ANALYSIS OF MICRO-TEACHING VIDEO

In the world of teaching, how teachers communicate with their students is really
important. Therefore, all teachers must know and try to apply a good teacher's talk.
Teacher talk refers to the language and communication style used by teachers in the
classroom. It includes verbal instructions, explanations, and interactions between
teachers and students during lessons. Effective teacher talk is clear, engaging, and
supportive of student learning. According to Nurpahmi (2017), teacher talk is the unique
language that educators employ, particularly in the classroom, to communicate with
students who are learning a second language. It is commonly known that intentional
and focused teacher-talk is a crucial element of good teaching for improved learning.
Teachers can encourage learners, reframe behaviours, and engage in proactive,
culturally relevant discourse by utilising a variety of interactions. When kids first enter
school, spoken instruction, engagement, and conversation come before written
instruction. A key component of how classrooms work and how kids learn is
teacher-talk. It offers countless opportunities for improved connections, learning
engagement, and social learning in terms of awareness, dialogue, and recognizing
differences (Starr, 2017). Hence, in this writing I will analyse the teacher talk used by my
friend in her micro-teaching focusing on three elements which are rate of speech,
vocabulary used and repetition.

The first element is the rate of speech. From my friend’s video of micro-teaching,
I could see that the pace of speech that she used was suitable to be used with primary
school students especially with year 4. Throughout the whole session, it can be seen
that she talked slowly and clearly which is very good because the students can catch
the words and what she was teaching. One of the most common habits that might
impair professional speaking abilities is speaking too quickly. According to Yurtbaşı
(2015) people who talk too quickly come out as disorganised and are not seen as
polished or competent. An uncontrollably high speech pace makes it more difficult for
students to comprehend the teacher, which degrades the quality of communication and
are more likely to make a pronunciation error. Fortunately, in the video, my peer
maintained her pace and got to minimise pronunciation mistakes.
Other than the rate of speech, vocabulary used by my friend in the video is also
suitable to be used with year 4 students and they are related to the topic that was being
taught which is Home Sweet Home. For example, in the time stamp of 1:07, the teacher
introduces some parts of the house to the students such as the bedroom, kitchen,
bathroom and living room. These words are simple and easy for young learners to
understand and comprehend as they might have prior knowledge about these words
before. Not only that, the instructions given from the teacher are also simple and easy
for the students to understand. For example, she said in the time stamp of 8:39, “you
have 5 minutes for you to write.” The instructions are clear without any complicated
order. Since young children are still developing their language skills, using simple
vocabulary ensures they understand the concepts or the lessons that are being taught.
Complex words might confuse them and hinder their ability to grasp the lesson (Astuti et
al., 2015). This is why I think she is using suitable vocabularies when teaching her
pupils.

The last element I have noticed from the video is the lack of repetition in giving
instructions or delivering the lessons. There are a lot of parts in her micro-teaching
where she should repeat sentences or repeat the instructions. For example, in the time
stamp of 5:13, one student read the sentences that were shown in the powerpoint slides
as the teacher asked a volunteer to read them. However, after she read it, the teacher
continued to the next slide without any explanation or repeating the sentences in a more
simpler way to let students understand. I think that she can improve more in those
elements by repeating every important thing such as the main lesson or the instructions.
According to McDermid (2023), repetition is essential for helping students retain the
information they have learned. Students are more likely to properly store and recall
important concepts, skills, and information if they are regularly reinforced. Long-term
access to knowledge is facilitated by repetition, which strengthens the brain connections
involved in learning. Repetition, whether it be through homework assignments, practice
questions, or regular classroom activities, strengthens learning and makes it more likely
that students will recall crucial information for tests and other future assessments. All in
all, I believe that the lesson will be more effective with more repetition by the teacher.

In conclusion, the micro-teaching that was conducted by my friend is nice and

good overall as she understands the concept and the elements of teacher talk and she
applied it in her micro-teaching. For example, she used a suitable rate of speech for
younger students and she also used simple vocabulary that is easy for students to
understand. However, one thing she should improve and consider more in teaching
which includes more repetition in giving instruction and delivering the lesson as it is one
of the most important aspects of teaching especially in primary school.
REFERENCES

Astuti, S. R., Wijaya, B. S., & Bunau, E. (2015). TEACHING VOCABULARY TO YOUNG

LEARNER THROUGH COPS AND SOLDIERS GAME. Jurnal Pendidikan Dan

Pembelajaran Untan, 4(4), 215819.

https://www.neliti.com/publications/215819/teaching-vocabulary-to-young-learner-throu

gh-cops-and-soldiers-game

McDermid, B. (2023, July 9). The power of repetition in education: what’s repeated gets

remembered and what’s remembered gets repeated.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/power-repetition-education-whats-repeated-gets-barrie-

mcdermid

Nurpahmi, S. (2017). TEACHER TALK IN CLASSROOM INTERACTION. Eternal (English,

Teaching, Learning & Research Journal), 3(1), 34–43.

https://doi.org/10.24252/eternal.v31.2017.a4

Starr, S. (2017). Teacher-Talk: Supporting teacher practice. Kairaranga, 18(2), 29–39.

https://doi.org/10.54322/kairaranga.v18i2.228

Yurtbaşı, M. (2015). Why should Speech Rate (Tempo) be Integrated into Pronunciation

Teaching Curriculum. JOURNAL OF EDUCATION AND FUTURE, 8, 85–102.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED566202.pdf