-teaching as an instructional methodemployed in the professional training of teachers Aggarwal (2007) describedmicroteaching as a training procedure that aims at simplifying the complexities ofthe regular teaching procedure The student teacher engages in a scaled downteaching situation in terms of time, class size, content of the subject matter andteaching tasks Teg (2007) defined microteaching as a process whereby studentteacher learns to acquire the rudiments of teaching in the classroom Microteachingprepares student teachers on what they need to master before going to the field forteaching practice Microteaching is a course or practical experience which preparesthe student teachers ahead of the challenges that await them in their future teachingcareer as educators Patel and Mohasina (2011) described microteaching as anorganized practice teaching which aims at giving instructors confidence, supportand feedback It is a quick, proven and fun way of helping teachers get off to astrong start It is designed for the training of both pre-service and in-serviceteachers.

Furthermore, Egunjobi, Nwaboku and Salawu (2011) described microteaching

as a program that prepares student teachers for the main teaching practice Theyexplained that microteaching is an indispensable course for student teachers This isbecause they need to observe and acquire for teaching tasks Isa and Jusoff (2011)considered microteaching as the ultimate sessions where the undergraduates put intopractice theories Also, Singh (2011) described microteaching as a safe practice, avehicle for continuous training and a new approach to supervision

In addition, Saxena and Khajanche (2012) explained that microteaching is ateacher training technique which helps the student teachers to master the skills ofteaching Recently, Tidwell (2013) viewed microteaching as a session of practiceteaching that is videotaped for the teacher to watch Microteaching is suitable forpotential, new and existing teachers to review their teaching techniques and receive

xix

feedback from fellow teachers and administrators The feedback received is used formaking corrections to their teaching style accordingly As every human activity orbehavior is geared towards achieving a purpose so also, microteaching has aim,goals and objectives Microteaching as an innovation in education has intention oftraining pre-service teachers in skills acquisition so as to make them effective andprofessional.

Moreover, Kpanja (2001) states that microteaching has been viewed as asuccessful method in teaching candidates’ education and used in several places,stages of professional development for some time I totally agree with those definednotions as the matter of fact that during every course of microteaching, the advisorusually sits and watches the teaching performance of the trainees He or she doesnot interrupt the lesson but records the problems, which are used to provide feed-back and correction after the microteaching lesson Thus, the microteaching topreserve teacher education programs is more effective than tradition teaching Microteaching has been implemented into methodology courses in an attempt

to increase the effectiveness of the course as well as the teacher education overall

As microteaching provides students with opportunity to explore the field of teachingand gain knowledge and skills that are necessary for future teaching, it has beenwidely adopted in teacher education programs as a professional development tool(Benton-Kupper, 2001 & Wahba, 2003)

And Slagoski (2007) also indicates that by letting the trainees try out a shortslice of what they plan to do with their students in front of their fellows,microteaching aims to give them confidence, support, and feedback as well Sharingthe same idea, Benton-Kupper (2001) states that microteaching helps pedagogicalstudents improve their teaching skill by providing them with opportunities topractice on their performances Nowadays, as the consequence of adapting thecommunicative approach more and more in classroom, the role of learners, ingeneral, and language learners, in particular, is put more emphasis on

xx

2.3 Aims of microteaching

The major objective of microteaching as enumerated by Aggarwal (2008) andJason and Tiffany (2010) is to enable student teachers to learn and assimilate newteaching skills under controlled conditions or environment Microteaching enablesstudent teachers to master a number of teaching skills which empower them to gainconfidence in teaching One time- honored adage says: “You cannot learn to swim

if you do not get in the water” Another objective of microteaching mentioned byAjibade (2009) is that it is geared towards equipping student teachers to gainconfidence in teaching This it does by making the student teachers to master anumber of skills on a small group of students Gorgen (2003) stated thatmicroteaching aimed at helping student teachers to gain confidence and researchskills Through microteaching, student teachers can gain pre-service and in-serviceteaching experiences and academic self-confidence

The purposes of microteaching mainly relate to the effort to “give instructorsconfidence, support, and feedback” for what they are planned to do with their realstudents in the future “Simple, single concept lessons” (Allen & Wang, 2002,p.1620) help them pay attention to their performance, resulting in detailed analysis

of the microteaching practice Their application of every aspect of teachingmethodology is put into careful consideration to see what has come up to expectedstandard and what has not This is what can be done in a microteaching sessiononly, not in a usual long and complicated lesson in which the teacher tends to

