Feedback about Practice Teaching

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Meaning of Practice Teaching
1.3 Objectives of Practice Teaching
1.4 Practice Teaching Programme at Department of Education (CASE)
1.5 Feedback and Practice Teaching Programme
1.6 Functions of Feedback
1.7 Importance of Feedback
1.8 Reactions towards Feedback
1.9 Rationale
1.10 Research Questions
1.11 Statement of the Problem
1.12 Objectives of the Study
1.14 Operational Definition of the Term Used

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Review of Related Literature
2.2.1 Studies related to Practice Teaching
2.2.2 Studies related to Micro-teaching
2.2.3 Studies related to Feedback
2.2.4 Studies carried out on B. Ed. Student-teachers of the Department of Education (CASE), the M. S. University of Baroda
2.3 Major Observations and Implications for the Present Study

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Methodology of the Study
3.2.1 Research Design
3.2.2 Population
3.2.3 Sample
3.2.3.1 Characteristics of the Sample
3.3.4 Tools
3.3.4.1 Reaction Scale
3.4 Data Collection
3.5 Data Analysis

CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Analysis of Reaction Scale
4.3 Analysis of the Reaction of the Student Teachers of the M. S. University of Baroda Towards Feedback about the Practice Teaching
4.4 Analysis of the Open Ended Questions
4.4.1 Satisfaction of the student teachers with Feedback Provided during Practice Teaching
4.4.2 Helps from Feedback to the student teachers in Improving Practicing Lessons
4.4.3 Affection of Feedback in student teachers’ Practicing Lessons
4.4.4 Suggestions of student teachers for Improvement in Feedback

CHAPTER V MAJOR FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Major Findings
5.3 Discussion
5.4 Implications of the Study
5.5 Conclusion
5.6 Suggestions for Further Studies

CHAPTER VI SUMMARY
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Statement of the Problem
6.3 Objectives of the Study
6.4 Explanation of the Term Used
6.5 Operationalization of the Term Used
6.6 Methodology of the Study
6.6.1 Research Design
6.6.2 Population
6.6.3 Sample
6.6.4 Tools
6.7 Data Collection
6.8 Data Analysis
6.9 Major Findings
6.10 Discussion
6.11 Implications of the Study
6.12 Conclusion
6.13 Suggestions for Further Studies

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

CHAPTER I CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

1.1 Introduction

The main aim of teacher education curriculum is to prepare teachers who could efficiently carry out the school education programme. A teacher after his/her training should be better, equipped to achieve the objectives of school education. In a teacher education course, practice teaching is an integral part which is the effective way of acquiring teaching skills that a teacher needs. In the words of Education Commission (1964-66), “The quality of training institutions remains, with a few exceptions either mediocre or poor, competent staff are not attracted, vitality and realism are lacking in the curriculum and programme of work which continue to be largely traditional and set patterns and rigid techniques are followed in Practice Teaching with a disregard for present day needs and objectives”. The Secondary Education Commission (1952-53) also stated that, “Teaching Methods should aim less at imparting the maximum quantum of knowledge possible and more on training students in the techniques of study and methods of acquiring knowledge through personal effort and initiatives, and the teacher trainees should receive training in one or more of the various co-curricular activities”. Moving further to the Education Commission (1964-66), the commission observed that student teachers are commonly required to give a specified number of isolated lessons, many of which are often unsupervised or ill-supervised.

1.2 Meaning of Practice Teaching

Pre-service teacher education has two aspects – theoretical studies and practical activities. The practical activities help the student teachers to acquire the essential teaching skills through the practice teaching. Practice teaching plays a vital role in deciding the teacher effectiveness.

The practice teaching concept is linked to the craft apprenticeship concept. Stolurow (1965) referred it as the model of master teacher approach. The master teacher is the master craftsman and teaching practice is viewed as a process of initiation in which the master teachers’ teaching skills performance, personality and attitude are acquired by the student through observation imitation and practice. According to Shanker (1984), the term practice teaching stands for the actual experience gained by the student teacher in different aspects of real school situations.

