Teaching Practices, Practicum and Internship Experiences: Issues,

Challenges and Suggestions for Improvement.

1.0

Introduction

The changes in the current teaching and learning scene effects not only the
existing practicing teachers but also the pre-service teachers in term of teaching
practices, school environment as well as pupils behaviour. This is primarily due to
the recent reformation in national education plan which has addressed
reformation in teaching profession and school system. In relation to this,
throughout the three practicum phases and a month internship, I was mostly
allocated to a sub-urban school in Perak. Along the practicum phases and
internship, I encountered several issues in regards to teaching practices and
school environment and pupils.
1.1

Issues and Challenges faced

1.1

Lack of interest in English lesson among pupils.

First and foremost, one of the issues and challenges that I

faced throughout the practicum and internship phases was fostering

pupils interest to learn English. Generally, most of my pupils
possessed good attitude in learning but this attitude did not prolong
in English lesson. I found out that pupils interest in learning English
was low especially among the male pupils. This was also supported
by a survey research done by Fatiha, Abd Razak and Shanina
(2013) who stated English novice teacher claimed that among the
problems concerning the pupils was lack of interest in learning and
negative attitude towards learning English. This was also further
supported by a study done Samsiah (2004) on attitude, motivation
and achievement in English language learning amongst secondary
school students in Kuala Terengganu revealed that male students
have lower attitude level towards English as compared to girl.
English was perceived as the most difficult subject among pupils.
1

Low proficiency level and unable to understand English words and

teachers instructions are identified as amongst the factors that have
led to this problem. I tried to deliver classroom instructions in
English, but pupils response was frustrating. They did not
understand my instructions and ask me to use Malay language
instead of English during lesson. For instance, one girl said
teacher cakaplah bahasa Melayu, kami tidak paham Bahasa
Inggeris during my lesson. The difficulty in delivering teaching
points during English lesson has caused me to use bilingual in order
to make the pupils understand my explanations.
Inability to understand English words and instructions had
impeded pupils interest and motivation in learning English in which
hindered effective teaching. According to Barrera, 2002; Gardner
2001; Jung 2000; Ellis 1997 as cited in Samsiah (2004) who
asserted that attitudes and motivations are significantly related to
language achievements. I agree that there is relation between
interest, motivation and attitudes with individual performance in
language skills. In relation to school context, I found that motivation
and interest have given significant effects in pupils learning and
performance. Given the importance in developing pupils interest
towards learning English, it is equally important for me to develop
an English-speaking environment during lesson.
One of the efforts that has been done to achieve this was
establishing classroom rule. I made a classroom rule where the
pupils were required to speak only English during my lesson and
those who did not comply with this rule would be punished to pay
twenty cents. However, the system did not work. Most of the pupils
were reluctant to speak English because they were shy and afraid
of making mistake. Sometimes, pupils hesitated to respond to my

questions during lesson. They were shy to speak in English

because they were too afraid to try.
The challenges in instilling interest towards English among
pupils have taught me to be a reflective practitioner. One of the
ways to overcome the problem is by revising my teaching
approaches and strategies in which to help me in addressing pupils
needs in learning. Besides, I can utilise teaching materials that were
interactive in order to capture pupils attention in learning. Besides, I
can also integrate various teaching techniques in order to
encourage active participation among pupils. This can be done by
engaging the pupils with task-based activities such as fulfilling
language task with their peers and communicative language
activities. Variety and interactive teaching aids also can be used as
powerful tools to stimulate pupils interest in learning. This would be
an advantage for me to encourage the pupils to be more positive
towards English lesson.
1.3

Challenges in establishing higher order thinking oriented

materials and activities in English lesson

With the advancement of technology it has impacted the
landscape of todays classroom. Rote-learning teaching style where
the teacher perceived as sole knowledge provider is no longer
relevant for todays classroom. The shift from traditional classroom
into students-centered classroom has significantly changed the
nature of classroom activities and materials. Recently, higher order
thinking skills is widely promoted in English Language Teaching
(ELT). Higher order thinking skills can be acknowledged by
classifying level of thoughts by referring to Blooms Taxonomy six
level of cognitive processing which encompasses knowledge,
comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