“cover far more materials than students could absorb” (Dadswell, 2000, p.1).Besides, Bell (2007) describes micro-teaching as the common practice of havingstudent teachers in educational method courses “teach” a lesson to their peers inorder to gain experience with lesson planning and delivery He insists that micro-teaching is a system of controlled practice that makes it possible to focus on specificteaching behaviors and practice teaching under controlled conditions

Moreover, micro lessons are great opportunities to present sample “snapshots”

of what/how you teach and to get some feedback from colleagues about how it wasreceived It's a chance to try teaching strategies that the teacher may not use

xxi

regularly It's a good, safe time to experiment with something new and get feedback

on technique Micro-lesson study as an aspect of micro-teaching which according to(Fernandez and Robinson, 2006) is a cooperative learning experience which intends

to challenge prospective teachers’ thinking about teaching and learning, and toencourage their connection between theory and practice

Also, several studies have revealed that microteaching comprises practicalexperiences for meeting the desired objectives of training teachers to becomeeffective and reflective in teaching profession (Benton-Kupper, 2001; Amobi, 2005;Eick and et al., 2005) In this sense, microteaching activities enhance studentteachers to gain professional experiences such as efficiency on preparing andapplying lesson plans by taking target students’ capabilities, learning capacities,needs, and expectations In consequence of such experiences, they become moreconscious about their future occupations and can be able to implement teachingissues successfully in real school environments Some studies have concluded thatmicroteaching activities help student teachers overwhelm their anxiety levels, defeathesitation and fear, increase professional commitment, raise consciousness aboutteaching profession, become efficient in all topics related to teaching proficiency,learn how to interact with students, become experienced in testing and evaluating,become professional for taking student’s attention to lesson, consume timeprofessionally, utilize educational technologies, and control classroom management(Arends, 2000; Karamustafaoglu and Akdeniz, 2002)

Futhermore, the efficiency of microteaching on gaining professionalconsciousness is generally agreed; additionally, microteaching helps studentteachers analyze their present teaching performance in order to discover theirstrengths and weaknesses by engaging in reflective practice Reflective practice inteaching implies a tendency to revisit the sequence of one’s teaching for the purpose

of making thoughtful judgments and decisions about improved ways of acting in thefuture, or in the midst of the action itself (Kottcamp, 1990) Due to the reflection byteacher educators while student teachers are teaching, reflective habits of mind can

be extended (Valli, 1997); in this sense, the quality of reflection is directly related to

xxii

guiding student teachers to use all aspects in their teaching experiences Further,microteaching technique is a reflective learning process shaping student teachers’professional growth Therefore, microteaching activities need to be considered aspositive experiences which improve the development of professional awareness.According to Allen and Ryan (1969), microteaching indeed gives the realteaching Although the teaching situation in micro teaching is constructed in ascene, yet it is real teaching, having real purposes Also it helps to reduce thecomplexities of real class room teaching The class time, duration and skills arereduced Besides, microteaching also focuses on training: the main focus ofmicroteaching is to train the teachers and expand knowledge of results In microteaching, at the end of teaching session, teacher trainees exchange their views andprovide guidance In this way improvement is done One can improve his/herperformance as a result of feedback Furthermore, microteaching enables teachertrainees to analyze and develop teacher behavior under laboratory conditions, givesconfidence to the novice teachers to go to real class room Also it is helpful for preservice teachers for imparting skills in them, helpful for enabling trainee teachersregarding small group interaction and for novice teachers in developing reasoning,problem solving, and creativity among small group Moreover, microteachingbrings evaluative techniques in teacher trainees as well as enables the students inmanagerial tasks such as discipline, classroom management etc.

Besides, microteaching provides a training opportunity for student teacherswho benefits from mall of the advantages of the situation Such advantages arestudent teachers can able to act as pupils, as teachers, as sources of feedback and asvideo operator In other words, the instruction using of the microteaching inteaching practice may be effective on decreasing the pre-service teachers’ teachinganxiety in language or other areas Therefore, if the teacher education programshope to influence the development of effective instructional practices for studentteachers, they may focus on expanded microteaching in teaching practicumcourse Virtually any institution can adopt this microteaching model because of its

xxiii

flexibility and efficiency It is effective not only because it focuses on goodteaching practices, but also because it promotes collegiality

Kilic (2010) convinced that teachers’ jobs are guiding, orientation in students’learning styles, positive learning environment Also, the teachers need to considerwhat to teach, how to teach, where to teach, how to evaluate and how to and where

to use the evaluation results based on the need of their student in learning.Moreover, microteaching has long been used as a professional development tool inteacher training program Kilic (2010) found that microteaching helped teachers tobetter understand the processes of teaching and learning It provides teachers withopportunities to explore and reflect on their own and other’s teaching styles and toacquire new teaching techniques so microteaching is hypothesis in which teachercandidates or even experienced teacher practice the specific teaching context It isthought that microteaching should be conducted as similar as real situation so that itcan get the best result and potential mistakes were minimized in lowest level

2.4 Stages of microteaching

In this pattern of paying close attention to all aspects of teaching action, amicroteaching cycle comprises teach, review and reflect, re-teach (Arends, 2000).First of all, a microteaching lesson is initiated by teaching stage in which studentteachers teach a lesson While teaching, they are observed by their classmates andeducator; then, the lesson is discussed for evaluating student teachers performance;after that, in re-teaching stage, student teachers re-teach the lesson with regard tothe proposed points in the discussion and evaluation stage

Preparing lesson plans, as part of microteaching activities, in conformity withthe syntax of the lesson cycle is the initial stage of microteaching Preparing lessonplans are influential for gaining teaching experiences and making decisions onteaching points, and great differences can be observed between the lesson plansprepared and applied by less experienced teachers and experienced teachers(Richards, 2001) Because less experienced teachers may tend to follow their plansand seem devoted to teaching depending on it during teaching process, while

xxiv

experienced ones may tend to divert from their lesson plans at some points formaking decisions or adding activities to provide more practice when necessary Inthis sense, teaching practice through microteaching can be assumed as a boostingactivity for any interactive decision to be made during teaching Thus, studentteachers may gain experiences to make quick decisions in their lesson plans

Although organization of any course is usually planned before teaching andthe activities are arranged regarding the course duration and the needs of targetgroup, making changes in the prepared lesson plan may be required in some cases.Therefore, the sub-divisions of a lesson plan into which activities are included areongoing processes and can be modified by teachers when any problem isencountered (Woods, 1996) Hence, the success of a micro lesson is directly related

to lesson planning with comprehensible objectives in a planned sequence Initiatingthe lesson by gaining the attention of students at the beginning of the presentation,presenting the planned lesson by explaining and giving examples, using gesturesand body language during the presentation, focusing on the core of the plannedlesson, using teaching and audio-visual aids properly, highlighting ambiguity andencouraging student participation, asking and responding questions, and concludingthe teaching session by self-evaluation of student teachers and their classmates areall the subsequent stages of a micro lesson

In this context, depending on the implementation of microteaching activities, anumber of studies reveal that microteaching is an effective means of improving studentteachers' teaching skills depending on the prepare lesson plans (Yeany, 1978, Arends,2000) and a tool of continuous training applicable at all stages of the teachingprofession Although microteaching has long been used as a professional developmenttool in teacher training programs, student teachers are sometimes reluctant to involve inmicroteaching activities due to non-natural classroom environments, materialproduction procedures, time limited course schedules, etc., so this unenthusiasticattitude reduces the efficiency of microteaching (Stanley, 1998)

In addition, lack of satisfactory awareness of the use of microteaching has led

to criticisms that microteaching produces homogenized standard student teachers

xxv

with model procedures and stands for a form of teaching play in unnaturalsurroundings, that is, the artificiality of classroom environments; in addition, thecost and maintenance of equipment regarding reduced budgets of student teachers,the amount of time for preparing materials, the difficulty of material productionmay also cause unwillingness (Cripwell and Marion, 1982) The general emphasis

on practice with regard to microteaching disappears during student teaching,although students still stress the importance of preparation in general They attributethis change to the students’ perceptions of a lack of time for complete preparation(Lederman and Gess-Newsome, 1991) Consequently, limited time for preparationand wastefulness of microteaching may create obstacles in teaching processes ofstudent teachers and lead them to develop reluctant attitudes in teachingexperiences Despite these criticisms, in-depth awareness of microteaching, themotivation of the student teacher to improve himself/herself and the ability of theobserver to offer comprehensive feedback may bring into remarkable improvements

in teaching skills Therefore, this article deals with how efficient microteaching as ateaching tool in teacher education is and examines the student teachers’ enthusiasticand reluctant attitudes towards microteaching activities