Thus, practice teaching is a process through which a student teacher secures guided experiences as a preparation for all aspects of his professional career. Generally, a student teaching programme is organized to expose the student teacher to a variety of teaching-learning situations so that he may develop into an effective classroom teacher according to his capacity and zeal. Other purposes of practice teaching is to acquaint him/her with different techniques and approaches related to teaching methods, materials, communication behaviours in the classroom, and also to develop competence in the basic teaching skills. (Pandey & Khosla, 1979)

1.3 Objectives of Practice Teaching

Objectives of the practice teaching helps in explaining the teacher education programme in detail. NCERT (1974) states that the objectives of student teaching are:

- To expose the student teachers to a variety of teaching learning situation so that s/he develops into a good classroom teacher according to his/her capacity and zeal.

- To acquaint him/her with different approaches to teaching and communication techniques and help him/her develop skills and competences in using at least the basic ones.

- To build up in him/her awareness for imparting knowledge and skills as well as for developing desirable attitudes and interests in pupils and provide him/her experience in using the curricular programme of school to these ends.

- To develop in him/her the competence in relating learning materials techniques of teaching and teaching aids to the needs of individual pupils and those of the local community particularly in rural setting.

- To impart to him/her minimum essential technical know-how skills in preparing simple teaching aids.

- To provide trainees practice in different kinds of lessons e.g. knowledge, skills and appreciation lessons at both the middle and high stages.

(a) To introduce him/her to different evaluative devices and tools and their uses in appraising the growth of the child.
(b) To give him/her a reasonable competence in designing good question papers and tools for internal assessment and to use them with fair objectively.
(c) To equip him/her for interpreting evaluation results and for reporting pupils progress.

- To develop in him/her the ability to budget the syllabus according to the purposes and the time available.

- To prepare him/her for performing his/her other professional duties in the schools, to the parents and the community.

- To help him/her develop a good understanding of how to identify the talented pupils, slow learners and low achievers and how to assist them to meet their needs.

- To acquaint him/her as fully as possible with the problems which a teacher usually faces in real school situation and indicate to him/her possible ways and means of dealing with them effectively.

- To internalize in him/her, as far as possible a favourable attitude to a democratic way of life and to introduce him/her to the ways and means of building up the same in pupils.

- To enable him/her to feedback the fundamental of education and psychology into his/her tasks in the classroom, in the school and his/her dealings with parents and the community.

According to the Sharma (1999), the objectives of practice teaching are:

- To expose the student-teachers to a variety of teaching-learning situations to help them to develop into a good classroom teacher according to their capacity and zeal. The variety of situations will provide a scope for their resourcefulness.
- To acquaint student-teachers with different approaches of teaching and communication techniques and help him/her to develop skills and competencies in using narration, questioning, dramatizing, blackboard writing and sketching etc.
- To develop in them the competences with regard to leading materials, techniques of teaching, and teaching aids according to the need of individuals and local community (particularly in rural setting).
- To impart him/her minimum essential technical “know how” and to develop skills in preparing simple teaching aids and using audio-visual materials and aids.
- To provide the student-teachers practice in different kinds of lessons – knowledge, skills and appreciation lessons at both middle and higher stages.
- To introduce him/her with different evaluative devices, tools and their uses in evaluating the growth pattern of the child.
- To develop him/her a reasonable competence in designing good question papers and tools for internal assessment and to use them with fair objectivity.
- To develop in him/her ability for interpreting results and for reporting pupils progress.
- To develop in him/her ability to budget the syllabus according to the purpose and time available.
- To prepare him/her for performing other professional duties in the school, parents and community.
- To help him/her to develop a good understanding of how to identify the talented and good pupils, slow learners and low achievers and the ability to assist them to meet their needs (remedial teaching should be done for removing the difficulties of the pupils and guiding the gifted).
- To acquaint him/her as fully as possible with the problems which a teacher usually faces in real school situations and indicate to him/her possible ways and means of dealing with them effectively.
- To assimilate in him/her as far as possible, a favourable attitude to a democratic way of life and to introduce him/her/her to the ways and mean of building of the same in pupils.

