T1 112008123 Full text

The Contribution of Teaching Journal to Students’ Teaching Development:
A Qualitative Study in a Microteaching Course

THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan

Wimbo Pambudi Wicaksono
112008123

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013

The Contribution of Teaching Journal to Students’ Teaching Development:
A Qualitative Study in a Microteaching Course

THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan

Wimbo Pambudi Wicaksono
112008123

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013

i

The Contribution of Teaching Journal to Students’ Teaching Development:
A Qualitative Study in a Microteaching Course

THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan

Wimbo Pambudi Wicaksono
112008123

Approved by:

Nugrahenny T. Zacharias, Ph.D
Supervisor

Anita Kurniawati, M. Hum
Examiner

ii

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or
accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my
knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any

other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2013. Wimbo Pambudi Wicaksono and Nugrahenny T. Zacharias, Ph.D
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of
Language and Literature, Satya Wacana University, Salatiga.

Wimbo Pambudi Wicaksono:

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PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION

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verify that:
Name
: Wimbo Pambudi Wicaksono
Student ID Number : 112008123
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: English Language Teaching
Faculty

: Faculty of Language and Literature
Kind of Work
: Undergraduate Thesis
In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with a non-exclusive royalty free
right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:
The Co tri utio of Tea hi g Jour al to Stude ts’ Tea hi g Develop e t:
A Qualitative Study in a Microteaching Course
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print, publish, post, display, incorporate, store in or scan into a retrieval system or database,
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Made in
Date

: Salatiga
: June 21st,2013

Verified by signee,

______________________
Wimbo Pambudi Wicaksono
Approved by

Nugrahenny T. Zacharias, Ph.D
Supervisor

Anita Kurniawati, M. Hum
Examiner

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover Page .................................................................................................................................. i
Approval Thesis Sheet ...............................................................................................................ii
Copyright Statement ................................................................................................................ iii
Publication Agreement Declaration…………………………………………………………..iv
Table of Content……………………………………………………………………………….v
ABSTRACT. .............................................................................................................................. 1
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1

Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................................... 3
THE STUDY ............................................................................................................................. 5
Context of the study ............................................................................................................ 5
Participants.......................................................................................................................... 6
Instrument of Data Collection............................................................................................. 7
Data collection procedure and analysis .............................................................................. 8
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................................................................................ 8
Student-teachers became knowledgeable of the areas of specific teaching content or
methodology. ............................................................................................................................. 9
Selecting Activities ............................................................................................................. 9
Introducing Lesson ........................................................................................................... 11
Giving Instruction ............................................................................................................. 12
Managing Classroom ........................................................................................................ 14
Students teachers identified areas of improvement they need to work on ............................... 16
Introducing the Topic........................................................................................................ 16
Giving Instruction ............................................................................................................. 17

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CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS .................................................................................. 18

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………………………………20
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 21

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The Contribution of Teaching Journal to Students’ Teaching Development:
A Qualitative Study in a Microteaching Course
Wimbo Pambudi Wicaksono
ABSTRACT
This paper discussed the use of writing teaching journal to teacher training, especially
in Microteaching class. This study was aimed to answer the research question, “What
does the contribution of teaching journal to students‟ teaching development?” Twenty
student-teachers were selected to be the participant and the data were collected
through their teaching journals. The result in this study showed that student-teachers‟
teaching journals gave benefit for them. It was revealed from their teaching journal
that they became knowledgeable in the areas of specific teaching content or
methodology and identified areas of improvement they need to work on. It is in line
with what Jack and Richards (2005, p. ix) that stated it is helpful to identify
pedagogical strengths that enhance teacher development, and weaknesses that suggest
change in delivery of instruction or curriculum, in order to improve student learning.

Key words: microteaching, teaching journal, student-teachers.