The student teachers are required to teach a single concept, use a specifiedteaching skill, use a specified teaching skill for a short time and use the skill on avery small number of pupils According to Allen and Ryan (1969), microteaching is

a real teaching situation where the complexity of the real classroom teaching isreduced The reduction is done in terms of class size (population), time (duration)and content (task to be accomplished) The student teachers who are regarded as themicro-teachers teach between 5-10 pupils who are likely to be their classmates,colleagues and friends instead of facing the real classroom situation of about fifty(50) pupils Instead of teaching for forty (40) minutes as it is in the real classroomsituation, the micro-teachers prepare their lesson plan and teach for maximum often(10) minutes Micro-teaching is mainly on the practice of teaching in which anumber of learners are involved The thinking behind it is that a pre-service teachershould be guided to practice with a smaller number which may be gradually

xxvi

increased as his/ her competence increases The student teacher training procedure

is geared towards simplification of the complexities of the regular teaching-learningprocess Class size, time, task, and content are scaled down to provide optimaltraining environments The supervisor/mentor demonstrates the certain teachingskill to be practiced This may be live demonstration, or a video presentation of theskill Then, the group members select a topic and prepare a lesson of 10-15 minutes.The student teacher then has the opportunity to practice and evaluate his/her use ofthe skills Practice takes the form of a 10-to-15minute micro-teaching session inwhich 10 to 15 student teachers are involved

2.5 Steps of microteaching

According to Choudhary and Malik, 2013, micro teaching is used to developcertain skills of teaching procedure which has following steps:

Modeling the Skill: The orientation of prospective teachers regarding skill to

be practiced is very much compulsory Supervisors must state the rationale andpsychological base of the skill and then they must demonstrate the skill This step isknown as modeling There are two types of models:

- Perceptual Models: This kind of model is presented through presentation.The prospective teachers visually perceived this model

- Conceptual Models: This sort of model is presented in the form of writtendocument The prospective teachers virtually conceptualize this model In microteaching, perceptual model is most common The prospective teacher focuses on theskill to be practiced

Planning a Micro Lesson: The selection of content is very much important.

Normally, content must be selected in a way, which carries maximum margin forpracticing the skill The lesson is planned around that topic with the help of teacher orsupervisor The first two steps are the prerequisites for the proper practice session

The Teaching Session: After planning, the actual teaching session is started.

In this teaching session peer trainee teachers and supervisor are judging the

xxvii

performance of presenter The performance of the presenter is observed andrecorded An evaluation sheet is also used for evaluation.

The Critique Session: After presentation, the students leave the class The

presentation of presenter is played and the supervisor, the peers evaluate thepresenter, the presentation and give detailed critique of 5-8 minutes forimprovement

The Re-Planning Session: On the basis of feedback, the presenter recognizes

his weaknesses and he/she re-plan his teaching

The Re-Teach Session: In this session, the presenter teaches the same thing again.

The same content is taught to another student The supervisor and the peersevaluate the performance with evaluation tool In this step, the presenter teaches thesame thing without time lag

The Re-Critique Session: The same procedure is adopted as in critique session.

The feedback is provided again This helps the presenter the improving things Thissection must be handled carefully to motivate presenter and to improve his mistakes.These seven steps make one complete cycle Depending upon the need forimprovement, this session can be repeated Micro teaching aimed to acquire certainteaching skills It is the planned interaction between the teacher and the learners

2.6 Variants of microteaching

The greatest advantages of microteaching is its flexibility, it means thatmicroteaching can be designed to adapt to different conditions (Wallace, 1991).There are various modifications of microteaching although they all share the sametheoretical background Microteaching no longer keeps its original produre due tothe “constraint of resourses” of the train institution The first modifications weremade in Malawi, then Namibia, China and even in the United States to facilitate theincorporation of the teach and reteach stages (Allen & Wang, 2002)

The first variant is related to reteach stage Micro-lessons are allowed toreteach after a day or a week so student teachers have at least a day to prepare forthat (Wallace, 1991) In some other programs, the reteach is skipped altogether as it

xxviii

is sometimes regarded to be too luxurious to be included in the course Despite thefact that this detract may have negative effect on the whole microteaching session, itcannot be avoidable due to the limited time allowed for this practice

Another popular adaptation of microteaching is the increase in the class sizeused for microteaching Ideally, four or five students form a microclass for thetrainees to carry out the lessons; however, this is inconvenient regarding “the lack

of facility and staff for multiple, simultaneous sessions” (Allen & Wang, 2002,p.1622) This requires fellow trainees to work as mock students for a great number

of lessons and often have only one time to teach, resulting in their incapability to dothe reteach stage

The third variant that can be easily found is the longer microlesson for eachstudent teacher Instead of teaching a 5 to 10-minute lesson, a student teacher has towork in 15 to 20 minutes, in some cases up to 45 minutes like a real lesson One reasonfor that is the difficulty in dividing the whole lesson into single simple concepts to betaught It can be understood that there are many reasons for the choice of lengtheningthe microlesson The first one is that it replicates the real situation in which studentteachers have to teach 45-minutes lessons Secondly, it helps reduce the number ofmicroteaching sessions for each individual trainee, seeming to diminish the workloadfor them However, 5-minute microlessons still prove to be more sufficient for thepractice of many teaching skills in all subjects (Allen & Wang, 2002) That is whyanother modification was proposed by Beattie and Teather (1971, as cited in Wallace,

1991, p.58) in which a complete 30-minute lesson is divided into several units, each ofwhich is taught by a different student teacher

One more variation invented earlier due to the lack of technology ismicroteaching without hardware which was conducted in Malawi (Wallace, 1991)and many other undocumented places Microteaching is supposed to be carried outwith video or audio-taping in order for the supervisors and student teachers to lookback to their performance in the critique stag And such technologies are not alwaysavailable in some educational institutions which ideally can afford “one out of three

xxix

or four sessions to be videotaped to view the lesson immediately” (Allen & Wang,

2002, p.1622)

Moreover, the time allocation for microteaching practice is not sufficient forlong discussions with the replaying of the taped microlessons With regard to thisissue, Moore (1979) states that microteaching is still a powerful tool and thetraining results are acceptable without the presence of video although studentteachers are highly appreciative of trying modern technologies in their classes Allen and Wang (2002) present three new concepts of microteaching whichtend to simplify the procedures but concurrently increase its flexibility andadaptability This revolution was first launched in Namibia where student teacherswere low-qualified and technologies were limited and then more developed inChina where it became one of the measures applied to modernize their teachingpractice The first concept is self-study groups in which trainees take turn to act as

“mock teachers” and “mock learners” The second one is peer observation in whichpeer trainees provide their comments and feedback on their friend’s performance Inturn, the mock teachers have the opportunity to evaluate the suggestions theyreceive and decide to accept or reject them It is interesting to note that commentsfrom friends and supervisors are said to be equally valued

It can be seen that a typical lesson will combine multiple concepts within thesame topic, yet teachers often are not trained to break down their lessons intoindividual concepts Identifying single concepts and planning a single conceptlesson is itself an important skill Microteaching is well suited to help teachersidentify single concepts and learn how to create learning modules from whichlonger lessons can easily be constructed Longer lessons in microteaching greatlyincrease the complexity and duration of training sessions, reduce the number ofsessions possible for each individual trainee and tend to cause the training sessions

to lose focus

xxx

2.7 Assessment

Promoting student learning is a principal aim of all education Assessment lies

in the heart of this process It plays an important role in getting to know the studentsand the quality of their learning Thus, assessment is about several things at once It

is about reporting on students’ achievements and teaching them better through cleargoals of teachers It is about measuring student learning and diagnosingmisunderstandings in order to help students to learn more effectively It concernsthe quality of teaching and that of learning; it involves teachers in learning fromstudents’ experiences, and is about changing the teachers themselves and also theirstudents It is not about what a student can do but about what it means he or she can

do as well Assessing the learners is the process of gathering information about howmuch progress they can get in their learning and what they know in order todemonstrate the results of their learning process

