INNOVATION IN PRESERVICE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION: APPLYING MICROTEACHING TO DEVELOP EFFECTIVE REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

Abstract

The paper studied the application of an innovative model of microteaching video activity in preservice English language teacher education and its impact on student teachers’ ability to restructure experience through reflection. As the major challenge in preservice English language teacher education today is to bridge the gap between theory and practice and foster autonomy in teaching, the paper aimed to determine the preservice teachers’ perceptions of the requirements of microteaching and the impact of microteaching video activity on the development of their teaching skills and ability to reflect effectively on their own teaching behaviour. The participants were preservice English language teachers (N=5) attending English Language Practicum at the Faculty of Education in Jagodina, Serbia. Mixed method was used in the study and both quantitative and qualitative data were collected with questionnaires, narratives and transcripts of video recordings. The findings indicate that microteaching experience contributed to making student teachers fully aware of their anxieties and needs for developing their own teaching skills, constructively changed their beliefs, and guided them towards problem detection, reflection and proposition of solutions. Pedagogical implications of these results involve the application of microteaching as a tool in improving teaching skills, conducting performance assessment, and practising innovations in teaching.