Critical Incidents: Exploring EFL Prospective Teachers’ Teaching Experiences

Fika Megawati,Mirjam Anugerahwati,Nur Mukminatien,Ninuk Indrayani,Frida Unsiah

doi:10.12973/eu-jer.9.3.943

Abstract

<p style="text-align:justify">Investigating critical incidents is one way to assist prospective teachers in expressing any developmental stage when accomplishing the teaching practice program. It is a significant component of reflective teaching in an educational framework related to continuing professional development (CPD), particularly self-directed learning. This study aims at exploring EFL prospective teachers’ field experience in cultivating their teaching competence through a critical incident analysis. A qualitative approach was applied. Three participants with different levels of English proficiency took part in this study by sharing their experiences through participating in and answering an interview and an opinionnaire. To analyze the data from the instruments, this study used descriptive analysis and coding techniques respectively. Results indicate that both negative and positive critical incidents contribute to the participants’ teaching development. The incidents support the learning process towards becoming a teacher and assist shaping their awareness of teacher identity. Further, the result of this study reveals that English proficiency level seems to take part in the strategy used for identifying critical incidents. This study implies that critical incidents provide a chance for prospective teachers to be more reflective. Thus, teacher education program stakeholders need to support critical incident analysis by giving relevant assignments while they are doing teaching practice, which in turn builds professional development in the context of prospective teachers.</p>

Highlights

Being a reflective teacher becomes one of the principles of a professional teacher
The result of this study reveals that English proficiency level seems to take part in the strategy used for identifying critical incidents
To know the global response of students in the prospective teachers’ class through reflection, especially to know whether the specific critical incidents influence the prospective teachers’ final perception regarding their teaching performance during the teaching practice program, opinionnaire items reflecting the eight critical incident categories promoted by Farrell were distributed

Summary

Introduction

Being a reflective teacher becomes one of the principles of a professional teacher This practice assists teachers to get meaningful experience from their teaching activities. To know what to be reflected, teachers need to focus on two points, their own learning or “how they learn to learn” and the way to transfer their knowledge in the classroom (Postholm, 2012). In respect to these professional capitals, teacher’s reflection plays an important role to support teachers in facing the dynamic changes in education and the big challenge in teaching career, which is being able to adapt while being able to enrich their knowledge and teaching ability. Reflective practice is one of the effective guides to enable teachers internalize their experiences by thinking and writing every single meaningful event

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion