Microteaching

                                                 Microteaching

Definition

Microteaching stands for a training contest in which a teaching situation has been reduced in scope and/or simplified in some systematic way. There are three ways in which the teaching encounter may be scaled down:

a.     The teacher’s task may be simplified and made very specific.

b.     The length of the lesson may be shortened.

c.      The size of the class may be reduced.

Stages of microteaching

          Microteaching occurs in four stages as follows:

1.      The briefing: In this stage, the trainee is given oral and/or written information on the skill that he/she is to practice and the way it is to be done.

2.      The teach: This is when the trainee actually teaches the micro lesson.

3.      The critique: This is the stage at which the trainee’s micro lesson is played back, discussed, analyzed and evaluated.

4.      The reteach: In this final stage, the trainee practices the same skill again in the light of the discussion in the third stage.

Skills and strategies for microteaching

          The skills for microteaching may be specified in bebavioural terms such as:

a.     techniques of reading aloud,

b.     use of visual aids,

c.      variation in questioning,

d.     redirecting questions,

e.      organizing group work, and so forth.

Strategies are more cognitive and relate to how the teacher tackles recurring themes in language teaching such as:

         

a.     the promotion and maintenance of learner motivation,

b.     the place of errors and mistakes in language teaching and how the teacher should react to them,

c.      the value of authentic communication and the ways in which such communication can be brought about effectively,

d.     the use of rules and how they are presented and the like.