Based on my teaching experiences during practicum and

internship, I had faced challenges in establishing higher order
thinking oriented activities and materials. The current curriculum
specifications as outlined in KSSR English Document Standard
emphasis on developing higher-order thinking skills in language
lesson. In line with the current English curriculum change, it is vital
for every English teacher to foster higher order thinking skills among
pupils through classroom activities. However, developing language
activities that promote higher order thinking skills was not an easy
task. This was also supported by a study done by Rosma et.al
(2004) on teachers perception on thinking skills as an innovation
and its implementation in English language teaching revealed that
57.5% of the respondents in this study agreed that thinking skills
requires more sophisticated array of activities in order for effective
implementation to be achieved. This study has further explained
that greater attention to quality, usability and time must be adhered
in designing materials which promote higher order thinking skills.
This indicates that the process in putting theoretical concept of
thinking skills into practice is complex and requires careful planning
to establish quality learning.
Besides, achieving learning outcomes were challenging for
me because of the diversity of pupils ability and proficiency level in
my class. Although efforts have been done to promote higher order
thinking skills in my teaching activities as well as materials, I found
that pupils performance in learning was satisfactory. For instance,
pupils tend to remain silent and sometimes playful during group
work activity. It was very challenging for me to monitor pupils
activities and at the same time maintain their participation during
group activity. Sometimes, the group activities conducted did not
turn out well. The pupils were too excited talking with friends instead
of completing the task given during group activity in which has
4

turned the class became too noisy. Thus, I could not maximise
pupils language learning potential.
Furthermore, I had struggles in preparing teaching materials
that cater pupils needs in learning according to their ability and
language proficiency. For instance, I need to consider the level of
questions in preparing reading comprehension task for pupils in
order to impart higher order thinking skills through the activities
conducted and materials prepared in lessons. Have I done enough
in addressing higher order thinking skills in my lessons? To what
extent the learning experiences provided in my lessons enhance
pupils higher order thinking skills? Did my teaching materials and
activities acknowledge higher order thinking skills? These were
among the questions that kept appearing in my mind to assess my
own teaching practices.
Hence, I have identified several the ways to inculcate higher
order thinking skills in teaching and learning process. One of the
ways is by involving the pupils actively during teaching and learning.
For instance, collaborative works such as group work activity to
solve a reading task given can be used to engage pupils active
participation during English lesson. This is also supported by
Johnson, Johnson & Hobulec (1990) as mentioned in Rajendran
(2001) who stated that classroom activities that employ problem
solving seems to have the potential for teaching children how to
deal with complex tasks and to work with and learn from each other.
Besides, by increasing pupils autonomy during classroom activities
is also identified as ways to empower pupils higher order thinking
skills. This can be done by stimulating language tasks that require
pupils to decide on something and work with peers. For instance, I
can ask the pupils to work in group to create advertisement about
canteen day in school.
5

1.2

Inadequate English Instructional Resources

Quality learning did not happen by accident. It involves

careful planning and efficient implementation. In line with this,

teachers

ability in

exploring

and

manipulating

instructional

resources play an integral part in achieving quality learning.

Instructional materials can be in the form of visuals, manipulative,
audio and so forth. With this realisation, there is strong evidence
that the selection of instructional materials has large effects on
pupils learning. A study done by Ifeoma (2013) on use of
instructional materials and educational performance of students in
integrated science revealed that the use of instructional materials
such as workbooks improved the quality of learning in the students.
This indicated that pupils performance in learning is associated with
the quality of instructional materials used by teachers.
Throughout my practicum and internship phases, I had also
encountered some issues in term of instructional resources
availability in school. I found that English instructional resources in
my school were inadequate. It was really hard to find for teaching
resources. Generally, most of the schools which I had been before
have allocated some fund to provide English instructional materials
such as picture cards, poster on English KSSR topic, English board
games and so forth. However, I found that English instructional
resources in a school during my third practicum were limited and not
up-to-date. In fact, some of the teaching aids which I found in the
English panel cabinet were totally irrelevant with the current English
curriculum. Hence, it was very difficult for me to use various
instructional materials in my English lesson.

In addition, the school which I was allocated during my third

practicum did not have self-access-learning room which I thought
every school must have. This room should be part of the facilities in
school to empower activities that related to English. Although I had
found an empty room which seemed unused in the school, there is
no initiative from the English teachers to decorate the room into a
self access learning room. Hence, it was a call for me and my
practicum partner to create and decorate a self-access learning
room in that school so that everyone will be privileged with this
facility.
Therefore, one of the attempts that has been made to
overcome issue related to inadequacy of instructional materials was
by widening the source to design own teaching materials. I decided
to develop my own teaching materials from the internet. For
instance, I downloaded action songs, video and audio from the
YouTube to teach listening and speaking skills. Besides, I had also
used printed visual materials such as picture cards, flashcards,
photos and drawings from several English resources from website.
This has helped to prepare my own teaching materials based on
certain topics in teaching English.
1.3

Lack

emphasis

on

Professional

Development

Programme.
Teacher professional learning is an ongoing
cycle that begins with schools identifying the
educational outcomes they value for their students.
Then they need to identify the knowledge and skills
that teachers need so that students can bridge the
gap between current understandings and the
valued outcomes
(Timperley, 2008)
Based on the above notion, professional learning regarded
as part of learning organisation practice which target to achieve
7

meaningful outcomes. The model in developing profession learning

is described as diagram below.

