The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of
microteaching practicum to teaching practice exercise in Colleges of
Education in Plateau State, Nigeria. To achieve this aim, the research
formulated two objectives and two research questions were raised to guide
the research, while two hypotheses were also formulated and tested at 0.05
level of significance.The design
used for the study was ex-post facto research design to determine the
possible relationship and effects of the dependent variables. The population
of the study consist of three Colleges of Education in Plateau State. A
sample of 1200 NCE students results of both microteaching and teaching
practice were used as sample for the study. The sampling technique used was
stratified random sampling technique. The data for the study was collected
using Microteaching Observation Checklist (MOC) and Teaching Practice
Assessment Checklist (TPAC) which has been developed by National Commission
for Colleges of Education, (NCCE). The validity and reliability of the
instrument was sought and based on the judgment of experts, the instrument
was found to be valid and reliable with a reliability co-efficient of 0.7.
The data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation for the
research questions and t-test for unrelated samples of hypotheses one and
three and analysis of covariance ANCOVA for hypothesis two. Findings from
the study revealed that the experiences of microteaching and its
effectiveness improved the performance of the pre-service teachers at the
teaching practice exercise and the actual teaching profession. It was
recommended among others, the need for teachers in curriculum studies to
encourage and lay emphasis on the various skills in microteaching: Class
control, use of instructional materials, and set induction.
Micro-teaching
is technically a scaled-down teaching encounter which helps pre-service and
in-service teachers to improve both contents and methods of teaching and
develop specific teaching skills such as probing questions, questioning,
explanation, illustration and stimulus variation. According to Chuajin, Chammei (2011) and Salawu, (2011) in their
separate studies, micro-teaching has been in use
worldwide since its introduction at the Stanford university in the late 1950s
by Dwight, Robert and Romney. Its purpose is to provide teachers with the
opportunity for concept lessons in any teaching subject. Abo McNight cited in
Milhis, Hertel, and Neyed (2007) in Romesh (2013), sees micro-teaching as a
scaled-down realistic classroom training context in which teachers both experienced
and inexperienced may acquire new teaching skills and refine old ones. This intones that microteaching is a
temporal platform created by expert teachers for trainee teachers to interact
with mock students, to practice theoretical knowledge and acquire new skills.
Therefore, microteaching approach in teacher education prepares the pre-service
teachers for the task of classroom teaching ahead of the teaching practice
exercise. Also, it exposes the preservice teachers to the rudiments of teaching
which enhances effective teaching and learning rudiments. Micro-teaching cannot
be neglected as it provides a formidable platform for acquiring teaching skills
that is expected to be practiced in the classroom.
The
application of micro-teaching technique in teacher training provides student
teachers tremendous opportunity to develop their teaching skills. Apart from
being an essential process of transforming and modifying the student teacher’s
behaviour to demonstrate a given behaviour, it also provides a tremendous
opportunity for both pre-service and in-service teachers to develop and improve
their pedagogical skills with a small group of students mostly (8-10) using
limited period of (7-10) minutes, recorded on video tape for reviewing,
responding, refining and re-teaching towards perfection (Peker, 2009, 872-880).
Hence, effective development of teaching skills in teachers should target the
pre-service teachers as they are future teachers. Incorporating the development
of these skills will not only make these skills practicable but also provide a
model for the actual and seamless implementation of these skills in normal
classroom situation.
The
micro-teaching environment enables a pre-service teacher to focus attention on
the practice of specific skills at a time until he or she acquires competence
in it. Provision of feedback accelerates the process. After acquiring
competence in a number of skills in this way, the student teacher takes to
micro-teaching so as to demonstrate his/her level of competence. It is a vital
technique which provides continuous training to serving teachers.
Most of
the professional teachers who have reached the peak of their professional
career do not want to improve their skills of teaching. Micro-teaching helps in
bridging the gap and overcoming such pitfalls. It provides settings for
experimentation. With the introduction of developed curriculum, teachers are
required to acquire new skills of teaching. The National Policy on Education
(FGN, 2014:56) pointed out that “all teachers in our educational institutions,
from pre-primary, will be professionally trained”. As a modeling instructional
skill, the microteaching setting is meant for the demonstration of good
teaching skills by student-teachers which can be recorded on video-tape or
observed by a supervisor.
Consequently,
micro-teaching provides a golden opportunity to the pre-service teacher towards
exercising control over some variables which may have effect in teaching and
learning e.g., the volume of students in a class, the nature of the student,
the length of the period for microteaching administration, the motivation as
well as the evaluation of the students.