1.4 Practice Teaching Programme at Department of Education (CASE)

The practice teaching programme at Department of Education is organized in the manner that takes care of most of the above mentioned objectives both by NCERT (1974) and Sharma (1999). An attempt is made to provide a large variety of learning experiences to the student-teachers. Patel & Mehta (2003) summarized the details of the entire Practice Teaching Programme of CASE as below:

- It begins with a programme of identification of essential instructional skills. Here, a team of teacher educators presents a variety of demonstration lesson with a view to exhibit a wide spectrum of teaching behaviours. The student teachers are expected to focus their observation on the behaviours that are manifested. Through a guided discussion, such manifested behaviours are categorized in to three groups. The behaviours that is essential for teaching, not at all essential for teaching and those which facilitate teaching. The attention is drawn to acquire those behaviours that are essentials and those that facilitate teaching. These behaviours are clubbed into different groups, which form at least thirteen essential instructional skills. In-depth theoretical input with regard to these identified skills is provided to the student teachers for about a week time. During the entire week, in the method classes they are advised to discuss the scope of these instructional skills in their subjects. A programme is scheduled at the end of the week to demonstrate prerecorded lessons given by the student teachers of previous years. The programme is arranged mainly to demonstrate the use of instructional skills in an integrated manner with the content and to evaluate their acquired knowledge about the skills.
- The student teachers are oriented about ‘Simulation Approach’ to practice teaching and the lesson planning for the same with an emphasis on the practice of instructional skills in an integrated manner. They are also explained about how to plan the lesson by illustrating few prepared lessons.
- The actual practice of teaching begins in simulated situation wherein the teaching is scaled down in terms of content, time and number of students. The student teachers are grouped on the basis of similarity of their subject. The lesson planning is in dialogue form between the teacher and the students. Immediate feedback is provided by the peers and the supervisor who is a subject expert. An attempt is also made to video record at least one lesson each taught by most of the student teachers which is helpful to them as they can also receive feedback about their lesson by viewing the recorded lesson. During this phase of simulation teaching, each student teacher gives five to six lessons in each of their methods on the topics of their choice from their respective subject. They are directed to choose topics in such a way that they have a scope to incorporate maximum instructional skills in simulated situation. Through a discussion with the supervisor and the peers, they identify those skills where they require more practice. Accordingly they put more efforts on those identified skills where they are found weak. These lessons are not graded till five lessons, as the basic objective of this phase of practice teaching is to acquire the mastery over the use of instructional skills. The sixth lessons for each of the subjects is graded where in the students have to mandatorily use teaching aid in their lessons.
- A meeting with the principals of practicing schools is usually scheduled at the department in which many of the principals participate. The agenda of the meeting is to share the expectations of teacher training institutions and that of the practicing schools. The tentative schedule for the academic year is discussed during the meeting for the smooth functioning of the entire practice teaching programme which will cater to the needs of the schools also.
- A workshop is scheduled for one hour a day before the teaching begins for almost twenty days. Here, the student teachers learn to operate certain Education Technology gadgets/equipments under the guidance of a technician. The students are divided into small groups and each group is given orientation of using the different technological gadgets which may help to make the teaching learning process much more concrete and interesting for the students.
- A two-day orientation and workshop on ‘Content Analysis and Lesson Planning’ and orientation to life skill activities is organized in three different groups’ viz. Language, Science and Social Science groups. The student teachers attend the group as per his/her subject specialization. In this workshop, they are given orientation about content analysis, writing of instructional objectives and format of lesson plan. They are also demonstrated a prepared lesson plans. During the workshop, the student teachers analyze the content, which they are going to teach in a real classroom situation in accordance to Boom’s Taxonomy and prepare at least one lesson plan as per the format given by the supervisors.
- Demonstration lessons are arranged by the method teacher. An attempt is made to incorporate as many instructional skills as possible depending upon the nature of the selected content. Emphasis is also given to pupils’ participation, classroom management, use of teaching aids and other important dimensions of a real classroom teaching. The student teachers get an opportunity to witness a model lesson, which is followed by a discussion during which the entire process of classroom interaction is analyzed.
- As the student teachers are now fully equipped with all essential requirements to teach in a real classroom situation, they are sent to school that provides education either through English, Hindi, Gujarati or Marathi medium depending upon the choice of medium selected by the student teachers. The student teachers go to the school for eight to ten days with a supervisor who takes care of the entire programme of student teachers in the school. This include arrangement of timetable for each student teacher, ensuring smooth conduct of arranged classes, supervising the lessons, arranging the feedback session and exposing the students to various activities of schools. The student teachers also implement the practical work, which is assigned to them. Over and above these, the student teachers are also expected to organize and participate in co-curricular activities. They are also expected to observe lessons given by their peers to know variety of ways of teaching, acquiring their good practice and taking care of not acquiring undesirable practices (if any). These lessons are graded on eleven point grading system. During this phase, they are expected to teach ten to twelve lessons in both of the selected subject and keep a record of fifteen to twenty lessons observed by them. Normally, this part of practice teaching programme is completed in the first semester itself.
- In the beginning of the second semester, they are oriented about ‘Unit Plan’, which they follow during the second phase of practice teaching Programme. The second phase of practice teaching programme is organized usually for two to three week. Depending upon the availability of practicing schools, the students are sent to the school other than the school where they have taught earlier during first phase taking care that they all are placed with different supervisors. During this phase, they are expected to teach for fifteen to sixteen lessons and keep an observation record of thirty to thirty five lessons given by their peers. In all, they teach for a minimum number of thirty eight lessons and observe fifty lessons. During this teaching phase, they are expected to involve themselves in almost all the activities of the school. These lessons are also graded on the eleven point grading system.
- All the students who successfully complete practice teaching, appears at the test lessons arranged for them. Each student teacher appears for two test lessons, one in each method. These lessons are examined by two supervisor’s i.e. internal faculty member and school supervisor where the test lesson is arranged who constitute an external examiner.

