Background of the Study

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides background information related to the subject matter triggered to be explored and analysed, presents the motivation why the researchers intended to do the research on the subject matter, and the general aims of doing the research.

A. Background of the Study

One of the technological breakthroughs for human life is a video tape recorder VTR or video camera. It opens to be used for various and creative ways and purposes. Previously, the video camera was only used for film or movie makings and historical records. It recorded the actors’ actions or objects and then replayed what was recorded on movie or television. Nowadays, the video camera has also been widely used for some educational contexts and settings. In language teaching classes, especially in microteaching classes, video camera has already been a familiar and standard tool for language teaching as stated by Rosenstein 2002. It has been used to support the teaching learning activities, to record experiment objects, to help the students do presentation, and to record the students’ performance in the class. In microteaching classes, video camera is mostly used to record the students’ performance when they are teaching. In Sanata Dharma University, especially in Faculty of Teachers Training and Education including English Education Study Program, a video camera is used 2 since 2005 to record the students’ teaching practice in microteaching classes. The purposes of facilitating video camera in microteaching class are, based on microteaching guiding book Pedoman Pengajaran Micro, 2005, to record the student teacher’s teaching practice and to ease the lecturers and the students to do observation so that the students will get fast, objective, and accurate feedback. Previously, the feedback given was in the form of observation sheets either from peers or from lecturers. However, the feedback was not in detailed and sometimes was considered doubtful as the student who was being observed could not see his or her own performance to prove whether what the observers informed about his or her performance was true. Furthermore, the feedback from the lecturers that the students considered more reliable than that from peers were given two weeks or more after the students’ teaching practice. In this sense, the students had already forgotten their own performance. As a result, the feedback was less useful. Therefore, the video camera is used. It can provide faster, more objective, and more detailed feedback since the video camera features enables the lecturers and the students to review and to focus on certain teaching skills or students’ performance that still needs improvement. The video camera is then considered as an excellent tool to support the teaching learning activities in Microteaching classes. It is obvious then that video camera is an excellent tool to record the students’ performance and to help the lecturers and the students to evaluate the students’ performance. However, how about the students’ perception on the use of video camera? Do they perceive the use of video camera in a positive or negative way? Do they also consider it as an excellent tool? The way the students perceive on PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 3 something, whether it is in positive or negative way, influences the students’ behavioural responses as Altman, Valenzi, and Hodgetts 1985 has remarked. The behavioural responses can also be positive or negative. If the students perceive the use of video camera in a positive way, the students’ behavioural responses will be positive too, which will in turn support the teaching learning activities and the course goal achievement. However, if the students perceive the use of video camera in a negative way, the students’ behavioural responses will also be negative, which will hamper the teaching learning activities and the course goal achievement. Benton-Kupper, the Assistant Professor of Education in Millikin University in Illinois, conducted a research on the student’ perspectives on microteaching experience. One of his findings was that the students in Millikin University mostly considered the video camera as an effective tool for providing feedbacks and reflection Benton-Kupper, 2001. The use of video camera helped the students get feedback and reflect what they did when they were doing teaching practice. Here, they could maximize the use of video camera as they perceived it in a positive way. They obtained not only vivid and objective feedback on their performance but also chances to do reflection, which then led them to be autonomous learners. Benton- Kupper’s finding on the use of video camera inspired the researcher to explore and to dig out the students’ perception on the use of video camera in a different university, which is in Sanata Dharma University.

B. Problem Limitation