INTRODUCTION
The aim of this study is to find the contribution of teaching journal to students‟
teaching development. As a person who has spent most of my time as a student, I have
experienced writing countless journals as a part of the course assessment which, according to
the course instructors, are usually used to measure students‟ understanding in a course. The
course instructors will use it to evaluate students‟ performance during the course. Then, they
will use it to decide the grade. However, I could not yet understand the reason why the
students have to write journals in a Microteaching course.
In the end of the Microteaching course, the students should attach their Teaching
Journal, as termed by the course lecturer, in the teaching portfolio as the course final project.
I should write what I felt about my own teaching and the Microteaching class in my teaching
journal. After that, I submitted it and I would get the grade. I was curious with the use of
writing those teaching journals because I never got the instructor‟s feedback for the teaching
journal that I wrote. Therefore, I had some questions came out in my mind related to the
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teaching journal: 1). was it only a requirement to get the course grade? 2). did I always have
to write what I felt? 3).what should I write if I did not have something important to write? 4).

Then, how did the teacher assess my teaching journal? 5). was there any benefit of writing
teaching journals for me as a student? Therefore, a further analysis about the students‟
teaching journal during the Microteaching course should be conducted to find out the
contribution of teaching journal to the students‟ teaching development.
In the process of writing the teaching journals, I feel that it is similar with writing in a
diary where we can share our feelings related to our experiences. Holly (1989) and Shepherd
(2004), as cited in Tokolahi (2010), have added the definition of a journal as a written
documentation of a person‟s reflections on his/her experiences. These days, journals are also
commonly used in several subjects, especially in the English Teaching Program where I
conducted this study. It effectively promotes students learning because they call for different
ways of thinking about the subject from the traditional essay: more open-ended, questioning
and exploratory; raising rather than answering questions; enabling exploration of connections
between ideas encountered in the course and the writer‟s experience‟ (Crème 2005, p.289 in
Barney & Mackinlay, 2010). In addition, Moon (2006, p.26 in Barney & Mackinlay, 2010)
stated that journal writing is a process that enhances learning in a number of ways: by
slowing down the pace of learning, increasing the sense of ownership in learning,
acknowledging the role of emotion in learning, providing a learning experience that deals
with situations that are not straight forward and enhancing learning through the process of
writing.
This study is designed for the purpose of examining the contribution of teaching

journal to the students‟ teaching development. The data which are collected through their
teaching journals will give a picture about how students learn through their experience. There
is something promising about the pedagogical implications that the student can take by

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writing teaching journal. As a form of reflection, I believed that this assignment directs the
student to be an independent learner. Bartlett (1990, 209 as cited in Freeman 2001, 48) noted
that the best way to record our practice should involve a writing process because we begin
not only observe but also take the first step in reflecting on or about our practice. Richards &
Lockhart (2005, p. ix) stated that it will be very helpful to identify pedagogical strengths that
enhance teacher development, and weaknesses that suggest a change in the delivery of
instruction or curriculum, in order to improve students‟ learning. It seems that teaching
journals have contributions to students‟ teaching development. Therefore, through this study,
I made my research question as “What does the contribution of teaching journal to students’
teaching development?” The reason why I used this research question is because I want to
know the benefits of writing teaching journal, especially its contribution to the students‟
teaching development.
Theoretical Framework
The aim of this paper is to know the pedagogical contributions of teaching journal to

the students‟ teaching development. Albrecht and Carnes (2006) gave four findings about the
contribution of student-teachers‟ journal during Microteaching class in Professional
Development School (PDS) in United States.
1. Student-teachers became knowledgeable in the areas of specific teaching content and
teaching methodology or pedagogy.
Albrecht and Carnes (2006) stated that knowledge development was the essence
of this finding. They became knowledgeable in the areas of specific teaching content and
teaching methodology or pedagogy which according to Paul R. Burden and David M.
Byrd (1999, p. xi) include preparing for instruction, presenting instruction, organizing and
managing instruction. It is possible because the Microteaching class creates a setting
where the normal complexities of the classroom are drastically limited into a specific part

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of teaching skill so that the students can practice it, and immediate feedback on
performance can be given (Wallace, 1991, p.92). Albrecht and Carnes noticed that their
student-teachers became knowledgeable from their students‟ voice which were
communicated through their journals about applying their knowledge of content to the
subject matter (Albrecht & Carnes, 2006).

