Linking Theory to Practice Reflection

[ ]ADILA BINTI MAAROF (931015-08-5568)

As a trainee teacher majoring in Teaching English as Second Language

(TESL), I have learned, been introduced and also done in the simulation earlier

about the methods in ELT Methodology subject during semester two. There are

many methods that can be used and implemented by a teacher in his or her lesson.

During my early years in a teacher training college pupil, I was eager to know the

true meaning of how the teachers in school carry out their lesson in a classroom. A

study of method is invaluable in teacher education. Every individual has different

insights and approaches on how they want to conduct their lesson based on the

methods learnt. As for me, the methods can be used according to the suitability of

the lesson and the classroom.

For the Linking Theory to Practice subject, I was required to plan a lesson

using one of the methods. After that, in a group of three (Adila, Fatin and Husni), it

required us to carry out any lesson plan for microteaching from the group members

and present it in class. Then, I was required to write a two thousands word reflection

based on a question given pertaining to pedagogical and theoretical principles in

English language teaching and classroom practices. The method that I have chosen

for my lesson plan is total physical response or TPR. For the microteaching, my

group chose Fatin’s lesson plan that was conducted in direct method way.

Based on the Lasser Freeman book, TPR is a method developed by Dr.

James J. Asher (1977), a professor of phychology at San Jose State University of

California. Asher developed TPR as a result of his experiences observing young

children learning their first language. He noticed that interactions between parents

and children often took the form of speech from the parent followed by a physical

response from the child. Asher made three hypotheses based on his observations:

first, that language is learned primarily by listening; second, that language learning

must engage the right hemisphere of the brain; and third, that learning language

should not involve any stress. Pupils learn more when they are relaxed. This is

because the affective filter, a mental barrier between the pupils and the information,

is raised when pupils are nervous or uncomfortable. When the affective filter is high,

learners find it harder to understand, process, and remember information. TPR helps

reduce the affective filter because it is less threatening than the traditional language

activities. Pupils do not have to produce language; mistakes are unimportant and


easily corrected by the teacher. And lastly, language is remembered easily and long-

term.

Total physical response is a method of teaching language using physical

movement to react to verbal input in order to reduce pupil’s inhibitions and lower

their effective filter. This is because pupils learn the language by physically

responding to the teacher’s instructions. Therefore, by using total physical response,

it allows pupils to react to language without thinking too much, facilitates long term

retention, and reduces pupils anxiety and stress. A typical TPR activity might contain

instructions such as "Walk to the door", "Open the door", "Sit down" and "Give your

mother a flower". The pupils are required to carry out the instructions by physically

performing the activities. Given a supportive classroom environment, there is little

doubt that such activities can be both motivating and fun, and it is also likely that with

even a fairly limited amount of repetition basic instructions such as these could be

assimilated by the learners, even if they were unable to reproduce them accurately

themselves. With these explanation and reasons stated, I strongly believe that TPR

could enhance the teaching of English in a primary classroom in terms of maximizing

learning and increasing pupils’ involvement with the lesson.

As been said earlier, I have conducted the microteaching with my group

members using direct method. The direct method and the TPR method are different

in its own way. Direct method has been applied by language teachers for many

years. It was revived then as a method when the goal of instruction became learning

how to use a foreign language to communicate. Since the Grammar Translation

Method was not very effective in preparing pupils to use the target language

communicatively, the Direct Method became popular.

The Direct Method has one very basic rule that is “No translation is allowed”.

In fact, the Direct Method receives its name from the fact that meaning is to be

conveyed directly in the target language through the use of demonstration and visual

aids, with no recourse to the students’ native language (Diller 1978). Based on the

brief explanation just now, the Direct Method is like carrying out a lesson as usual

but no translation is allowed, and there is no emphasizing in any kind of other

techniques and activities like TPR does.


Back to my lesson plan, that focusing on TPR Method, the listening ability and

vocabulary must be developed first. Compared to the microteaching we had done

that focusing on the Direct Method, the lesson is carried out without using word

cards but more to picture cards because it is to encourage to speak with confidence

without referring to the words and all. Firstly, Fatin who took charge in carrying out

the first stage that is presentation part, she uses picture cards of buildings like police

station, fire station, post office, school and hospital. Without using any word cards, all

the pupils practice to pronounce the words by following the teacher (Fatin) and using

the mirror to make them clear and see how they pronounce it correctly. Then, the

follow up activity was conducted by Husni. The activity was the “Hot seat” game

which requires the pupils to guess the building by questioning the person on the

seat. This encourages them to speak and ask with confidence and believe. I could

say that these stages, it does have been carried out wonderfully. However, for the

practice part was lacked of preparation in terms of not-so-interested teaching

materials produced which need to be improved in the future.

As for the last stage that is the production part, I have conducted jazz chants

using some of the musical instruments like maracas and triangle. The pupils were

enjoying themselves in chanting and most importantly in creating the new lyrics in

their respective groups. Then they had to perform it in front of the class. They were

so excited in using the instruments to in order to spice up the jazz chants

performance. The lesson was carried out beautifully and the pupils were so

enthusiastic learning it.

You can use these jazz chants in a variety of fun ways. You can practice

stress and rhythm with your class, to help your students sound more natural

when they speak English. Also, because each jazz chant focuses on different

vocabulary and grammar, you can also use them to review important words

and structures.

(Miles Craven: One Stop English, 2000)

Jazz chants can create a stress free environment in the classroom because it is fun

to carry out and like the statement above which is emphasizing the advantages in


using jazz chants in classroom. Firstly, I showed them a video of jazz chants which

can stimulate them in readiness for the next activity or stage. Then, I chanted one of

the jazz chants and asked them to repeat after me. Using the example of jazz chant

just now, they were needed to create a new lyrics based on what they have learned

with referring to the stress and rhythm of the jazz chants just now. They were

exploring new way in expressing their thought about certain buildings. For example,

in the hospital there will be a syringe, medicine nurses and doctors. This will

stimulate their critical thinking and creative thinking by listing what they would see in

certain building and suiting the words in jazz chants and become the lyrics.

During the microteaching, due to the fact that the lesson is targeted on

average Year Five pupils, as a teacher, I should be aware of the language used in

the lesson. To be more specific, in the planning stage, for individual reference, I have

listed a group of vocabularies to be used in the lesson so that the pupils feel secure

in learning. This is to avoid them feel confused with a lot of unfamiliar words.

However, at the same time, some unfamiliar words are included in the list so that it

fits Krashen’s second language acquisition theory, I + 1 (Tricomi E. T., 1986). For

example, when I introduced them with the musical instruments, maracas and

triangle, they were introduced with the word by looking at the things itself. This is one

of the good ways in introducing new words by using pictures or realia.

Before this, Mr Bashir reminded us to choose the right activity following

through the word level activity that we have taught. In this process of planning, it

takes some time to filter the words and this teaches me how selective and how

careful a teacher should be. In the aspect of teaching aid, for the presentation stage,

we used picture cards in introducing the buildings while the practice part, we used

more stars stickers for reward and a chart for “Hot Seat” competition. However, Mr

Bashir commented that, the chart should be prepared earlier, not writing it

spontaneously on the white board. It showed that the teacher was not prepared or it

looked so messy. Last but not least, for the production part, the jazz chants activity

was interesting but the class need to be controlled more by the teacher in order to

carry out the activity smoothly and in good.

Some ways to ensure that this Direct approach could be an effective method

in teaching English in terms of maximizing learning and increasing pupils’


engagement to the lesson is by giving clear instruction in the targeted language

without using translation. As you do this, use gestures and facial expressions to help

the pupils understand what you want them to do. Next is by doing the action with the

pupils several times, and give the command each time you do the action. However, if

you are teaching the English words for objects, you will need to work with only one

pupil at a time as the others watch, unless you have enough objects for more than

one pupil. Other than that, if there a pupil who speak in their mother tongue, teacher

can either ignore or just punish them in a good way. Teacher should be careful in not

using the mother tongue or translation way. It is wrong to carry out the lesson as

Direct Method.

Conducting a microteaching using a different method provides an opportunity

for me to be aware of certain aspects to be taken into considerations when teaching

in real classroom. It is indeed, not only a good practice but also a process of learning

and discovering new things that will be very useful in the future. Conducting the

microteaching, make us able to maintain a good rapport with the pupils. This can be

evidenced when Mr Bashir commented on how well the involvement among the

pupils along the teaching and learning process. But I should aware and not too much

playful to avoid unexpected attitude from my pupils. For instance, they were taking

part in the activity and I saw that most of them were paying attention and involved in

the activity. In addition, being conscious about the fact that pupils do need

compliment as one kind of reinforcement in learning, I try my best to express the

appreciation using phrases like ‘Excellent’ and ‘Good job my dear’. In classroom,

there will always be things that will come up, such as random pupil responses or

questions that I will not have prepared for. It reminds me to prepare myself for any

possible question and answer given by the pupils during lesson.

Other than that, I learn that as a teacher, we should be able to model accurate

and fluent language use. This means that as a teacher, one should avoid having

even one grammatical error while conducting a lesson since we are teaching English

language as second language to young learners. In fact, young children learn by

imitating. As in the microteaching, there are several grammatical errors done during

my group members and I was conducting it. In future, I should be more aware of the


language used during interaction as young learners tend to model their teacher both

in verbal and non-verbal way.

As a conclusion, Total Physical Response (TPR) and Direct Method have its

own way and can be difference in many levels. Both methods are suitable for the

ESL primary classroom but teacher should be more creative in enhancing pupils

learning. Both methods can be applied in order to make the lesson more interesting.

This fact wakes me up as I think, in the micro teaching, I am aware that I should

apply good classroom management too in attracting pupils’ attention and maintain

their good result. There are some misbehaviour such as some pupils were talking

even when I am talking. I applied one classroom management routine that can assist

the smoothness of my lesson. Serious talk, it helped a lot and I managed to control

the class. For example when I say ‘Hey’ the pupils need to answer ‘Ho Ho’. They

enjoyed doing that and I managed to stop them from making noise. It is believed to

help me in controlling the amount of misbehaviours so that the lesson becomes more

effective and conducive.

Again I would like to thank Mr Bashir for his guidance and supports. He

managed to boost up my confidence level. As a conclusion, we as a teacher have to

relate the theory that we have learned to apply it in classroom. Not all theories are

applicable to our Malaysian context classroom so, we need to adjust and suits the

syllabus of our education system. A good teacher has to be a role model in class

because children learn by imitating the adults and portrayed a good behaviour to

teach our next generation for betterment.

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Linking Theory to Practice Reflection