1.5 Feedback and Practice Teaching Programme

It can be observed from the objectives of practice teaching that effective supervisory feedback would go a long way in accomplishing most of them. The process of feedback is an important dimension in practice teaching. In a practice teaching situation, the supervisor interacts with the student teachers, communicates how the latter has been doing or where he has not fared well, or how things can be improved. Such interactions can be the basis of teaching effectiveness. The role of the supervisors is to help the student teachers to improve their own teaching (Brown, 1975). Feedback refers to those acts of the supervisor which tell the student teacher whether they are progressing in the right direction or not. If better solutions are evolved as a result of feedback, and if student teachers implement these with earnestness, it may contribute both to their teaching effectiveness and the effectiveness of the school organization as a whole.

In a practice teaching situation, supervisor needs to communicate his feelings, impressions and views on various matters. When such feelings and perceptions are communicated to the student teachers, regarding his behavior, style of teaching etc. it is called as feedback. The supervisor shares his perceptions about the students’ achievements, strengths as well as the areas in which there is scope of improvement.

1.6 Functions of Feedback

Research evidence in behavioural science has shown that feedback can be effective in motivating and facilitating behavioral change. Interpersonal feedback involves at least two persons, one who gives feedback and the other who receives it. Feedback thus has two dimensions. The functions of feedback can be considered from the point of view of these two dimensions. Although the main purpose of giving feedback is to help the individual in increasing his professional effectiveness. The functions can be considered separately in relation to giving and receiving feedback.

The main function of giving feedback is to provide data about the individuals teaching style, teaching skills, different acts of behaviours and its effect on others. Such data can be verified by the individual by either collecting more data from the other sources for example the peer group. The feedback also provides several alternatives to the individuals out of which he can choose the best option to act upon.

Interpersonal feedback contributes towards the improvement of communication between the two persons involved in the feedback process. An open environment is created which in turn promotes trust between the giver and the receiver of feedback. Both benefit as it improves the interpersonal relationship between the two.

