There are at least two limitations to this study. The first limitation is that the coding of the students' turns was confined to as few as two COLT Part B categories, the target language use, and the sustained speech. It would have been much better to expand the coding of the student turns to other COLT Part B categories such as “form restriction” and “incorporation of student/teacher utterances.” Widening the coding range of the turns could be a possible research plan.
The second limitation is that we described the preservice English teacher speech with the attention only to the target language use; the L1, the L2, and the Mix. We wrapped up the nature of the language use to the target language use only, setting aside the intra-language use features like minimal and sustained. If we had scrutinized these intra-language use of the preservice teachers with the students' intra-L2 features, we could have amplified the relationship between the preservice TL use and their students TL production. We could propose conducting more tightly woven coding and examination of the preservice teacher L2 speech and their students L2 production.
Compensating the limitations of this study by conducting the above-proposed studies would bring the researchers closer to understanding the classroom TL interactions with preservice teachers and students, thus benefitting the preservice teacher trainers and eventually contributing to the enhancement of the CLT in the countries where English is taught as a foreign language.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to extend their sincere appreciation toward the 20 preservice teachers who participated in the study, some of whom are now in-service English teachers in different parts of Japan. This study would never have been possible without them contributing their teaching demonstration transcripts for classroom interaction coding analyses.
REFERENCES
Council of Europe. (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Retrieved from https://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/source/framework _en.pdf
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan. (2017). Chuugakkou
94 Gakushuu Shidou Youryou [The Corse of Study for Junior High Schools]. Retrieved from http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/micro_detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2018/0 5/07/1384661_5_4.pdf
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan. (2018). Heisei 29 nendo eigo kyoiku jisshi jokyo chosa (chugakko) no kekka [Results of English Language Education Progress Report on Junior High Schools in the Year 29 of the Heisei Period]. Retrieved from http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2018/04/06/1 403469_08.pd
Spada, N., & Frửhlich, M. (1995). COLT Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching Observation Scheme, Coding Conventions and Applications. Sydney: Macquarie University.
95 APPENDIX.
COLT Part B Coding Features.
(Adapted from Spada & Frửhlich,1995, p. 20)
Classroom Observation Experience on Teach for Malaysia Distance Learning Programme for Secondary Schools
Kamarudin, Lailatul Zuraidah 1, C.P. Ang2 and K.S. Kan3
1 Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Temenggong Ibrahim Johor lailazk2002@yahoo.com.sg
2 Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Temenggong Ibrahim Johor chweepin819@yahoo.com
3 Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Temenggong Ibrahim Johor estherkanks@yahoo.co.uk
KEYWORDS:classroom mentoring, Teach for Malaysia, distance learning, secondary school practicum, observations
ABSTRACT
Post-graduate Diploma in Education Programme (PDPLI) TESL has been conducted in the Teacher Education Institute since 2016. It is a collaboration between the Malaysian Ministry of Education with Teach for Malaysia (TFM) Foundation, which recruits outstanding graduates and young professionals to be full-time teachers in high-need schools through their two-year Fellowship. Currently, this is the third batch being run in teacher education institutes, in the form of a distance learning mode. 28 students from the January 2017 intake have their teaching monitored during their first and second semesters and also during their 3-month practicum practices at their respective secondary schools. Based on the observations, interviews with the school administrators and school-based mentors, and documents gathered, the findings show that the majority of these fellows still lack relevant pedagogical skills. However, their classroom management skills had improved gradually over the months.
The researchers recommend more lessons on designing and adapting teaching materials and skills to be taught to these fellows. The researchers also hope that existing and future trainers from other teacher education institutes will be better informed with the sharing of good classroom mentoring practices. The retention rate of this batch of TFM Fellows had been the highest since the inception of this programme, as the fellows can opt to leave the teaching profession once their 2-year Fellowship ends.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The Post-Graduate Diploma in Education programme (PDPLI) Teaching of English as A second language (TESL) for Teach for Malaysia is a two-year programme conducted by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with Teach for Malaysia foundation. Firstly introduced in 2016 in the southern region, , it has so far recruited about 66 fellows among fresh graduares and working adults with the aim of making a difference in the Malaysian education scenario, particularly in Band 5 secondary schools in Malaysia. The fellows are attached to schools as an employee of the Ministry of Education (MoE), they are given a salary as in an initial salary scale of DG 41 and perform duties of an English teacher and other given duties assigned by the school
97 management. In addition, the fellows are required to attend weekend lectures at the assigned Teacher Education Institute, to fulfil the requirement of the Post-Graduate Diploma in Education programme (PDPLI) TESL. These classes are module based, whereby the fellows are required to do independent reading up and prepare for tutorials.
Lecturers provide the essential input and discussion during the face to face interaction, which is essentially necessary to equip them with the required pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge which would be useful for their academic roles when they are in school.
Additionally, the Teach for Malaysia Foundation will from time to time conduct workshops and meetings on the weekends to enhance the leadership skills among its fellows. They are usually organaized by the TFM alumni; among them were senior fellows who joined the programme in the earlier cohorts. Thus, with the academic support given by the Teacher Education Institute lecturers and the leadership skills honed by their seniors, the TFM fellows have the advantage of equipping themselves with knowledge and skills that are essential for their personal and developmental growth as teachers.
