JOURNAL OF SCIENCE OF HNUE

Interdisciplinary Science, 2013, Vol. 58, No. 5, pp. 136-142

This paper is available online at http://stdb.hnue.edu.vn

USING VIDEO-RECORDINGS TO IMPROVE MICROTEACHING

AND SELF-REFLECTION SKILLS FOR TEACHER TRAINEES OF THE
FACULTY OF ENGLISH, HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

Thai Thi Cam Trang

Faculty of English, Hanoi National University of Education

Abstract. To achieve the objectives of their training courses, it is important for

teacher trainees to undertake self-reflection regarding their teaching performance.
One valuable tools that can help this is video recording their micro-teaching.
A study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of using video-recordings
to improve teacher trainee microteaching and self-reflection in the course of
teaching language components and skills. To fulfill this aim, a basic theoretical
background of microteaching, self-reflection and video recording is studied to
provide a foundation for the procedure utilized in the research and the input for
survey design. To collect data, video clips of micro-teachings, reflection forms and
a questionnaire filled by the pre-service students were used. The findings show that
all of the subjects had positive attitude regarding the use of video recordings and
many teacher trainees recognized that this technique had a good impact on their
teaching performance.
Keywords: Microteaching, self-reflection, video-recording.

1. Introduction
Microteaching has been developed as an integral part of teacher-training courses.
It is defined as a procedure through which teacher trainees practice their instructional
methods with their peers so that they can build confidence, gain support and get
feedback from the trainer and peers on their teaching performance (Nhu & Thuy, 2011).
It readily combines theory with practice. When one considers that teacher trainees
in many training programs do their practice teaching under inadequate supervision
with no student feedback, the relative merits of microteaching become more apparent.
Microteaching offers the advantages of both a controlled theoretical environment and a

Received January 29, 2013. Accepted April 20, 2013.

Contact Thai Thi Cam Trang, e-mail address: trangthaicam@gmail.com

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realistic practical experience. It is hardly a substitute for teaching practice but it offers
advantages such as close supervision, manageable objectives established according to
individual trainee needs and progress, continuous feedback, an unprecedented opportunity
for self-evaluation, and immediate guidance in areas of demonstrated deficiency. When
these advantages are taken into consideration, microteaching becomes a valuable part of
a teacher training program throughout the world.
Richard (1991) cited that Bartlett (1990) points out that becoming a reflective
teacher involves moving beyond a primary concern with instructional technique and
“how to” questions to asking “what” and “why” questions that regard instructions and
managerial techniques, not as ends in themselves, but as part of broader educational
purposes [4]. Self-reflection in teaching practice activities is a common approach for
teacher trainees to ensure their teaching competence. Self-reflection is considered to be
crucial to the development process of trainee teachers (Kong, Shroff & Hung, [2]).
The using of video recording in teacher training has gained substantial support from
educators and students in many parts of the world. Blasco et al. (2008) hold that the
video recording technique is considered an important and effective strategy to improve
university teaching in novel lecturers to identify problems, to analyze the diction and
the structure of the lecture and to observe their own action and students’ perception of
them. Kong, Shroff and Hung (2009) developed a web-enabled video system to encourage
students to reflect on their teaching performance using a guiding framework. Nhu and
Thuy (2011) applied video recording effectively, enhancing pre-service teachers’ self -
refection and teaching skills [3].
Since the Credit program began to be used at HNUE, there has come to be
less time in class for the students, and this is also the case with the course “Teaching
Language Components and Skills.” Because there’s less time in class for teacher trainees’
micro-teaching, teacher trainees’ teaching skills are under expectation. The researcher’s
own observations and information gleaned from discussions with other colleagues in ELT
methodology division lead to the conclusion that teacher trainees’ self-reflection skills are
poor [1].
When considering the importance of the qualification of teacher trainees’ teaching
skills and their self-reflection skills in micro-teaching sessions, the researcher wanted
to conduct a study entitled “Using video-recordings to improve microteaching &
self-reflection skills for teacher trainees of the Faculty of English, HNUE”. To carry out
the research, the following research questions were asked:
• Could video-recordings be used for teacher trainees’ microteachings?
• To what extent could the technique enhance their teaching and self-reflection
skills?