The second dimension of receiving feedback also has certain functions. The recipient or the student teacher can process the behavioural data which he has received from the supervisor. It helps him/her to have a better awareness of his own teaching and related patterns of behavior. S/He receives information on how his/her behavior is being perceived and the impact it has on others. Consequently the receiver of the feedback becomes more sensitive to the environment around him/her. S/He can pick up cues which reveal what perceptions and feelings others have about his/her behavior. The receiver of the feedback can try out these new behaviours which would increase his/her professional competency. Constructive use of feedback also helps in building an integrated self. One who receives feedback is also encouraged to give feedback to others in a climate of openness and trust.

1.7 Importance of Feedback

Feedback in the practice teaching helps the student-teachers in knowing their positive and negative areas observed in their practicing lessons and thereby improving their practice lessons. Hounsell, McCune, Hounsell & Litjens (2008) mentions the importance of the feedback in practice teaching as below:

i. Feedback is integral to formative assessment

Feedback on performance, when effective, is widely considered to be integral to learning. People learn faster and more deeply if they know what the strengths and weaknesses of their performance are and most importantly, how to improve future performance.

One of the most valuable contributions anyone can make to another person’s learning is constructive feedback. Whether as a student or as a teacher each one of us has the capacity to provide useful information to other people, which will help them to learn more effectively (Boud, 1991, p. 19).

This potential to influence future performance is known as feed forward. In order to generate feed forward, feedback must not only identify the learner gap between actual and desired performance (by indicating the standard achieved on any given criterion for example) but also provide information needed to either close that gap or minimize it to the most possible extent. It is this additional information which is so important in making assessment formative. What’s more, when specific guidance is provided to close the gap, the feed forward effect is even greater and the focus of feedback quickly becomes learning rather than marks. See Figure 1 for an illustration of this process at work.

illustration not visible in this excerpt

(Figure adopted from Guidance and feedback loop (Hounsell, McCune, Hounsell & Litjens, 2008, p.60)

ii. Feedback produces learner autonomy

One of the most valuable aspects of effective feedback is its ability to foster learner autonomy. Students tend to become self regulated learners when they are provided with detailed feedback on performance as well as guidance for future improvement. Evidence of this self-regulatory process can be seen in an increasing ability to align aspects of thinking, motivation and behaviour with assessment criteria, standards and learning outcomes as well as learning goals established by the learners themselves.

Feed forward then results in less dependence on support from lecturers and tutors. Even better, self-regulated learners are often more successful learners, being more resourceful, tenacious and confident.

iii. Feedback aligns teaching and learning

Feedback can also play an essential role in aligning teaching, learning and assessment. When explicitly linked to assessment tasks, learning outcomes and marking schemes, feedback functions to create and maintain meaning for teachers and students alike through a reinforcement of the purpose of assessment and how it relates to learning outcomes (Biggs, 1999; Dunn, Morgan, O’Reilly, Parry, 2004). Conversely, the absence of effective feedback reduces assessment to a post-script for learning and teaching and little more than a means of justifying the awarding of a particular grade (Orrell, 2006).

iv. Feedback directly impacts student experience

Whether intended or not, feedback affects the self-esteem and motivation of students. Poorly worded or overly judgmental comments on assessments can easily damage student confidence. This can lead to a student with low self-esteem interpreting all future feedback personally (as a judgment on their ability). On the other hand, constructive, well-written feedback contributes to positive self-esteem and an ability to interpret feedback, be it positive or negative, more objectively. As positive self-esteem and self-belief increase motivation to learn and improve performance, effective feedback has a flow on effect on student outcomes through increased success and retention.

It is obvious then that feedback has a profound effect on student experience. Students want and value feedback however their experience of receiving satisfactory feedback is uneven. Recent research in Australian tertiary education highlights the frustration students experience with feedback. Three consecutive national surveys revealed two fifths of first year respondents were dissatisfied with the helpfulness of tutor comments on assignments (Krause, Hartley, James & McInnes, 2005)

1.8 Reactions towards Feedback

Reaction towards feedback can be defined as the sum total of the B. Ed. student-teachers’ inclination, feeling, prejudice and bias, ideas and conviction about a particular aspect/s related to the feedback. By this definition the scope of the perception study is limited to B. Ed. student-teachers’ reaction with regard to special objects and events related to the feedback.

