Abstract
In second language teacher education programs microteaching has always been a significant technique to help bridge theory to practice and prepare the trainees for real classroom contexts. The expected benefits from 10 to 15 minute-microteaching sessions are the communication among the trainees and supervisor, collaboration with each other, and reflection on the teaching. However, due to some constraints such as limited time and big class size, these benefits may not be derived easily. Therefore, this study aims to explore how the effect of a designed Internet-based instructional learning environment (hereafter iBILE) was perceived by the participating preservice teachers on developing their communication, collaboration and reflection in microteaching process. In so doing, 52 Kurdish preservice English language teachers were asked to use the iBILE for 6 weeks. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from questionnaires, the system analytics, reflection journals, and semi-structured interviews. The results of the data analysis revealed that the designed iBILE has been perceived highly effective in solving the defined microteaching problems by creating unique opportunities for communication, collaboration, and reflection in microteaching process among the preservice teachers.
Highlights
In second language teacher education, one of the major discussions is related to how to close the gap between theory and practice so that teacher candidates become better prepared for real-classroom situations (Burns & Richards, 2009; Ching, 2014; Freeman & Johnson, 1998; Retelj & Puljić, 2016; Ünver, 2014)
It is noteworthy that the participants had more communication and collaboration when reflecting on the recorded microteaching videos because peer discussions and reflection posts occurred more than the other discussion categories
One of the participants reflected in the reflection journal as: This system [internet-based instructional learning environment (iBILE)] was really helpful for sharing my ideas with my classmates and having more time to talk to my friends [i.e., classmates] and share my ideas with them about microteaching issues
Summary
In second language teacher education, one of the major discussions is related to how to close the gap between theory and practice so that teacher candidates become better prepared for real-classroom situations (Burns & Richards, 2009; Ching, 2014; Freeman & Johnson, 1998; Retelj & Puljić, 2016; Ünver, 2014) To this end, microteaching has been employed as a technique to provide a scaled-down teaching context where training is reduced in scope, done for a short period of time (usually 10–15 minutes), normally limited to one skill or lesson aspect at a time (such as teaching vocabulary, or doing only the pre-reading tasks), and the learners being usually fellow trainees (He & Yan, 2011; Roberts, 1998; Singh, 2010). This stage is sometimes not applied due to time pressure or other contextual factors
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