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2. Content
2.1. Appendix 1: Reflection form on recorded videos
Teacher: ........................ Teaching point: ...........................

Table 1. Appendix 1: Reflection form on recorded videos

No. Focus Strength Weakness
1 Choosing and designing activities
2 Carrying out activities (step, timing, pace, . . . )
3 Using eliciting sentences/ questions
4 Using checking questions
5 Correcting student’s mistakes
Using English in class (amount of TTT,
6
pronunciation, appropriates of language use, . . . )

2.2. Appendix 2: Student questionnaire on recorded videos

You are kindly requested to answer the following questionnaire which aims to
investigate your opinion on the use of the recorded video technique in the course
‘Teaching Language Components and Skills’ at FOE, HNUE. Your answers will be highly
appreciated. Thank you for your cooperation!

Table 2. Part 1: Please check the box

that states your opinions about the following statements
Strongly Strongly
Statements Disagree Neutral Agree
disagree agree
1. It helps me take more responsibility
over my learning.
2. It enhances my learning autonomy.
3. It helps improve myself reflection
skill.
4. It helps improve my teaching skill
5. It helps improve my observation
skill.
6. I feel motivated when using
recoded video.
7. It helps me realize my strengths and
weaknesses in designing activities.
8. It helps me realize my strengths and
weaknesses in teaching.
9. I gain a sense of achievement when
using recoded video.

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Part 2: Please state your opinion about recorded video by circling the answer to
the following questions or completing the statements below:
10. What difficulties did you face when using recoded video? (More than one
difficulty is allowed)
A. It takes me a lot of time to produce a video
B. It is difficult for me to design activities
C. It costs me too much for materials
D. It is difficult for me to have good teaching condition (room, projector, . . . )
E. The quality of the videos was not as good as expected
F. I have no personal computer
G. Others (Please specify)
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
11. Your suggestions on how these problems could have been avoided or be solved:
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
Table 3. Part 3: Please check the box that states your opinion
for each of the following statements
Strongly Strongly
Statements Disagree Neutral Agree
disagree agree
After viewing the recorded video, you
are able to improve
12. designing activities
13. carrying out activities
14. using eliciting sentence/ question
15. using checking question
16. correcting students’ error
17. using English

Part 4: Please state your opinions about recorded video by circling the answer to
the following questions.
18. To what extent did you improve your teaching skills after twice using recorded
video?
A. Very little; B. Some; C. A considerable amount; D. A lot; E. Tremendously.
19. To what extent did you improve your self-reflection skills after 2 times of using
recorded video?
A. Very little; B. Some; C. A considerable amount; D. A lot; E. Tremendously.
20. Do you think that using recoded video is a good idea in an ELT class?

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A. Yes; B. No; C. No opinion.

2.3. Research
Participating in this study were 32 students of C59B in FOE when they were in the
first semester of their 3rd year. Besides the supervised micro-teaching sessions they had
to do in class, the students were required to do 2 others without teacher supervision and
these micro-teachings were recorded.
In order to collect data for the research, the following tools were used:
- The reflection form (Appendix 1) which was to help teacher trainees recognize
their strengths and weaknesses on 6 basic techniques and skills that are the main focus of
the course. The reflection forms were filled out by the teacher trainees after they viewed
the videos of their micro-teachings and of their peers.
- The questionnaire (Appendix 2) consists of 20 closed and open-ended questions
aimed at investigating the teacher trainees’ attitude, difficulties and effectiveness in using
video-recordings. The questionnaires were delivered to the teacher trainees at the end of
the course.
Table 4. Attitudes towards using video-recordings
Totally Totally
Focus on Disagree Neutral Agree
disagree agree
1. more responsibility 0.0% 0.0% 3.6% 57.1% 39.3%
2. enhances learning autonomy 0.0% 3.6% 3.5% 50.0% 42.9%
3. improve reflection skill 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 46.4% 53.6%
4. improve teaching skill 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 32.1% 67.9%
5. improve observation skill 0.0% 0.0% 3.6% 67.9% 28.55
6. feel motivated 0.0% 0.0% 14.3% 60.7% 25.0%
7. realize strengths &weaknesses in
0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 57.1% 42.95
designing activities
8. realize strengths & weaknesses in
0.0% 0.0% 10.7% 53.6% 35.7%
teaching activities
9. gain a sense of achievement 0.0% 5.7% 23.2% 47.6% 23.5%