Also, the assessment is often used in different contexts and means differentthings to different people Most of us think of assessment in terms of testing andgrading: scoring quizzes and exams and assigning course grades to students Wetypically use assessment as a way to inform students about how well they are doing

or how well they did in the courses we teach An emerging vision of assessment isthat of a dynamic process that continuously yields information about studentprogress toward the achievement of learning goals (Gatfield, 1999) This vision ofassessment acknowledge that when the information gathered is consistent withlearning goals and is used appropriately to inform instructions, it can enhancestudent learning as well as document it Rather than being an activity separate frominstructions, assessment is now being viewed as an integral part of teaching andlearning, and not just the culmination of instruction (Gatfield, 1999) It is a criticalcomponent of educational practices and thus impacts educational reform effort.(David, Kumtepe & Aydeniz, 2002)

Besides, it is important to distinguish the term “assessment” with other termssuch as testing, measurement, and evaluation In the search for definitions of

xxxi

assessment and testing, Rea-Dickins (2000) suggested that, assessment is the moreinclusive terms: it refers to general process of monitoring or keeping track oflearning’s progress Testing is one kind of assessment, which is typically used at theend of a stage of instruction to measure students’ achievement Assessment is abroader concept: it is a part of the whole educational process of teaching and learning.

In fact, assessment is a broad process of collecting, synthesizing andinterpreting information When people hear the world “assessment” they often thinkright way of test However, test is just “formal, systematic, paper-and-pencilprocedure used to gather information about students’ performance” (Airasian, 2007,p.96) Meanwhile, measurement is the process of quantifying or assigning a number

to performance Once assessment information is collected, teachers use it to makedecisions or judgments about students or classroom climate

Next, evaluation is defined as “the process of making judgments about what isgood or desirable” (Airisian, 2007, p.96) In addition, evaluation occurs afterassessment information has been collected, synthesized and thought about because this

is when the teacher is in a position to make information judgments From the aboveconcepts, it can be seen that there is an intimate relationship between testing,assessment and evaluation Testing is a kind of assessment while evaluating is based onthe facts and figures of testing and assessment to judge the performance of learners

In my research, I investigated the evaluation of teachers because evaluation is

a process of making a judgment or forming an opinion about the quality of alearner’s performance using the information gathered during an assessment.According to Davis (1980), the process of evaluating will attribute value to almosteverything related to students’ performance such as intentions, actions, decisions,performances, processes, people, and objects and so on However, the improvement

of the object of evaluation usually requires some degree of understanding which, inturn, depends upon appropriate data and information The main goal of evaluation is

to make available the best (most accurate, most useful) information for improvingunderstanding and fascinating decision-making He states that evaluation can be

xxxii

regarded as the process of delineating, obtaining and providing information usefulfor making decisions and judgments.

Moreover, Stronge and Tucker (2001) believe that teaching effectivenesscannot be accurately measured without looking at results In their view, even “bestpractice” teaching is effective only if appropriately applied Thus teacher evaluationmust consider both means and ends The evaluation of teachers based on thecontribution they make to the learning of their pre-service teachers Also, teacherevaluation is used to improve the ability of students The pre-service teacherstypically receive feedback on their performance as well as the scores from theirteachers High scores will prove their teaching ability From the teachers’evaluation, the students can gain more useful information of their performance thanthe theory they have been taught

Furthermore, the teachers’ evaluation is not a perfect tool to measure, but itcan reflect students’ teaching accurately It can be used to help students identifystrengths and weaknesses, and put a spotlight on the critical role of teachers inlearning Everyone wants to reward good teaching, but how to fairly and objectivelymeasure it? According to James Stronge and Tucker (2001), two experts in the field

of teacher evaluation, good teaching can be identified through value-addedassessment Teaching is an enormously complex task so pre-service teachers have

to combine of practical experience, judgment, passion, teaching strategies, and theability to adapt to different needs Therefore, the purpose of the teacher evaluation

in microteaching is to measure pre-service teachers’ effective practice and toadvance their performance Moreover, the most effective evaluation will be theleading indicator for improving pre-service teachers’ performance Moreover, theteacher evaluation in microteaching is very meaningful because this is theopportunity of pre-service students to recognize their strength and weakness Thenthey will try to make good their shortcomings in order to achieve the highest result

in their microteaching In short, the teachers’ evaluation is indispensable tostudents’ microteaching

xxxiii

In addition, Allen and Ryan (1969) suggested an evaluation sheet for theassessment and reinforcement of skills There are four dimensions of thereinforcement skills Firstly, teacher can appreciate the correct responses of students

by saying good, excellent, etc Secondly, the supervisor may use nonverbal cues toencourage the student Thirdly, the teacher gives credit to students who answer aquestion partly correct Lastly, the teacher should only refer to positive aspects of astudent’s previous responses