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
Experience is the best teacher but for novice teachers, guidance in acquiring those experiences is imperative, as they lacked in their repertoire of instructional strategies. In the case of Teach for Malaysia fellows who did their Post Graduate Diploma in Education programme (PDPLI) Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL), most of them entered the teaching field with minimal pedagogical knowledge or skills. Mostly fresh graduates from local and overseas universities, they need to be taught on how to establish the positive, organized learning environment necessary for them to teach and for students to learn(Freiberg :2002). Classroom management skills such as managing time, asking questions and giving feedeback, using resources and other arrays of effective teaching skills will be in order if the fellows are guided. Thus a supervising lecturer and a school based mentor, in which each fellow is attached, will observe the fellow’s classroom teaching, provide feedback and subsequently follow up on areas that they lacked.
One of the main objective of classroom observation is for the enhancement of pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of the fellows. With a maximum of 27 contact hours per subject for TESL, it is impossible for the fellows to fulfil the desired learning objectives of each lecture and tutorial. Thus, observation is imperative so that the transfer of learning is made concrete.
Several studies on teacher knowledge stress on the importance of knowledge that teacher holds, whereby in addition to assimilating academic knowledge, student teachers should also need to incorporate knowledge derived from experiental and practical experiences in the classroom (Guerriero, n.d.). The initiatives carried out on TFM fellows indeed aims at providing the platform for them to gain hands-on experiences that serve to enrich their repertoire of pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. It is the rich classroom context that will put the fellows in the thick of action. From the intial stage of set induction, the presentation, practice, production and the lesson’s closure, they will be noted during observations. These observations further enabled supervising lecturers and school based mentors to capture those actions and to provide constructive feedback. Further reflection and discussion in post-conference sessions should enhance the fellows’ pedagogical knowledge and
98 pedagogical content knowledge. After all, classroom observations serve as the bridge between the worlds of theory and practice (Reed & Bergemann, 2001).
Although observations are for various forms of appraisal, in the case of the TFM fellows however, it is for the purprose of professional development (Montogomery:2002 in Lasagabaster and Sierra: 2011). It is to ensure that the fellows’
classroom practices are in tandem with the current demands of the educational system.
Additionally, the observation seeks to improve any discrepancies and loopholes in teaching; and the discussion that follows after each observation is perceived to play a significant role in teacher formation Zaare (2012).
Montgomery (2002) in Lasagabaster and Sierra: (2011) asserts that classroom observation is a key component in teacher professional development. It is further advocated that any quest for improving language teachers’ training and teaching quality should revolve around the teaching and learning process and that will take place in the classroom (Montgomery; 2002 in Lasagabaster and Sierra: 2011).
Gosling’s (2002) second category of third party observation is similar to classroom observation. This model is often used within programmes leading to a formal qualification in teaching in the United Kingdom. ‘The Development Model’ as labelled by Gosling is summative in nature and it assesses the individual’s teaching skills. The main purpose is for the observer to give expert feedback in order to encourage improvement in teaching competencies and it is often by way of an agreed action plan.
This notion concurs with the principle of classroom observation for TFM fellows. The scheduled observations by the supervising lecturers and school based mentors are geared towards examining how the fellows prepare their lessons and how they are conducted in the classroom. In addition, other teaching skills such as the effective use of resources and questioning techniques will also be observed. Appraisal forms PR1 and PR2 are used both by the supervising lecturer and the school based mentor for the purpose of this evaluation. A post-conference session is conducted after each observation for the purpose of appraising strengths and weakeness of the lesson, and how it can improved.
Therefore, classroom observations conducted on the TFM fellows in the three months practicum stint are indeed purposeful for the enhancement of their professional knowledge as teachers. When this happens, the retention rate of the fellows is higher as they gradually gained the confidence to carry out classroom teachings instead of leaving them frustrated and disillusioned of their role as teachers.
3.0 METHODOLOGY
This paper presents a small study involving 28 secondary teachers who are currently teaching in 17 secondary schools in a town near Johor Bahru, Johor. In this study, both observations and structured interviews were employed. There were three types of observation forms being utilised namely for School Administrator, School- based Mentor (SBM) and Fellow. In the structured interview, the question domains and questions had been pre-determined and answers were mostly open (Johansson &
Svedner, 2010). These structured interviews were conducted on school administrators, SBMs and fellows. The other method used for data collection was observation and these observations were carried out only on the fellows based on the 12 items in Construct A.
Figure 1 below shows the process of the classroom obesrvations that were carried out. The 28 fellows registered for training in Post-graduate Diploma in
99 Education Programme (PDPLI) Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL) at the Teacher Education Institute (TEI) in early January 2017. They began their training immediately during weekends in which the dates for lectures were provided by the Institute of Teacher Education Malaysia (IPGM).
The first classroom observation was carried out in the months of May to June 2017 while the second was conducted between September to October 2017. It was obligatory for fellows to go through two observations each year throughout their two years of teacher training.
As discussed above, observations that were conducted to gauge the fellows’
performance in schools were made through interviews, discussions, document analysis and classroom observations as indicated in Table 1 below. Triangulations were done through interviews with the administrators and the mentors in schools. The observations covered 10 domains whereby 8 of the 10 domains were answered according to the Likert scale, that is from the A domain right up to the H domain.
Figure 1: The process of observations Registration at Teacher Education Institute (TEI)
Weekends Lecture
(First year first semester January – June)
Observation 1 (Semester 1 May-June)
Weekends Lecture
(First year second semester July - December)
Observation 2
(Semester 2 September - October)
Practicum (Second Year)
Observation 1 (Second Year)
Observation 2
100 Table 1: The Observation Domains and Items Survey (1st and 2nd Observations)
Construct Item
A. Preparation and Implementation of Teaching and Learning
12
B. Classroom management 04
C. Mentor guidance 02
D. Leadership Development Officer (LDO) guidance
03
E. Fellows’ leadership 03
F. Knowledge Transferring Skill 03
G. Fellows’ integrity 05
H. Quality Resource Product 01