Table 5. Difficulties upon viewing the video

Difficulties Frequency
Low-quality videos 87.5%
Inconvenient conditions 78.1%
Much time consumption 65.6%
Much time designing activities 31.2%
No personal computer 21.8%
Much money consumption 0%

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As can be seen clearly in Table 4, most of the teacher trainees had a positive attitude
regarding the use of video recordings since they mostly agreed with the given statements
about the benefits that the technique would bring to them.
However, the teacher trainees reported that they experienced some difficulties when
recording and viewing their recorded microteachings. The difficulties they encountered
most were low-quality videos (87.5%), inconvenient conditions (78.1%) and too much
time consumed (65.6%).

Table 6. Effectiveness: Overall improvement after viewing

Very Very
The students were Little Considerable
Much
little much
1. better at teaching skills 0% 14.3% 21.4% 64.3% 0.0%
2. able to self-evaluate their
0.0% 0.0% 21.4% 60.7% 17.9%
microteachings

After doing the two microteachings, viewing their own and peers’ microteachings, a
majority of the teacher trainees believed that their teaching skills in general had improved
greatly (64.3%). More importantly, a large number of the teacher trainees (60.7%) thought
they were able to self-evaluate their microteachings.

Table 7. Possibility of using video-recordings in ELT class

No No idea Yes
Using video recording in ELT class 22.0% 7.5% 70.5%

Table 7 reveals the fact that the majority of teacher trainees (70.5%) showed their
willingness to use video-recordings in ELT classes. It is encouraging for the researcher
since the application of this technique encountered a number of difficulties as mentioned
in Table 5.

3. Conclusion
From the preliminary data analysis, the study has obviously found the answers to
the two previously mentioned research questions. After the training course with the use
of video-recordings, the teacher trainees experienced some difficulties due to low quality
of videos, recording conditions and time consumption. They were aware of and highly
appreciated video-recording and were able to recognize their strengths and weakness.
However, there was not much improvement between the first and second reflections
because of the limited number of reflections. They also showed their desire to use more
video-recording in other ELT methodology courses.
From the researcher’s position, the following implications were drawn to help
promote the effectiveness of video-recording use in developing teacher trainees’

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teaching and self-reflection. First, teacher trainees should realize the significance
of video-recording and integrate technology into their ELT syllabuses, especially to
widely apply video-recordings for microteaching. Secondly, teacher trainees should take
advantage of video-recordings to facilitate their autonomous and reflective learning.
Moreover, the management board of FOE should equip an ICT room and provide
better-equipped teacher training classrooms. These will help facilitate the use of
video-recordings and increase the motivation of all stakeholders.
REFERENCES

[1] Blasco, M., Fenollosa, M. L., Fuster, L., Garcia, E., Sanchis, P., Tortajada, L. A.,
Lloret, J., 2008. Video Recordings in University Teachers Training: Benefits and
Limitations. International Journal of Education and Information Technologies.
[2] Kong, S. C., Shroff, R.H., 2009. A Web Based Video System for Self-reflection by
Student Teachers Using a Guiding Framework. Australian Journal of Educational
Technology.
[3] Nhu, Phan Quynh & Thuy, Ton Nu Thanh, 2011. Video Recording: Enhancing
Pre-service Teachers’ Self-reflection and Teaching Skills.
[4] Richard, J. C., 1991. Towards Reflective Teaching. Retrieved from
http://www.tttjournal.co.uk.

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