A Journey of a Thousand Miles of Future Teachers Begins From a Single Step in a Microteaching Class

The 6th International Seminar 2012 “Research in Teacher Education : What, How, and Why?” Salatiga, November 21-22, 2012This paper presents findings from a qualitative exploratory study which investigated the experience of student teachers as they went through the process of teaching practicum in a microteaching class. The purpose of the study is to examine to what extent reflective practice benefits students and enables them to make progress in their practicum. A cohort of student teachers from an English teacher education program of a higher institution in Banjarmasin, Indonesia took part in the study. The data were gathered from observational notes, students‟ reflective journals on how they planned and conducted their mini lesson, peer comments, and interviews. The findings revealed that the experience in a microteaching class, despite its limitation as it only offers a glimpse of what teaching is like, can serve as the crucial beginning step from which the student teachers enhance their pedagogical knowledge and develop their teaching expertise. This supports Richards and Farrell‟s (2011) argument that “microteaching provides experiences that can trigger a deeper understanding of teaching through processes of critical reflection.