The
conducive environment for effective microteaching session (microteaching
clinic) is to be equipped with relevant and appropriate furniture and
e-learning equipment, like appropriate Close Circuit Television (CCTV)system
with camcorders staged at different angles to pick different behaviours of the
trainees and the learners (Verma &Sharma in Audu, 2010). This is to enable
the supervisor, presenter, other participants as well as members of the
community to see the strength and weaknesses of the student-teacher at the
point of presentation, for immediate correction towards perfection.
Furthermore, the student-teacher is trained to be aware of good environment as
a correlate to good and effective and efficient process of teaching. The
essence of incorporating microteaching in teacher education programme is to
enable teacher trainees to teach among themselves for a shorter period of time
so that they acquire some skills of teaching before embarking on the actual
teaching practice.
Good
teaching practice is a key to influence the pre-service and in-service teacher
for learning desired outcome and primary goal of higher teacher educational
institutions. Teachers strive to meet the best principles of good practice in
an effort to provide the best learning experience for their students.
Pre-service teaching is the most important experience in teacher education
programme and is generally based on a country’s National Policy on Education.
Teaching practice is a compulsory course for all aspiring student-teachers
registered in a teacher preparation programme in Nigeria. It is one-semester
course, usually lasting from the beginning to the end of the first semester of
the final year of Nigeria Certificate of Education (NCE 3) students.
The
pre-service teacher training programme at any higher educational institution is
a well-structured programme designed to provide an opportunity to develop and
evaluate aspiring teachers’ competence in an actual classroom within a school
setting. The teaching practice exercise is the culminating point where the
relationship among the three major players, the supervisor, host teacher and
the aspiring teacher interface to determine the quality of experience the
aspiring teacher takes away. It becomes the bedrock on which the aspiring
teacher once certified and employed, builds his/her professional identity. It
is therefore necessary that aspiring teachers are paired with competent,
knowledgeable and concerned supervisors to help them consume the full range of
duties of a teacher during the hands-on training period. The host teachers have
equally vital influence in aspiring teachers’ professional growth and development.
The programme is intended to bridge the gap between theory and practice by
providing opportunity for hands-on learning for student teachers.
Following
the importance of teaching and learning in our schools, the knowledge of good
teaching practice cannot be overemphasized and this can only be gotten when
effective teaching skills are imparted when undergoing teacher training in
schools. The onus of acquiring these skills are saddled in the knowledge to be
acquired during micro-teaching and the teaching practice exercise as included
in teacher’s education programme. Therefore, micro-teaching and teaching
practice exercise are one of the bases to practicalize the rudiments of
teaching skills acquired by the pre-service teachers in schools and outside the
training schools. Hence, this study tends to compare the student’s achievement
in the micro-teaching and the main teaching practice exercise who had undergone
the training process in some colleges of education in Plateau state Nigeria.
Lesson presentation
is the effective use of selected resources, effective use of voices, hands,
part of the body, ability to demonstrate as the need arise and effectiveness of
ideas control and management. Lesson presentation can also be the selection of
topic, determining instructional objectives, selection of teaching methods and
instructional material and determining the evaluation instruments for the
assessment of the lesson.
An
effective and well-presented lesson cannot be achieved with the presence of a
well write lesson plan. Lesson plan becomes an important element of an
effective lesson presentation.
The
process of transition from theoretical knowledge to practical skills in the
teaching profession begins at micro-teaching stage through teaching practice.
Despite the pre-training skills given to learners before teaching practice, the
trainee teachers demonstrate ineffectiveness in the use of some essential
skills of the instructional materials. The poor use of skills for proper lesson
delivery in terms of chalkboard management acquired during microteaching by the
trainee teachers could lead to mismanagement of teaching materials for the
achievement of designed objectives during teaching practices.
In this
way, the ability of a student teacher to effectively apply the acquired
teaching skills for effective lesson delivery becomes very difficult. This
undermines the performance of learners taught by such trainee teacher to be
weak, ineffective and inefficient. Based on the aforementioned ineffective
demonstration of the skills in teaching and learning in the teaching
enterprise, it has created a huge gap in the attainment of designed learning
experience during teaching practice session. This worrisome situation makes
parents, administrators, trainee teachers, Ministry of Education and National
Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) in developing doubts about the
competency of these categories of trainee teachers in influencing the learners’
level of academic standard to an advanced level.