Realizing the importance of reaction as a construct, the investigators were interested in studying the reactions of B. Ed. student-teachers who are undergoing with the system and their reactions will decide whether in future as part of the practice teaching, would they like to continue with the present feedback system or make appropriate changes in the feedback system.

1.9 Rationale

In teacher preparation programme, it is mostly responsibility of the training college supervisors, practicing school teachers and the peer group to provide information to a student-teacher about his/her teaching behavior which is rich enough and clear enough to enable him/her to compare his/her performance with his/her own intentions. The success of teacher education programme depends most of all, on the quality of guidance provided to the student-teachers and soundness of the supervision programme in helping him/her.

Flanders (1964) viewed that the lack of feedback has plagued teacher training for centuries. Interaction analysis, if learned by student-teachers, would be valuable tool for helping them view their own behavior in student-teaching more objectively and help them find out relationship between their intentions, goals and behavior.

GCPI (1979), Mishra (1983) and Paikaray (1981) compared different feedback methods for changing teacher-behaviour, effect of micro-teaching under varying sources of feedback and different types of feedback in micro-teaching respectively while Misra (1985) measured effect of self-rating and class-rating feedback on teachers’ classroom behaviour. All the studies found on feedback were experimental studies and measured effectiveness of various sources of feedback. Only a study of Paikaray (1981) measured reaction of teacher trainees towards feedback for the micro-teaching but no single researcher have measured reaction or reaction of student-teachers towards the feedback provided by the different sources to them.

Student teachers are integral part of feedback and for continuing the feedback system effectively; an appraisal by those involved in the system is must. The Department of Education (CASE) of the M. S. University of Baroda offers one year full time B. Ed. course wherein 180 students from Arts, Commerce and Science streams are admitted on the basis of merit. The practice teaching programme of the CASE provides opportunities to practice the essential skills and other attributes needed to become an effective teacher who can cater to the ever-changing needs and demands of the society. The programme is organized in a manner that takes care of most of the objectives of NCERT (1974) and Sharma (1999). An attempt is made to provide a large variety of learning experiences to the student teachers (Patel & Mehta, 2003). The student teachers of the B.Ed. programme are party to the practice teaching programme and integral part of the feedback system. Therefore, keeping these in mind all these, the investigators thought to conduct a study on the feedback about the practice teaching by constructing the reaction scale for the B.Ed. student-teachers.

1.10 Research Questions

The following research questions were leading the investigators to undertake the present study.

- Whether the feedback affecting in the practicing lessons of the student teachers?
- How do the student teachers perceive the feedback system adopted by the Department of Education (CASE), The M. S. University of Baroda?
- What are the reactions of the student teachers towards the feedback during the practice teaching?

1.11 Statement of the Problem

REACTIONS OF B. ED. STUDENT-TEACHERS TOWARDS FEEDBACK SYSTEM ADOPTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OF THE M. S. UNIVERSITY OF BARODA

1.12 Objectives of the Study

- To construct the scale to measure reactions towards feedback system.
- To measure the reactions of B. Ed. student-teachers of the M. S. University of Baroda towards feedback system.

1.13 Explanation of the Term Used

Feedback system: It is a feedback provided to the B. Ed. student-teachers during their practice teaching lessons in the real classroom settings where the supervisor and other B. Ed. student-teachers provides their positive or negative opinions on the classroom teaching-learning process, skills used, participation and involvement of students, classroom management, content mastery, activities carried out and regarding the whole lesson given by the student-teacher in practicing school.

1.14 Operational Definition of the Term Used

Reaction towards Feedback: It is the perception, thinking and feeling of B. Ed. student-teachers towards feedback which was measured with the help of five point scale consisting of content area, skills of teaching, pedagogy of teaching, and way of giving feedback aspects. The reaction were measured from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The total score reflects the reaction of the B. Ed. student-teachers of the M. S. University of Baroda towards feedback system.

