The perceptions of TESL teacher trainees towards the effectiveness of microteaching subject (SPA 2001) in preparing them for teaching practice

Microteaching is a subject that helps teacher trainees in practicing their knowledge and skills of teaching to prepare themselves for teaching practice. In relation to this, a study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of UTM’s TESL teacher trainees towards the effectiveness of microteaching subject (SPA 2001) in preparing them for teaching practice. A total of 39 TESL teacher trainees were selected to be the respondents of this study. The instruments used in this study were questionnaire and interview. The questionnaire was adapted from previous studies done by Ngui Kuan Sang (1982/1983) and McGarvey and Swallow (1986). Interviews were also carried out on 4 respondents to gain further insight on the topic of this study. Data were analyzed descriptively using Statistic Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16. The overall findings of the study show that the TESL teacher trainees perceived microteaching subject as effective in preparing them for teaching practice. However, there were problems faced by the trainees during teaching practice especially in handling students and teaching situations. Furthermore, the findings also revealed that the respondents highly valued the feedbacks given by their supervisor, peers and cooperative teacher. Finally, suggestions were also given on how to improve the microteaching subject for the benefit of TESL teacher trainees

Student's understanding and practices regarding Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in Malaysian Secondary Schools

Nowadays in most of the educational systems all over the world many curriculum designers as well as administrators in the ministry of education of different countries recommended a very well-known approach of language teaching and learning namely Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the English classes. In such a circumstance that CLT has been widely adopted by textbook designers and material writers all over the world, especially in ESL countries, different researches which have been conducted in the ESL/EFL countries shows that still in many cases teachers and students have different challenges and problems in order to apply CLT in their schools. In this study researchers attempted to investigate how CLT understood and implemented in Malaysian secondary schools from the students’ point of view. In order to get a clear picture of students’ understanding, perceptions and the way that they incorporate CLT in the secondary schools a semi-structured interview was conducted among 30 ESL Malaysian students in Malaysian secondary schools. Results of the study showed different contextual and cultural problems regarding implementation of CLT from the students’ viewpoint. There were some mismatches between what is going on in Malaysian secondary schools English classes and what has been assigned to do by the curriculum of the ministry of education of this country. At the end of the study some pedagogical implications have been proposed by the researchers which can help decision makers in the language teaching and learning of this country

Revisiting the writing competencies expected by industries in an exit test

The writing component of the Test of English Communication Skills for Graduating Students (UTM-TECS) measures competencies of understanding of task and situation, critical creative thinking, analysis and evaluation of task, choice of lexis, accuracy and clarity of expressions and coherent flow of ideas. Five years into its implementation, a revisit of the requirements was made to reassess the validity of this measurement. The methodology comprises two stages. First, it involved test design, assessment of scripts and sampling of the different levels by the language practitioners as had previously been established. Second, interviews with the workplace professionals from diverse specialisations. The procedure involved showing selected scripts to workplace professionals for them to evaluate the adequacy of the test and to assess the quality of the writing as they deem satisfactory and acceptable in their work settings. Interviews were then conducted after the evaluation session to elicit the workplace professionals’ views and expectations of writing competencies in their respective organisation. Qualitative analysis of the data revealed adequacy of the test but recommendation were used to re-design the UTM-TECS Test of Writing to meet the new expectation of the workplace professionals