The aim
of this research is to compare the study of Micro-teaching and Teaching
Practice achievement of students in Colleges of Education in Plateau State,
Nigeria. Specifically, the objectives of this study will be to:
establish the
relationship between achievement in micro-teaching and teaching practice
exercise among COEs students in Plateau State, Nigeria.
examine the
effectiveness in lesson presentation by the student teachers
micro-teaching and teaching practice in the Colleges of Education in
Plateau state.
The
following questions were raised and answered in the cause of the research:
1.What is the relationship between the student’s achievement in
micro-teaching and teaching practice among Colleges of Education students in
plateau state?
To what extent
is the student’s effectiveness in lesson presentation by the teaching
practice student in the Colleges of Education in Plateau state?
The research design is ex-post facto
design. Ex post design is considered a quasi-experimental type of study which
mean participants are not randomly assigned, but rather group together based
upon specific characteristic or traits they share. Ex post research focuses on
how actions that have already occurred can predict certain causes. The design
is to examine the possible relationship and effects of the dependent variables.
The researcher is thus examining retrospectively the
effects of a naturally occurring event on a subsequent outcome with a view to
establishing a causal link between them (Cohen, Manion and Morrison 2007). This design will be used to determine the effect of
micro-teaching strategy being taught the students’ and their achievement in
teaching practices among Colleges of Education students in Plateau state. The
researcher’s choice of this design is based on the fact that the researcher
will not manipulate and control the instructional strategy, but use the
existing student’s achievement in the two courses offered in the curriculum
department of the various institutions.
The
population targeted for the research are students of Federal College of
Education Pankshin, College of Education Gindiri, and Oswald Waller College of
Education Lipidi-Shendam. The population consists of 4500 Nigeria Certificate
in Education (NCE 11) micro-teaching and (NCE 111) teaching practice students
comprising of both male and female students from the three Colleges of
Education. The choice of Federal, State and Private Colleges in the state is
for comparative analysis of the student’s achievement in micro-teaching and the
achievement while in teaching period.
The
choice of NCE III students will be based on the fact that all students had
undergone the micro-teaching and teaching practice exercise as well. This is as
stated in the National Commission for Colleges of Education in Nigeria (NCCE)
curriculum.They are more acquainted
with the subject more than their juniors in NCE I and II who are novice in the
art of teaching.
Table: 1. Shows the areas and the simple population
S/NO
School
School Type
Population Size
Male
Female
1
Federal College of Education, Pankshin
Federal
2000
1200
800
2
College
of Education Gindiri, Plateau state
State
1500
900
600
3
Oswald
Waller College of Education, Lipidi, Shendam
Private
1000
700
300
Total
4500
2800
1700
A purposive sampling technique was used in
selecting three out of the eight Colleges of Education in Plateau state owned by
the Federal, State and Private Organization.This is because the researcher
wants to get a fair representation from each of the institution in Plateau
state. From the three College selected. Therefore, the sample size for this
study was1200 (Male – 700, Female –
500) students exposed to micro – teaching and teaching practice was selected
using stratified random sampling procedure.
The
instruments for data collection are Micro-teaching Observation Checklist (MOC)
and Teaching Practice Assessment Checklist (TPAC). The instruments will be used
to obtain the required data from the respective students based on the variable
being measured in the research work and the student’ achievement will be
extracted from the instruments form into a proforma for further analysis.
The
Micro-Teaching Observation checklist (MOC): was an adopted instrument developed by the institutions and used to assess
the students’ achievement on the units covered during the pre-teaching
exercise. The instrument will be divided into two sections, where section A
capture demographic information of the respective student while section B
capture the observation items based on the objectives of the research work. The
student’s achievement both theoretical and practical aspect will be obtained
using the instrument.
The Teaching Practice Assessment
Checklist (TPAC): lt was also an adopted instrument designed by the institutions to observe the
performance of the students undergoing teaching practice exercise (TP) the
instrument was also divided into two sections, that is section A and B. this
section A obtains the demographic data such as gender, institution name among
others, while section B contains observation items from the TP assessment by
the supervisors. The students’ achievement in the TP exercise will be extracted
for further analysis in the research based on the research objectives. All the
instruments are attached to this research work at appendix.
What is the student’s achievement in
micro-teaching and teaching practice among Colleges of Education students in
Plateau State?
Table 2: Mean of the student’s achievement in Micro-teaching and
Teaching Practice exercise
N
Mean
Std. Dev
Achievement in Micro Teaching
Presentation
1200
53.15
4.198
Achievement in Teaching Practice Exercise
1200
73.36
4.577
The table presents the mean of the students’ achievement in
micro teaching and teaching practice exercise in the study. The result shows that
the students micro teaching achievement was 53.15 while the teaching practice
exercise achievement was 73.36. The result indicated that, the student’s
achievement in teaching practice exercise conducted and observed by the
students’ supervisors was higher than their micro teaching based on the mean
achievement obtained in the study. This further indicated the effectiveness of
micro teaching towards improving pre-service teachers’ knowledge in teaching
exercise.