2. Student-teachers recognized the importance of teachers‟ preparation.
The issue about how students‟ attitude in taking the Microteaching class is
becomes interesting to be examined whether they prepare their mini teaching as serious as
what they will prepare in the “real” teaching later or not. Albrecht and Carnes (2006)
stated that a sense of appreciation and understanding of how much time, effort, and
application of knowledge are required for writing a high quality lesson plan. Through
what they wrote in their teaching journals in the microteaching class, we can examine
how students recognize the importance of teacher preparedness for a successful teaching
and learning.

3. Student-teachers developed or sought to develop a personal ‟comfort level‟ for teaching.
Albrecht and Carnes (2006) stated that the collaborative processing during the
microteaching and teaching journals results in the increasing of students‟ confidence level.
The student-teachers will identify the development of a safe, non-threatening learning
environment as a key to reduce nervous habits. The more the students get a chance to
practice, the more confident they will be in expressing their ideas about teaching. In
addition, their comfort levels will also increase. It can be a sign of a professional teacher
development (Zuljan, Zuljan & Pavlin, 2011).

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4. Student-teachers identified areas of improvement for professional growth and
development
Albrecht and Carnes (2006) argued that the central purpose of reflection in the
journal is the problem solving. In this finding, they identified that student-teachers became
skilled at identifying areas of improvement for ongoing professional growth and
development. Richards and Lockhart (2005, p. 4) added that students‟ reflection can be
also used as a basis for decision making, planning, and action. It can be assumed that it
enables the student-teachers to make improvement for professional growth and
development.
THE STUDY
Context of the study
The setting of the study is a Faculty of Language and Literature or English Language
Teaching Program in a private University, in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. The classes in
the English Language Teaching Program are conducted using English language. The English
Language Teaching Program prepares its students to be English teachers and for this reason
the students are prepared to face the real classroom condition by teaching an educational
institutional in Salatiga. All students must have taken education related courses like
Introduction to Language Education, Teaching Learning Strategies, Teaching English as
Foreign Language, Curriculum and Material Development, Language Assessments, and
Microteaching.
These classes equip them to do their teaching practicum in an educational institution
in Salatiga later. In the Microteaching class, the students will get the opportunities to apply
what they have learned by doing mini teachings. Each student has to conduct three mini
teachings, the length of each mini teaching is only about 10-15 minutes and only about 10-20
students are involved in order to reduce the complexity. In the mini teachings, their friends

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pretend to be the students. Each mini teaching is different because it prepares them to teach
three different levels of educational systems in Indonesia; Elementary School, Junior High
School, and Senior High School. The students must be prepared for all levels because they do
not know which school they are going to teach for their teaching practicum later. In the end
of each mini teaching, the students have to write a teaching journal about how they feel about
their teaching and their class, comments from their observers (in the form of narration), the
weaknesses that they think they need to fix or improve, and how they are going to improve it.
Participants
All participants of the study were selected from Microteaching classes in the ELT
program. There are six Microteaching classes in the ELT program but only three classes were
used due to the criteria below. This study took 24 students from the three Microteaching
classes and also uses purposive sampling or criterion-based. The participants had been
selected based on the criteria:
1. Students who were in Microteaching class and had passed Language Education,
Teaching Learning Strategies, Teaching English as Foreign Language, Curriculum
and Material Development, Language Assessments class. It is assumed that if they
have passed those courses, then they have learned the theory of teaching to be applied
in the Microteaching class.
2. Students who gave the same instructions in a class as listed in the microteaching
handout for teaching journal assignment. As the requirements, student-teachers have
to submit their teaching journals at the end of the semester.
3. Students who had written three mini teachings on their teaching journals.
There were three classes that met the criteria above. The total number of the students
was 31 students in those classes. However, only 24 students were willing to be the
participants. From twenty four student-teachers‟ teaching journals, only twenty were used.

