Improving Elementary Pre-Service Teachers’ Teaching Competency on Language Subject Using Microteaching

This study aims to examine how microteaching improves elementary pre-service teachers’ teaching competency in language subject. The study is initiated because we observed from the practicums of the previous years that our student teachers performed their teachings with a lack of both lesson planning and clear teaching process. To deal with this problem, microteaching was applied via online learning to help promote student teachers’ teaching skills. Data were collected by using pre/post-tests, questionnaires, and peer observation sheets during teaching practice involving 49 pre-service teachers at Phnom Penh Teacher Education College. After the microteaching implementation, we observed that our student teachers gained more confidence in teaching, planed better lesson plans equipped with suitable materials and techniques, and taught more effectively with time and classroom management compared to their performance before the introduction of microteaching. The findings revealed that microteaching could change the way in which student teachers teach and prepare lesson plans. They worked in small groups to practice each lesson again and again and give feedback to each other before they started to teach the next sessions or teaching loops, and these activities inspired them to be reflective teachers. In addition to the changes in their teaching skills, we found that microteaching also helped to improve their teaching competence and familiarize them with the procedures in teaching methods, how to give and receive feedback, and how to use technology in teaching and learning.