To what extent is the student’s effectiveness in lesson
presentation in micro teaching and teaching practice exercise of the students
in the Colleges of Education in Plateau state?
Table 3: Mean of the student
achievement in lesson presentation
N
Mean
Std. Dev
Achievement in Micro Teaching
Lesson
Presentation
1200
22.37
4.436
Achievement in Teaching
practice exercise Lesson
Presentation
1200
24.63
4.755
The table presents the mean of the student’s achievement
in micro teaching and teaching practice exercise of Colleges of Education
students in Plateau state. The result revealed that in micro teaching the
students had a mean score of22.37
while in the teaching Practice exercise the mean score was 24.63. The result
implies that there was slight improvement in the classroom presentation of the
Colleges of education during the main teaching practice exercise.
There is no significant
relationship between the student’s achievement in micro-teaching and teaching
practice among Colleges of Education students in Plateau state
Table 4: Correlation
result between Micro Teaching and Teaching Practice Exercise of COE Students
Variable
Micro
Teaching Presentation
Teaching
Practice
Micro Teaching Presentation
Pearson Correlation
1
.123
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
1200
1200
Teaching Practice
Pearson Correlation
.123
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
1200
1200
The presents the relationship between the micro
teaching and teaching practice exercise achievement of the students in Colleges
of Education in the study. The result revealed a very low relationship of 0.12
using Pearson product moment correlation between the student achievement in the
micro teaching and actual teaching practice exercise. Also, the relationship
was found to be significant since the p-value of 0.00 was less than 0.05.
Therefore, it was concluded that the relationship in the achievement of the
student in micro teaching and teaching practice exercise conducted among the
colleges of education students was significantly difference in relationship of
the student’s achievement.
There is no significant difference between the
student’s achievement in micro teaching and teaching practice exercise in
lesson presentation and classroom control management by COE students
Table
5:T-test Result on the Significant Difference
in Lesson Presentation and Class Management in Teaching Practice Exercise and
Micro Teaching
Variable
N
Mean
Std. Dev
T
Df
Sig (p-value)
Lesson
Presentation
Teaching Practice
1200
24.63
4.755
12.043
2398
.000
Micro Teaching
1200
22.37
4.436
Class
Management
Teaching Practice
1200
6.69
1.541
-11.768
2398
.000
Micro Teaching
1200
7.72
2.611
The table presents the t-test result
on the significant difference in teaching practice exercise and micro teaching
lesson presentation. The hypothesis was accepted since the p-value obtained was
less than the 0.05 significance level. Therefore, it was concluded that there
was a significant difference in lesson presentation between the teaching
practice exercise and micro teaching. The result indicated that lesson
presentation during teaching practice exercise was better than during micro
teaching. This can be deduced that the lesson presentation during micro
teaching significantly improved lesson presentation in teaching practice
exercise.
However, in the class
management, the significant difference that exists was in favour of micro
teaching since the p-value obtained was less than the 0.05. it was deduced that
the small class during micro teaching make class management easier for
pre-service teacher.
There is no significant difference between the
students achievement in micro-teaching and the main teaching practice exercise
conducted across the Colleges of Education in Plateau state.
Table 6: T-test
result on the significant difference between micro teaching achievement and
teaching practice achievement.
Variable
N
Mean
Std. Dev
T
DF
Sig. (2-tailed)
Micro
Teaching FCE Pankshin
500
54.16
4.406
Teaching
Practice FCE Pankshin
501
74.54
4.613
75.43
499
.000
Micro
Teaching COEGindiri
400
52.92
3.439
Teaching
Practice COEGindiri
400
73.22
4.186
79.28
399
.000
Micro
Teaching COEShendam
300
51.79
4.341
Teaching
Practice COEShendam
300
71.56
4.412
54.46
299
.000
The table presents the t-test result
on the significant difference between micro teaching achievement and actual
teaching practice exercise across the COEs under consideration. The result
revealed significant differences between the achievement in micro teaching and
teaching practice exercise. The hypothesis was rejected since the p-values of
0.000 was less than the 0.05 significance level set in the study. Therefore, it
was concluded that there is significant difference in the achievement of the
COE students in micro teaching and teaching practice exercise across all the
Colleges of Education under investigation. The significant difference was in
favour of teaching practice exercise and the further indicated that the micro
teaching course in the curriculum and practical presentation done by the
student improve their knowledge in teaching exercise as seen by the improvement
in the student’s achievement.