REACTIONS OF B. ED. STUDENT-TEACHERS

TOWARDS FEEDBACK SYSTEM ADOPTED BY

THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OF

THE M. S. UNIVERSITY OF BARODA

Dr. H. S, Mistry

Prof. R. G. Kothari

Dr. Prerana Shelat

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Introduction

Review of related literature is one of the significant aspects of research. Reviewing the related literature before and after selecting the problem is very important for planning and carrying out the study. It helps to establish the need for the study and limiting the scope of the study. It not only enables the researcher to know the amount of work done in the concerned area but also helps to explore the need of research in unknown and unexplored areas. The review of related literature develops an insight into the methodological aspects of the research. For any researcher, review helps to find ways and means of studying problem, methods, tools, data collection and data analysis techniques used. In nutshell it helps the researcher to arrive at the proper perspective of the study. Review also provides sound rationale to the investigator. In the present chapter the investigators have presented the review of related literature to the present study.

2.2 Review of Related Literature

Keeping in view the objectives and focus of the present undertaking, total nineteen studies have been reviewed in this chapter. An attempt has been made to develop a wholistic perspective of the nature and findings of these studies and to draw implications for the present study. In view of the variation in the focus of the studies reviewed, they have been categorized in terms of the following aspects:

- Studies on Practice teaching
- Studies on Micro-teaching
- Studies on Feedback
- Studies carried out on B. Ed. Student-teachers of the Department of Education (CASE), the M. S. University of Baroda

2.2.1 Studies related to Practice Teaching

Total six studies have been reviewed under this aspect focused on practice teaching. The studies are of Palsane & Ganchi (1967), Merr et, al. (1969), Srivastava (1970), Saikia (1971), Singh (1975) and Dekhtawal et, al. (1991).

Palsane & Ganchi (1967) in their survey of sixty two teacher training colleges observed that the number of lesson given by a trainee was arbitrarily fixed and it was not based on his need and abilities; orientation programme before initiating trainees to practice teaching was too inadequate; the units chosen during the practice teaching by the trainees were not continuous and there was little scope for developing initiative, dynamism and resourcefulness; programme for the trainees were not planned in joint cooperation of schools and teacher training institutions.

Merr et, al. (1969) surveyed the colleges of education in Punjab and observed that teacher educators did not agree on specific skills; supervisor did not know the subject; teacher educators generally followed lecture method and attributed the difficulties in adopting innovations to the inadequate educational background, poor study habits of the students and lack of time.

Srivastava (1970) evaluated the practice teaching programmes in India. The main purpose was to study the aims of practice teaching and methods of its evaluation. The subsidiary purposes were to find out the place of practice teaching in the total programme of teacher preparation and the manner in which the evaluation methods and practice influenced the student-teachers performance in teaching. The major observation were there was no agreement as regards the total number of lesson to be given by a student-teacher and the total time spent on practice teaching; the evaluating practice of class teaching ranged from purely internal to purely external; majority of student-teachers had developed unfavourable attitude towards practice teaching.

Saikia (1971) carried out a study on problems of teachers in Assam. The study attempted at finding out the causes for the ineffectiveness of the teacher training programmes at secondary level in Assam, and to suggest some remedial measures. Fifty untrained and one hundred trained teachers were investigated along with 134 candidates studying in the B. T. Department of the Gauhati University with regard to the participation in their training programmes and the relationship between the theoretical and the practical part of training to finding out how teaching practices could be improved. The study revealed that none of the trained teachers prepared lesson plans of their work. Though as group, the trained teachers were found to be somewhat methodical in their teaching; their teaching methods differed from what was taught during their training. Compared to the educational system of England, the relationship between training institutes and practice teaching schools in India seemed strained. In India, the syllabus of study was not relevant to the actual needs.

