Student Teachers' Perceptions Toward Microteaching Program as a Preparation of Teaching Practicum

Abstract

Microteaching has been used widely by many teaching education programs to enhance student teachers' teaching experiences. Nevetheless, a question toward the effectiveness of microteaching as teaching practicum preparation program for the student teachers has been discussed for many years. This study investigated the views of student teachers toward the roles of microteaching in a teaching practicum. A combination of quantitative and qualitative instruments was employed for the purpose of gathering the data. There were 50 seventh semester student teachers of English Department who had been finished teaching practicum and were chosen randomly as the participants. Overall, the result showed that microteaching program positively gave significant roles in teaching practicum in the aspect of lesson planning, self confidence, communication skill, and time management. However, the finding also revealed that classroom management skill needed to be taught more for the success of student teachers' teaching peformances in teaching practicum. Then, evaluations given during microteaching also were regarded positively for the improvement of student teachers' teaching skill and competencies. This study ended with the recommendations and the directions for the future studies.