Diagram 1: Guskeys model of professional development

Based on the diagram shown above, it shows Guskeys (2002)
model of professional development as mentioned in Holmes (2010).
He suggested that the effects of professional development would
bring change in teachers classroom practices which latter change
the pupils learning outcomes and finally a new beliefs and attitudes
develop into teachers mindset. This shows that professional
learning development influence the teachers practices, learning
outcomes as well as their perceptions about responsibility in
teaching field.
Professional learning develop is identified as a key for
learning organisation in order to achieve continual improvement. In
fact Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) has recognised
continuous professional development (CPD) in the Malaysia
Education Blueprint (2013-2025) in shift 4 which stated about
transforming teaching into the profession of choice. In 2013, CPD

programmed has been established in all learning organisation in

schools.
Despite the government effort to upgrade professional
learning community in school, I found that this programme has not
been widely and effectively implemented in the schools which I
have been allocated during practicum and insternship. One of the
CPD programmed which was held in the school was a programmed
called LADAP or known as Latihan Dalam Perkhidmatan or intraining programme. I found this programme was beneficial for preservice for me in order to develop my professionalism in teaching.
However, I noted that this programme was given less emphasis in
my school community. In addition, the programme conducted was
unplanned in which I feel to some extent had failed to give input
effectively in regards to pedagogical knowledge and skills to the
teachers and myself. I did not see the direction of this programme
since the school did not have a long term plan. This issue has been
discussed in a study on online in service teacher professional
development in Malaysia: A new possibility? Tina Lim, Zoraini and
Norziati (2010) as mentioned in Fatiha, Abd Razak and Shahnina
(2013) revealed that professional development activities among
teachers in Malaysia regarded as pull-out programmes, lacking
in follow-through, and disconnected. This shows that professional
learning development is not widely address in most of schools in
Malaysia.
Furthermore, there was only one session of professional
learning development programme particularly for English subject
being conducted throughout the four months stint in my practicum
school. This shows that professional learning community has not yet
been develop as culture in my practicum school. Moreover, the
English in-training programme conducted was a one short kind of
9

session. There was no follow-up programme or further action

taken. In fact, the in-training programme was not prolong and
delayed for a long time. This indicates that sharing culture has not
much been given into priority among the school community
specifically the English teachers panel. As a pre-service teacher, I
feel that this kind of programme should be promoted for future
teacher like me so that I could learn from the experienced teachers.
Besides, I also feel that professional learning community is integral
in order to uplift the school performance as a whole. I believe that
this will explicitly bring a significant change in the teachers teaching
practices as well as school organisation system.
In conclusion, a consistent, well-organised and directed
continuous professional development

in schools should be

integrated in the learning organisation. In my opinion, it would be

better if the school could plan the continuous professional
development programme throughout a year with a more systematic
schedule. I believe that by having a well-structured CPD programme
which encompasses various aspects such as teaching pedagogies
on particular subjects, teaching innovation and so on would be an
essential platform for teachers to share and improve their teaching
practices. Besides, a frequent and directed CPD programme will
build a learning community in school which will indirectly encourage
the teachers to influence their own community to work towards
common goals. This will also spark the teamwork spirit among
teachers to upgrade their professionalism. For instance, the school
can conduct in-house training and workshop among English
teachers to improve on teaching strategies and methods. Hence,
CPD programme should be perceived as a platform for teachers to
upgrade themselves so that quality teaching and learning can be
achieved. Therefore, it is vital for the school administrator to play

10

their

role

in

sustaining

continuous

professional

learning

development.
2.0

Conclusion
Based on the overall discussions on issues and challenges faced during
practicum and internship, I conclude that the issues addressed are the
reality in todays teaching profession. I believe that these issues are part
and parcel in teaching profession which should be dealt wisely by
teachers. Hence, as a future teacher, it is important for me to prepare
myself intellectually, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically in
order to be part of education family. As said in one of the famous quotes
in an artificial hero movie great power comes with great responsibility
which has made me realised that the power teachers hold in shaping
Malaysia education system should be aligned with commitment and
responsibility for the betterment of the nation as a whole.

11