Micro-Teaching

Microteaching is a teaching scaled-down in content of the lesson, size of the class and
duration of teaching, The process of teaching is broken down into its components. A
teacher teaches a small topic to a small group of students for a short period.
It has been used worldwide since its invention at Stanford University in the late 1950s
by Dwight W. Allen, Robert Bush, and Kim Romney.
Characteristics
• It is a training technique.
• The trainee gets role models in teaching.
• It offers safe practice ground.
• It simplifies the complexities of regular teaching.
• Class strength is between 5 to 10 pupils.
• Class duration is 5 to 10 minutes.
• Subject matter to be taught is small.
• It focuses on only one teaching skill at a time.
• It gives instant feedback.
• It is practical.
• It makes teachers aware of various teaching skills
• It facilitates attainment of teaching skills one by one.
Objectives
• to improve the quality of teaching of the trainees.
• To help the trainees attain teaching skills.
• to enable trainees to master teaching skılls.
• To give proper guidance to trainees as how to teach well
Steps in micro teaching
1. Defining the skill
2. Demonstration ofthe skill by teacher educator
3. Lesson planning by the teacher trainee
4. Teaching by the trainee
5. Feed back
6. Re-planning the lesson by the trainee
7. Re-teaching by the trainee
8. Re-feedback
 This cycle is to be repeated till the trainee masters the skill.

Advantages
• It develops teachers' confidence.
• It helps teachers improve teaching performance.
• It proceeds from simple to complex.
• It gives ready feedback.
• It facilitates attainment of teaching skills.
• It modifies teacher behaviour.
• It is useful for both pre-service and in-service teachers.

Limitations
• It requires competent teacher trainers.
• It doesn't guarantee success in teaching.
• It makes teaching process rigid.
• Strict scheduling of time affects creativity of teachers.
• Teaching is not the totality of isolated teaching skills.

Peer Teaching
Peer teaching means teaching peers. Here the learners and teachers are from the same
group. Learners reinforce their learning by teaching others. It facilitates active
interaction between teacher and learners. Learners feel free to present their doubts
before their peers to get clarified

Testing and types of test .

●​ Tests are most commonly used tools of assessment.

●​ A test presents a set of stimuli to elicit responses in order to measure a particular
variable.
●​ It is a means to gather responses which would provide evidence about the extent of
acquisition of a particular attribute such as knowledge, skill, intelligence aptitude etc., of
an individual/ a group.
●​ Test are instrument for assessing a behavior in an objective manner.

Qualities of good language test :

 ●​ Validity- validity means truthfulness of a test. It refers to the extent to which a test
measures what it is actually meant to measure.
●​ Reliability –means faithfulness of a test. It refers to the stability or consistency of a test in
measuring what to measure
●​ Objectivity- should be free from subjectivity and personal bias. It should have specific
norms and criteria
●​ Usability- practicability of test
●​ Objective biasedness- it should be designed to test pre-determined learning outcomes
●​ Comprehensiveness- it should cover all the area
●​ Easy to administer
●​ Easy to score
●​ Should have attractive appearance.

Language related qualities :

●​ Chance for producing one’s own language

●​ It should test literary skills of the students
●​ Chance for creative writing
●​ Items for testing communications skills
●​ It should test language proficiency.

Problems related with language tests :

●​ Difficulty to test speaking and writing skills.

●​ Language skill is interrelated.
●​ Testing one skill in isolation is problematic.
●​ Testing of creative writing is very difficult
●​ Oral tests are subjective and time consuming.

Types of Test :

●​ Achievement Test
●​ Diagnostic Test
●​ Oral/Written Test
●​ Proficiency test
●​ Remedial test
●​ Objective/Descriptive Test
●​ Individual/Group Test
●​ Prognostic test

Achievement Test and diagnostic test :

●​ A test designed to assess the achievement of student in any subject with regard to a set
of predetermined objectives is called an Achievement Test.
 ●​ A test designed to identify and investigate the difficulties, disabilities,inadequacies and
gaps of student in specific curriculum areas with a view them helping them to overcome
those difficulties is called diagnostic test.