The research found that lesson
presentation during teaching practice exercise was better than during micro
teaching this further deduced that the lesson presentation during micro
teaching significantly improved lesson presentation in teaching practice
exercise as established in the hypothesis tested. This findings corresponded
with the empirical review by Shah & Masur (2011) on
the impact of micro teaching skills learned through different in-service
training programmes on the performance of the elementary school teachers
indicated that the performance of the in-service trained primary school
teachers (PIT) was comparatively better than pre-service trained male teachers
(NIT) in all the seven teaching skills, “set Induction, “Questioning”,
“Listening”, “Reinforcement”, “Teacher’s Liveliness”, “Closing lesson”, and
“Re-planning”. The reason is that these micro-teaching skills were properly
practiced by them during their different in-service teachers training
programmes.
SUMMARY
The study was based
on the comparative study of micro-teaching and teaching practice achievement of
students in Colleges of Education, Plateau state, Nigeria. The study was guided
by four objectives, and in line with the objectives, four research questions
and four hypotheses were formulated for the research work. However, the researcher used the ex-post facto design for the
study to examine the possible relationship and effects of the dependent
variables. The researcher is thus examining retrospectively the effects of a
naturally occurring event on a subsequent outcome with a view to establishing a
causal link between them. The population targeted for the study were students
of Federal College of Education Pankshin, College of Education Gindiri, and
Oswald Waller College of Education Lipidi-Shendam. The population for the study
consists of 4500 Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE 11) micro-teaching and
(NCE 111) teaching practice students comprising of male and female students
from the three Colleges of Education mentioned above in Plateau state, Nigeria.
A sample size of 1200 NCE students was used for the study as it will comprise
of three (3) Colleges of Education selected for the study.
The sample size was selected using
stratified random sampling techniques. The instruments for data collection are
Micro-teaching Observation Checklist (MOC) and Teaching Practice Assessment
Checklist (TPAC). The Micro-Teaching
Observation checklist (MOC): was an adopted instrument developed by the
institutions and used to assess the students’ achievement on the units covered
during the pre-teaching exercise. The
Teaching Practice Assessment Checklist (TPAC): was also an adopted instrument designed
by the institutions to observe the performance of the students undergoing
teaching practice exercise (TP).
The
first instrument for validation is the Student Teaching Practice Assessment
Form A which is an adopted instrument that has been validated by NCCE for all
College of Education. The second instruments are the Micro Teaching Training
Appraisal Guide Form A which will be subjected to Validity using
face and content validity this is to ensure the instrument measure what is
purported to measure accurately for the research work. The instrument will be
given to three experts. One in Curriculum Studies Department and two Research,
Measurement and Evaluation experts in the Federal College of Education
Pankshin. The experts rating of the instruments will be at 0.7 which will be
obtained as a judgment for the validity of the instruments. It is expected that
all the observation and suggestion of the experts will be considered
appropriately before the use of the instruments.
CONCLUSION
Based on the findings of this
research, the following conclusions were drawn: The experiences of micro
teaching and its effectiveness improved the performance pre-service teachers at
the teaching practices exercise and the actual teaching profession thereafter.The study also revealed that the student’s
achievement was improved during the actual teaching practice exercise compare
to what was obtained during the micro teaching presentation. It was further
established that there is significant difference between the achievement of the
COE students in micro teaching and teaching practice exercise across all the
Colleges of Education under investigation. This further revealed the impact of
micro teaching theory and practical undergone by the students in their knowledge
during teaching exercise based on the improvement in the student’s achievement.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations are
suggested as a result of the findings of the study:
1.Micro teaching teachers in the study area should be encouraged
to laid emphasized on the various skills: class control, use of instructional
materials, set induction etc.
2.Micro teaching teachers should take micro teaching practicum
seriously and ensured that there is a viewing session that enable pre-services
teachers sees their performances and are been positively corrected.
3.Government at all levels and owners of teacher’s education
institutes (Colleges of Education) should make it a priority to provide the
schools with a befitting modern micro teaching Labs with all the facilities
needed in there.
Adequate time and supervision should
be given during micro teaching practicum so as to enable the pre-services
teacher get acquitted with
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Cite this Article: Bistu, YJ; Mangvwat, Kefas (2024). Comparative study of Micro-teaching
and Teaching practice achievement of students in colleges of education in
Plateau state Nigeria..Greener Journal of Educational Research, 14(1): 9-16.