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Four other teaching journals were not used as they did not meet the criteria because the
participants wrote a global reflection for their three mini teachings. All names mentioned in
this study are pseudonyms.
Instrument of Data Collection
The data was collected through the students teachers‟ teaching journals to answer the
research questions. Students who are taking the Microteaching class have to write their own
feeling about their mini teachings and their class after they have done their mini teaching.
Hence, they have to write a teaching journal after they have finished each mini teaching. As a
total, there are three mini teachings that the students have to write in the form of journals.
Each journal is approximately about 200-300 words typed, double spaced and Times New
Roman 12. What the students wrote in their teaching journals are considered similar with the
previous study conducted by Albrecht and Carnes (2006) because they have to address what
they learned through their microteaching, what teaching methods worked best and what
things did not work as planned, and how they made their microteaching better. In the end,
they should attach the teaching journals in the portfolio as the final assignment.
In collecting the data, the beginning step was asking the agreement from twenty
participants to let me read and use their teaching journals. The contents include their strength,
weakness, and problems during the mini teachings. The teaching journals that were used as
the main data in this study were the student-teachers' reflection on their 3rd mini teaching with
an assumption that they have learned enough from their 1st and 2nd teachings as well as the
comments from their teacher. Each teaching journal that the student-teachers write should
describe the questions from the template that have been attached in the Microteaching course
handout. The questions are :

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1.

How the students feel about their teaching.

2. How the students feel about their class.
3. Comments from their observers (in the form of narration).
4. The part the students think they need to fix or improve.
5. How the students are going to improve it
Data collection procedure and analysis
In analyzing the data, there were several steps which I conducted. First, I read the 3rd
teaching journals from the students. Second, I reread them to examine and code the data that
have been gathered from the teaching journals. This coding was done by highlighting what
they have learned which was reflected from what they had written about their strength,
weakness, and problems during the mini teachings. Third, I classified the data based on four
subthemes that answered the research question adapted from the study conducted by Albrecht
and Carnes (2006), which are: 1) Student-teachers became knowledgeable in the areas of
specific teaching content and teaching methodology or pedagogy. 2) Student-teachers
recognized the importance of „teacher preparedness.‟ 3) Student-teachers developed or sought
to develop a personal ‟comfort level‟ for teaching. 4) Student-teachers identified areas of
improvement for professional growth and development. In analyzing the data, it was taken
from the teaching journals that were not edited. Therefore, some grammatical problems still
appeared in the discussion.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
The aim of this paper is to investigate how student-teachers‟ teaching journals contribute
to their teaching development. From the data collected, there were two main things that I
could draw as the main themes. Those themes are student teachers became knowledgeable of
the areas of specific teaching content or methodology and they were able to identify the areas
of improvement they need to develop.

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1. Student-teachers became knowledgeable of the areas of specific teaching content or
methodology.
After analyzing the data, I found that the most of the students wrote about how they
became knowledgeable of the areas of specific teaching content or methodology. Based on
the their journals, they self-assess their activities, lesson instruction, instruction and
classroom management.
Selecting Activities
From the teaching journals, there were three participants who made a reflection upon
their decision in choosing certain activities. Eki, Laras, and Ayu evaluated their own mini
teachings, thus they were able to assess their own teaching success. Furthermore, Eki even
wrote that he became knowledgeable of activities that are interesting to be implemented in
the classroom.
My last mini teaching presentation is my best mini teaching presentation that
I have ever done in this class, still in my opinion. I do prepare my last mini
teaching presentation well, choosing what material that I will give to the
students and also how to revise my mistake in my last two presentations. ...
prepare some activities which I think these will be interesting to do based on
my friends‟ feed backs, most of them feel the same like I feel; the
presentation is good and well done, it runs smoothly.
(Eki, Teaching Journals, 15-11-2013)
From the teaching excerpt above, Eki recognized that she was failed to successfully
conducted activities in her two last mini teachings. However, she made reflections upon her
mini teaching, as well as taking feedback from her peers, so that in her last presentation she
could be succeeded to conduct interesting activities. Eki stated that she knew her activity is
interesting from her friends‟ feedback. She also wrote that her third mini teaching was the

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best of her, because she has learned from the previous experiences as well as she took
feedbacks from her peers. What she wrote about her third mini teaching that was her best
teaching because it was interesting and ran smoothly. It indicated that she became
knowledgeable in preparing her teaching, especially in selecting activities that are interesting
to do.
Teaching journals wrote by Laras might bring different point of views about how they
used their knowledge when selecting interesting materials.
Until the day before my presentation, I still not satisfied with my own lesson
plan because at that time I think the activities I planned were boring, I would
just ask student to give their opinion about some pictures and statements. But
suddenly, I got an idea to change the first activity with making a movie
review. The idea was, sometimes we found people‟s opinion about certain
movie titles in magazines and they make it in a form of movie review. By
doing this activity, I also had a chance to show movie that probably make my
mini teaching more interesting.
(Laras, Teaching Journals, 13-11-2012)
In her last mini teaching, Laras had a topic about „Asking & Giving opinion‟ and
„Agreement & Disagreement‟. From the excerpt above, Laras has different opinion about
interesting materials. She wrote that interesting materials were materials that could not make
her students bored or could motivate the students to learn. That was why she changed her
activities from giving opinion about some pictures and statements became making a movie
review. The way she selected activities that would not make her student felt bored showed
that she became knowledgeable in selecting interesting activities.
The third teaching journal wrote by Ayu showed her point a view in selecting materials
for teaching.

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However, I still prepared it as good as I could and I always tried to look for
something new for my teaching because sometimes learning is boring. At
that time, I had an idea to make a game for my teaching, so I planned that the
students would learn English while playing a game and I hoped it could
avoid students from boredom and make them enthusiastic and interactive in
learning English.
(Ayu, Teaching Journals, 13-11-2012)
From her teaching journal, she realized that she could not apply her previous activities
for her students. Different from Laras that employed interesting activities in the classroom,
the way to avoid students‟ boredom was by giving interactive activities that could make the
students enthusiastic. In her teaching, she chose games as her activities. What Ayu wrote in
their teaching journal showed that she became knowledgeable of selecting activities.
Introducing Lesson
The next finding was the students gained success in opening the lesson by applying
attention grabber questions to the students.
This mini-teaching is generally better with my two previous mini-teachings.
I improve the way I open the class, I ask questions quite often, so students
keep paying attention to my explanation.
(Niko, Teaching Journals, 13-11-2012)
What Niko had written showed that he made an improvement in opening the class by
asking questions. In his mini teaching, he had to teach conversation class and got a topic
about number. He thought it was a common topic, thus he put it easy in determining what he
should do, especially for the opening or pre-teaching activities. Then, Niko asked several
questions to introduce the lesson that made the students keep paying attention to his

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explanation. The way he could improve how to introduce a lesson by asking questions
indicated that he became knowleadgeable of introducing a lesson.
The next journal written by Hidayat showed how he liked the way he opened the lesson
by having small talks because he already knew how to reduce the gap between students and
the teacher using short conversation about certain topic that attracts students‟ attention.
My reflection of the previous mini teaching that I did is that I was pretty like
a teacher though even though I am not a teacher, just not yet. I like how the
way I opened my lesson that day with short conversation with students,
talking with them about certain topic that interest them, so the gap between
students and teacher is not too high. Narrowing the gap is a part of how to
teach effectively in class though in my opinion because it‟s like a class
engagement.
(Hidayat, Teaching Journals, 15-11-2012)
It was clear that Hidayat realized that class engagement is a key to teach effectively. He
added that narrowing the gap between him as a teacher and his students is important. That
was why he tried to engage with the student by opening a conversation and choosing a topic
that was interesting for his student when he introduced the lesson. From the teaching journals
above, we could notice that Hidayat became knowledgeable of how to introduce the lesson
interestingly.
Giving Instruction
The teaching journals wrote by Christ showed that he learned about giving instructions
for cloze test through her experiences in the mini teachings.
What I learned from this mini teaching was, when I asked the student to do
cloze test (reading), I had to read it at least 3 times. First reading is for

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understanding reading, the second reading for filling the cloze test, and third
reading for checking the answer or work.
(Christ, Teaching Journals, 5-12-2012)
In his third mini teaching, Christ got a topic about folktales. He told a story and gave a
text about Temanggung. At the end of the class, he asked the students to do a cloze test. Here,
he realized that the students could not understand his instruction if he only read it once. Then
he had to repeat it twice to make them fully understood and could do the test just like what he
instructed. From what he wrote, it was clear that he became knowledgeable of giving
instruction, especially in giving instruction for cloze test.
The next teaching journal wrote by Suci also showed that she has learned about
giving instructional explanation for a lesson.
I think that it is would be bored because the skill I would be teach is
grammar. All my thinking is broken because the fact is the students give a
good feed back. I see it from the warming up section. The students engaged
with the topic so I can continue it softly. The first step is giving the
matching task in order to review their knowledge. The next is asking their
opinion. It is a good way in teaching because the interaction between the
teacher and students is important to build an attention. So we can deliver the
material well.
(Suci, Teaching Journals, 15-11-2012)
What Suci wrote showed that she learned how to give instruction in delivering material
by building interaction between her as a teacher and her students. At first, she thought that the
students would be bored because she had to teach about grammar but eventually she found it
wrong. She noticed that her students could engage with the topic. Then, she continued the
lesson by matching the task and asking their opinion. She could maintain the students‟

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attention to her teaching which made her felt that she was successful in delivering the
material. What Suci wrote indicated that she learned from her experiences in her mini
teaching about how to deliver the material well. It is in line with Biggs (1987) in Smith
(2010) that stated students absorbed such knowledge and skills during their teaching
experiences.
Managing Classroom
Managing classroom is the biggest effort that the student-teachers should commit in
order to organize the learning environment or create a learning community to make learning
purposeful and productive (Roe, Smith, & Ross, 2010, p.68). An interesting finding was
found through Novi‟s and Susi‟s teaching journals. They shared what have they learned about
managing classroom:
While second group come forward, the teacher gave sign that the time is
three minutes left. Actually, there is still one activity. If I do it, I will lost
my post teaching. I thought show must go on. I left the other activity and
focus on this activity, I asked one more group to come forward. The activity
have finished. I did my post teaching by giving review of the material today
and asking them to revise it at home.
(Novi, Teaching Journals, 13-11-2012)
Well, another thing that I also missed is I did not really follow the orders of
my lessons plan when I teach in class. I let one thing (one part) activity in
my lesson plan miss; because I think that the part was not interesting
enough for the students. That‟s why I jumped to another activity. But the
teacher told me that it is ok, no problem because teaching is an arts.
Therefore, it will be better if I adjust the conditions of my students in order

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to make them engage to the materials instead of just following the lesson
plan itself
(Susi, Teaching Journals, 15-11-2012)
Both of Novi and Susi faced the same situation which was out of plan. According to
Tripp (1993, p.8) in Liliyana (2013), an unplanned event faced by teacher is categorized as
critical incident. In this case, both of Novi and Susi had to take quick response to problem
occured during their teaching which resulted in omitting certain activity that they had planned
in their mini teaching. Although they had different reason why they omitted the activities,
they learned that they did not need to make their teaching to be exactly the same with their
lesson plan. Moreover, this decision eventually brought positive effects for their teaching. In
Novi‟s case, she chose to omit an activity in order to be able to perform her post teaching
activity. In other case, Susi might face a bad condition if she forced herself to use an activity
which was not interesting, even by herself as the teacher. These situations are categorized as
a teaching high in critical incident where there is a spontaneous and unanticipated
intervention or change in the lesson plan that has a positive effect on the lesson (Thiel as
cited in Richard &Farrell 2005, p.115). Furthermore, what they did in their mini teaching
showed that they became knowledgeable in managing classroom.
From the discussion above, we can see that the students became knowledgeable in the
area of specific teaching content or methodology. They became knowledgeable in selecting
activities, introducing lesson, giving instruction and managing classroom. Then, the students
felt that they had made improvement because they learned from their experience from the
previous mini teachings. It was a sign that they consciously transformed their experiences to
personal lessons. Improvements were consciously taken based on decision making and
experience.

15

2. Students teachers identified areas of improvement they need to work on
The next finding is the students teachers know what areas of improvement they need to
work on. It was reflected from their journal that they identified their weaknesses or problems
and also what they would do later in order to improve their learning. They found that they
had problems in introducing the topic and giving instructional strategy.
Introducing the Topic
What Laras wrote in her teaching journal showed that she identified her problem in
introducing the topic.
Actually, I can give them some examples of giving opinion when I
explained about the movie magazine that I brought to the class to introduce
the topic. Maybe I can give them examples of movie review which contain
some expressions to give opinion before I ask the students to make their
own review. I can also re arrange the order of activities, because I started
with something difficult (making simple movie review) to the one that is
easier (giving opinion about some pictures orally).
(Laras, Teaching Journals, 13-11-2012)
Her excerpt above shows that she identified an area of improvement that she needs to
work on. In this case, Laras wrote that she had a problem in introducing the topic. She
identified that she could improve her teaching by improving her skill in introducing the topic.
She could specifically improve it by giving her students examples of movie review which
contain some expressions in giving opinion before she asks them to make their own review.
Then, she could also rearrange the order of her activities from the easier to the difficult ones.
Her reflection in the teaching journal was not only showing her success in identifying area of
improvement she needs to work on but also the possible solution for her problem.

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Giving Instruction
The next journal written by Setya and Sianturi showed that they identified their
problem in giving instructions.
When I was doing my mini teaching, there was something that I actually
forgot. I forgot to draw the plot of narrative story. I should draw it at the
beginning when I was explaining about the generic structure of narrative
text. I drew it at the end when I did reinforcement. I thought it was okay but
it would be better if I drew it at the beginning so the students could
understand more about the plot and the generic structure of narrative text.
(Setya, Teaching Journals, 13-11-2012)
In my teaching I also faced one difficulty that was when I had to ask the
students to come in front of the class to act. I forgot to give them time to
read along the script I just gave them. It caused them not able to act it out
and just read it and it obviously became reading theater. That was my own
fail to recognize what actually I should do before asking them act in front of
the class. I hope I did not do the same mistake later on when I had to teach
the same material.
(Sianturi, Teaching Journals, 15-11-2012)
We can see from the excerpts above that a minor error such as “forgot” to do something
that had been planned before could bring a significant difference. What Setya wrote showed
that he forgot to draw the plot of narrative story in the beginning of the lesson which made
his students could not strongly understand the plot and the generic structure of narrative text.
Then, Sianturi‟s teaching journal also showed how he got problem when he had to ask his
students to come in front of the class to act, because he forgot to give his students some time
to read along the script he just gave them. The positive value that they could take from their

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experience was that they succeeded in identifying their problem in giving instruction. It also
showed that they learned from their mini teaching experience.
In addition, what the students had written above is also shows that they identified the
areas of improvements through their teaching journals. Schon (1987), in Albrecht and Carnes
(2006), identified two types of reflection which are: “reflection-in-action” and “reflection-on
action”. Sudden decision during their teaching as the result of their own examination to
improve practice is an example of Schon‟s “reflection-in-action”. Then, writing teaching
journals after their mini teaching to find the solution as a result of what they faced during
their teaching is an example of what Schon (1983, 1987) in Albrecht and Carnes (2006)
referred as “reflection-on-action”. As the result, they identified the areas of improvement that
they need to work on by practicing their teaching.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
The aim of this paper is to investigate how student-teachers‟ teaching journal contributes
to their teaching development. After analyzing the data I got from the student-teachers‟
teaching journals, I found out that there are two contributions of student-teachers‟ teaching
journal to their teaching development. Those contributions are student-teachers became
knowledgeable of the areas of specific teaching content or methodology and identified areas
of improvement they need to work on.
From the data that were examined, students-teachers were considered success in
transforming their experiences into knowledge and implementing their knowledge to their
teaching. It was known through their feeling toward what they did in their mini teaching,
what worked best, and what they learned from their experiences in the mini teachings. From
the findings, it was found that there were four knowledge constructions regarding teaching
methodology that they discussed, which included: selecting activities, introducing lesson,
giving instruction and managing classroom.