Achievement Diagnostic

Designed to test how much a learner has achieved Designed to identify weak area and learning difficulty-how
much a learner has not achieved

Wide content area Focus on difficult area

All the levels of items Simple item

To evaluate To provide remedial measures

Total Scoring is important No scoring

Follow norms No norms

Fixed time limit No time limit

Quantitative Qualitative

Functions of achievement test:

• Motivation- students can be motivated to learn more if there is frequent testing

• Classification- based on the results students may be classified in to different categories like
average, above average

• Promotion. Achievement tests is conducted at the end of a year to promote students in to

higher classes

• Prediction- tests score can be used to predict future performance of the students

• Comparison- based on the scores in the tests comparison can be made among the students

• Evaluation- tests are also conducted to evaluate teacher, learner and effectiveness of both the
materials and teaching methods

• Selection-Based on the test score students may be selected to various courses and jobs

• Gradation- grade can be given on the basis of test scores

• Remediation- slow learners can be identified and difficult area will be diagnosed to provide
remedial measures

Uses of Diagnostic test :

It helps the teacher to…….

➢ diagnose particular weak point

➢ locate specific areas of weakness

➢ find how much an individual has not been able to achieve and why

➢ determine the areas of success and failure

➢ give more attention to remove the deficiencies and to give more concentration on difficult
areas

➢ test the previous knowledge and thus to plan further instructions (this is done by the help of
pre-

diagnostic test)

➢ arrange remedial teaching with respect to the content, objectives, level of attainment etc

Oral and written test :

●​ In oral test, the examiner asks questions to the student in oral form. The student has to
answer the question in such a way as to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the subject
in oral form.
●​ Written test requires the respondent to write the answers in the form of objective type,
short answer type or essay type test items. The test in which the students respond to the
item in writing is called written test .

Oral Written

The respondent is supposed to give oral Written response

response

Tests communication skills Tests writing and reading skills only

Time consuming as one student takes the Time saving as all the students take the test
test at a time at same time
 Tests personality and interpersonal skills No provision to test interpersonal skills

No chance for malpractice Chance for malpractice

Subjective Free from subjectivity

As it is face to face the respondent does not Free from tension

feel free to respond

Not economical Economical

Proficiency test :

●​ Proficiency testing is the evaluation of practitioner performance against pre-established

criteria.
●​ External proficiency testing may be used for inter-laboratory comparisons
●​ while internal proficiency testing may be used for intra-laboratory comparisons.
●​ The intended purposes and outcomes of proficiency testing must be balanced against
resource expenditures (including time),productivity, its effectiveness as a quality
assurance measure, and satisfying accreditation or other regulatory requirements.

Remedial test :

●​ A remedial test is an assessment given to students who may need additional help or
support in a particular subject or skill area. It is typically administered after a student has
struggled or performed poorly in a regular test or exam. The purpose of a remedial test is
to provide an opportunity for the student to demonstrate improvement, understanding, or
mastery of the material they previously struggled with. It can also serve as a tool to
identify specific areas of weakness so that targeted instruction or interventions can be
provided.

Objective and Descriptive test :

●​ An objective test, is a test that has right or wrong answers and can be marked
objectively. There is no subjective judgement exercised by the examiner when assessing
 the answers in an objective test. Here, the respondent has to select correct responses
from choices or to supply the correct answer to questions.
●​ Eg: Multiple choice, Matching type, completion type.
●​ For descriptive test, the examinee is required to structure the answers in his own way.
●​ Eg : Short answer, essay type

Individual and Group test :

●​ When the test can be administered to a large number of persons, it is called Group Test.
●​ It is administered to several person at a time.
●​ When a test is administered to an individual to obtain a detail information about a
particular person, it is called individual Test.
●​ An individual test is administered to one person at a time.

Prognostic test :

●​ These are tests with predictive validity. Prognostic tests are used to predict the future
performance of a student in a particular area. Aptitudes, interests, attitudes, insight,
creativity etc are related to a particular field is tested in a prognostic test. This test helps
to avoid maladjustments and wastage. For eg; If a student poorly failed in a prognostic
test for higher studies in science, medicine, engineering etc, it is sure that he will be a
misfit for that course and it is better not to compel him to join for such a course.