2.8 Microteaching assessment

Assessment is an essential element in the teaching and learning process.Through assessment, pre-service teachers can gather information about theeffectiveness of a lesson In microteaching, the assessment is focused on the lesson

in which the pre-service teachers assess all the elements involved in the teachingprocess done by their peers, and all the pre-service teachers are involved in makingthe assessment In other words, the pre-service teachers will take turns teaching andassessing their peers This practice provides an opportunity for all the pre-serviceteachers to learn every teaching element from each other Microteaching issimulated teacher training that is carried out by pre-service teachers The aim of thistraining is to construct pre-service teachers’ skills in teaching and learning activity(Sang, 2012)

Besides, this simulation training gives direct exposure to the pre-serviceteachers because each is required to teach in class The three crucial skillsemphasized in microteaching are the preparation of lesson plans, teaching, andlesson assessment (Amobi, 2005) The assessment is done by students who arechosen from the pre-service teachers in the microteaching classroom Theimplementation of microteaching is done by assigning a pre-service teacher to teach

by himself/herself, while the rest act as students in a classroom that is nearly similar

to a real situation (Eksi, 2012; Amobi, 2005) In addition, several of them areappointed to be cameramen The pre-service teachers are required to teachapproximately 30 to 40 minutes The general steps in microteaching include allthree crucial skills

xxxiv

In addition, assessment is used in the right way as part of teaching to supportand enhance learning that has the most significant impact Therefore, teachers andresearchers in the field of assessment have a strong professional interest inevaluating their own practice in line with current thinking and what constituteseffective educational assessment at the classroom level These ideas on educationalassessment also put forward a distinction between assessment of learning(assessment for purposes of grading and reporting with its own establishedprocedures) and assessment for learning (assessment whose purposes is to enablestudents, though effective feedback, to fully understand their own learning and thegoals they are aiming for) Therefore, to improve learning and indeed teaching,assessment must be formative in both functions and purposes and must put thestudent at the centre of the assessment process.

Thus, assessment is now defined and seen as an integral aspect of the teachingand learning cycle Rather than being an event that describes students’ typicalperformance at the end of a course or period of learning, it is a fundamental processthat describes students’ best performance across time and uses a range of methods

to capture evidence of best performance These methods range from tests andexaminations, performance assessments such as practical and oral demonstrations oflearning, teacher or classroom-based assessment, portfolios of work and studentsself-assessment

2.9 Purposes of microteaching assessment

We assess students for quite a range of different reasons- motivation, creatinglearning opportunities, to give feedback, to grade The main purpose of studentassessment is improving learning Besides other purposes of assessment are stated

xxxv

- To provide diagnostic information to instructor about individual students’understanding or difficulties in understanding new materials.

- To provide information to teachers about students’ perceptions and reactions

to the class, the material, the subject matter, or particular activities

- To provide an overall indicator of students’ success in achieving course goals

- To help students determine their overall strengths and weaknesses in learningthe course material

Microteaching is more successful if assessment is applied effectively.Moreover, the role of assessment is inevitable as assessment plays a central role inand inevitably influences their teaching and their students’ learning (Cheng, Rogers,Wang, 2008) Webb (2005:93) also mentions assessment’s purpose is to “designand administer assessments to produce scores that are consistent with the goals ofthe assessment, composing groups so that the results are fair, and preparing studentsfor collaborative group assessments”

In short, the purposes of assessment are to provide teachers and learners withinformation about how well students approach to certain knowledge, to recognizelearners’ weaknesses and strengths, and improving teaching methods

2.10 Principles of microteaching assessment

According to Assessment Reform Group (2002), there are 10 principles stated

(2) Assessment for learning should focus on how students learn

xxxvi

The process of learning has to be in the minds of both learners and teacherswhen assessment is planned and when the evidence is interpreted Learners shouldbecome as aware of the “how” of their learning as they are of the “what”