Singh (1975) in his study on adoption and discontinuation of innovation in 209 secondary teacher training institutions belonging to various states observed that, more than two third of the training institutions provided sufficient time for practice teaching and had provision for good practicing schools. Less than one third of the institutions practiced activities, like conducting seminars, tutorial classes, maintaining cumulative record, etc. and the reasons pointed out for the number of such institutions being less were shortage of time and examination oriented teacher education programmes. Some of the innovative practices like ‘freedom for developing one’s method of teaching’, ‘starting student teaching with individual pupil student teaching with small group pupils had been adopted by 20.5 percent of the total institutions considered in the study.

2.2.2 Studies related to Micro-teaching

Three studies have been reviewed under this aspect focused on micro-teaching. The studies are Singh (1984), Khan (1985) and Singh (1987).

Singh (1984) studied the effect of training on teaching skill using micro class peers and real pupils, and the general teaching competence of student-teachers at elementary level. The major findings of the study were: the student-teachers trained using micro teaching under the simulated conditions acquired better teaching competency than those trained under the traditional training method. The student-teachers trained using the micro teaching under the real classroom condition acquired better teaching competency than those trained under simulated classroom condition in developing the teaching competencies of student-teachers. The micro teaching technique made a significant impact in developing a positive attitude in the student-teachers towards micro teaching.

Khan (1985) studied the effectiveness of micro teaching technique in terms of student-teachers achievement. The major findings of the study were: student-teachers treated with the technique of skill based micro teaching were found to be more effective in general teaching competency than those trained in the traditional method of teaching English. Micro teaching technique proved itself to be a more effective teaching training technique than the traditional method when subjected to factorial analysis of variance. The use of each of the five skills showed significant improvement in the case of micro teaching when compared on the basic data of post teaching sessions of both the methods under study. The analysis of data demonstrated significantly higher effectiveness of micro teaching technique in the academic achievement of student-teachers in real classroom setting.

Singh (1987) studied the effect of remedial instructional micro teaching on the instruction competences of in-service primary school science teachers. Remedial Instructional Micro teaching (RIM) course material was used to strengthen the weak skills like – probing, questioning and demonstration. The major findings of the study were: the RIM course was effective in improving the skills of probing, questioning and demonstration, but not effective in improving the skill illustration with example. RIM course was effective in improving the skill of probing questioning and demonstration of both more and less experienced teachers. Teacher continued the science instructional competence strengthened by the RIM course even six weeks after the training.

2.2.3 Studies related to Feedback

Total six studies have been reviewed under this aspect focused on the feedback. Pangotra (1972) made a study of the feedback from different sources on the classroom behaviour of student teachers. The aim was to study the classroom verbal behaviour of the student teachers and to find out the extent to which the interaction analysis feedback provided by different sources exhibit improvement in the desired direction. GCPI (1979) compared effect of micro-teaching under varying sources of feedback and attitudes of teacher-trainees towards teaching. 20 students (Science graduates & Maths post-graduates) were selected from 100 trainees of the GCPI 1977-78. Paikaray (1981) compared different types of feedback in micro-teaching upon teaching competence and attitude towards teaching of student-teachers. One of the major objectives was to find out the type of feedback which would be most effective in developing better teaching competence among student-teachers. Pre-test & post-test parallel group design was used in this experiment. Dholakia (1980) focused on the effect of systematic observations based feedback using Cicirelli’s Category System on the classroom behaviour of student-teachers. Mishra (1983) compared different feedback methods for changing teacher behaviour. The main purpose of this experimental study was to find out the relative impact of feedback from different sources in modifying teacher behaviour. The sample of the study consisted of 160 teacher trainees randomly selected from teacher training colleges of Orissa. Teacher Behaviour Rating Scale was administered. The major finding was: There were significant and positive behavioural changes in the student-teachers as a result of receiving feedback from different sources. The investigation of Misra (1985) was aimed at formulation of a classroom teaching feedback system for teachers. Self rating tool was used. The major findings were: the teaching behaviour of teachers could be changed in a positive direction if they were apprised with the sum total of their teaching in the form of feedback information by way of self-rating and class-rating, the difference between feedback by self-rating and classroom rating was highest for language teacher. Experienced teachers showed significant but low effect as compared to fresh teachers. Female teachers were highly susceptible to the behavioural change through feedback.

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