Changes in Teaching Behaviour After Completing a Self‐Instructional Microteaching Course (1)

Summary

Changes in teaching behaviour after completing a self‐instructional microteaching course, Effective Questioning, were investigated for 28 experienced teachers. Fourteen measures of teaching behaviour were obtained from 20‐minute discussion lessons videotaped in each teacher's classroom before, immediately after, and four months after completing the microteaching course. There was significant and stable improvement on eight of the measures; two showed marginal changes, significant at one but not both of the post course testing sessions; and four showed no change. The changes included a large and significant reduction in the percentage of discussion time taken up by teacher talk (Tables 3 and 4).

There was a close correspondence between these results and results obtained in America by Borg et al. (1970), (Table 6), with the materials on which the British course was based, as well as between the results from the videotapes and teachers’ own reports of the effect of the course on their teaching. Other reports from teachers suggest a concurrent improvement in pupils’ discussion skills and the quality of their answers (Table 7).

The results indicate that self‐instructional microteaching is effective in bringing about large and stable changes in teaching behaviour. The correspondence between these findings and those of earlier American studies was interpreted as supporting the feasibility of the international transfer of teacher training materials.

* This is the first of two articles to appear on this topic.

Notes

* This is the first of two articles to appear on this topic.