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The second finding is student-teachers identified areas of improvement they need to
work on. Students succeeded to identify the areas through their evaluation on their teaching
performance during and after their teaching. Sudden decision during their teaching as the
result of their own evaluation to improve practice is their reflection during the teaching
(“reflection-in-action”). Then, writing teaching journals after conducting mini teaching to
find the solution for the problems that they faced during their teaching is their reflection after
the teaching (reflection-on-action). As the result, they identified their weaknesses and also
what will they do to later in order to improve their teaching. They gave critique to themselves
in the way they introduced the topic and gave instructions.
However, this study still has limitation. It is limited on the participants‟ understanding of
the reflection itself. Since teaching journal is a form of reflection, it requires student-teachers‟
awareness to examine their own experiences. There are arguments about what is the
definition of the term reflection because there is no measurement tool for the reflection
(Subramaniam, 2010). He added that the evaluation criteria should be made to reveal that the
potential of the microteaching evaluation form. The evaluation was dependent on assigning
weight age to each criterion. Therefore, having participants who have sufficient knowledge of
and experiences about reflection will be more valuable.
From this study, it is found that student-teachers‟ teaching journal is not only a
Microteaching class assignment. It gives benefits to student-teachers‟ because they can use
their teaching journal to help them develop themselves. From the discussion, student-teachers
showed that they became knowledgeable in selecting interesting activities and giving a clear
instruction. They also learned that it is not necessary to follow the lesson plan in managing
classroom. Then, the teaching journals also showed how students realized that their
examination on their experiences helped them to identify their problems or weaknesses in
introducing the topic and giving instruction. The pedagogical implications are in line with

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Jack and Richards (2005, p. ix), who stated that students‟ teaching journal is helpful to
identify pedagogical strengths that enhance teacher development, and weaknesses that
suggest change in delivery of instruction, in order to improve student learning. In addition,
the educational institution can also take benefits from the student-teachers‟ teaching journal
by using the data taken from the journal as a consideration to improve the course if it is
needed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First, I would like to thank to Jesus Christ for his grace and blessing to my family and me.
I wish to sincerely appreciate all people who helped me to finish this study. I would like to
send my gratitude to my supervisor, Ibu Nugrahenny T. Zacharias whose patience, kindness,
as well as academic experience I admire and also to my examiner, Ibu Anita Kurniawati who
is willing to examine my thesis and put a touch of satisfaction in it. In addition, I am thankful
to Ibu Victoria Usadya Palupi who has given me her time and advices in the process of
writing this thesis.
I am also greatly gratified to my parents, Bambang Ari Setyadhi and Wahyu Budihastuti
whom without their endless prayer, love, and support, I would not be able to finish my study.
And this thesis would certainly not be finished without my beloved brother Bayu and my
lovely girlfriend Nesya for becoming my reminder when I was lazy to do my thesis.
Lastly, I also want to say thank you to several special people: 1) my thesis mates, Dika,
Yayas, Wian, and all for their help and support, 2) Mas Putut, Mbak Yesi, Mbak Wiwied,
Mbak Ika, and Dewi who always encourage, support, and help me in finishing this thesis, 3)
my friends in ED 2008 for the togetherness and friendship. Last but not least, I would like to
deliver my deep thanks to all teachers in English Department for teaching and educating me
the whole time I study in SWCU.

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