(3) Assessment for learning should be recognized as central to classroompractice

Much of what teachers and learners do in classrooms can be described asassessment That is, tasks and questions prompt learners to demonstrate theirknowledge, understanding and skills What learners say and do is then observed andinterpreted, and judgments are made about how learning can be improved Theseassessment processes are an essential part of everyday classroom practice andinvolve both teachers and learners in reflection, dialogue and decision making.(4) Assessment for learning should be regarded as a key professional skill forteachers

Teachers require the professional knowledge and skills to: plan forassessment; observe learning; analyze and interpret evidence of learning; givefeedback to learners and support learners in self-assessment Teachers should besupported in developing these skills through initial and continuing professionaldevelopment

(5) Assessment for learning should be sensitive and constructive because anyassessment has an emotional impact

Teachers should be aware of the impact that comments, marks and grades canhave on learners’ confidence and enthusiasm and should be as constructive aspossible in the feedback that they give Comments that focus on the work ratherthan the person are more constructive for both learning and motivation

(6) Assessment for learning should take account of the importance of learnermotivation

Assessment that encourages learning fosters motivation by emphasizingprogress and achievement rather than failure Comparison with others who havebeen more successful is unlikely to motivate learners It can also lead to their

xxxvii

withdrawing from the learning process in areas where they have been made to feelthey are “no good” Motivation can be preserved and enhanced by assessmentmethods which protect the learner’s autonomy, provide some choice andconstructive feedback, and create opportunity for self-direction.

(7) Assessment for learning should promote commitment to learning goalsand a share understanding of the criteria by which they are assessed

For effective learning to take place learners need to understand what it is theyare trying to achieve- and want to achieve it Understanding and commitmentfollows when learners have some part in deciding goals and identifying criteria forassessing progress Communicating assessment criteria involves discussing themwith learners using terms that they can understand, providing examples of how thecriteria can be met in practice and engaging learners in peer and self-assessment.(8) Learners should receive constructive guidance about how to improveLearners need information and guidance in order to plan the next steps in theirlearning Teachers should pinpoint the learner’s strengths and advise how todevelop them, be clear and constructive about any weaknesses and how they might

be addressed, and provide opportunities for learners to improve upon their work.(9) Assessment for learning develops learners’ capacity for self-assessment sothat they can become reflective and self-managing

Independent learners have the ability to seek out and gain new skills, newknowledge and new understandings They are able to engage in self-reflection and

to identify the next steps in their learning Teachers should equip learners with thedesire and the capacity to take charge of their learning through developing the skills

of self-assessment

(10)Assessment for learning should recognize the full range of achievements

of all learners

Assessment for learning should be used to enhance all learners’ opportunities

to learn in all areas of education activity It should enable all learners to achievetheir best and to have their efforts recognized

xxxviii

Similarly, principles for assessment are to provide the criteria for judging thequality of assessment materials and practices (Assessment Resource Center, NewSouth Wales, 2006).

The first principle is to emphasize the interactions between learning andmanageable assessment strategies that promote learning In essence, teachers reflect

on the purposes of assessment and on their assessment strategies Besides,assessment activities allow for demonstration of learning outcomes and assessment

is embedded in learning activities and informs the planning of future learningactivities Lastly, teachers use assessment to identify what a student can already do Secondly, one of the principles is clearly expressing for the student andteachers the goals of the learning activity By this way, students understand thelearning goals and the criteria that will be applied to judge the quality of theirachievement and receive feedback that helps them make further progress

Reflecting a view of learning in which assessment helps students learn better,rather than just achieve a better mark is another principle It means that teachers usetasks that assess, and therefore encourage deeper learning; feedback is given in away that motivates the learner and helps students to understand that mistakes are apart of learning and can lead to improvement; assessment is an integral component

of the teaching-learning process rather than being a separate activity

Furthermore, teachers should provide ways for students to use feedback fromassessment In another word, feedback is directed to the achievement of standardsand away from comparisons with peers, clear and constructive about students’strengths and weaknesses and individualized and linked to opportunities forimprovement

Next, one of the principles of assessment is to help students take responsibility fortheir own learning It means that assessment includes strategies for self-assessment andpeer assessment emphasizing the next steps needed for further learning

Lastly, assessment should be inclusive of all learners To do this, assessmentagainst standards must provide opportunities for all learners to achieve their bestand assessment activities should be free of bias

xxxix