Task 2 : Classroom Observation

On Monday, 18thAugust 2014, I observed Puan Nor Azira who is also my colleague in
SK Lubok Buntar. She has been teaching English for almost five years. At present, she teaches
English for Year 1 and 2 pupils. On that day she was teaching English for Year 2A1. The
enrolment of the pupils is 30 with 16 boys and 14 girls. There are a few low intermediate
pupils in the class but majority of them is an intermediate group where they can read English
and understand most of the instruction makes by the teacher.
As I entered the 2A1 classroom, the teacher was grouping the pupils into groups of
five. Then, she called each group to raise their hands one by one with a loud voice. This shows
that she is assertive as she uses her high tone voice to attract pupils attention and to make
them quite. This action also serves as a signal to pupils that the teacher is ready to begin her
lesson and they should be ready too. I sat at the back and found that the pupils seating during
the activity was suitable. They are seating side by side to form pairs and facing the teacher and
the board. So she can maintain eye contact when communicating with them. The class is on
the second floor with good air flow and the light is suitable for teaching and learning session to
proceed. The classroom looks very beautiful and have physical conducive environment for
teaching and learning activities.
The teacher began her lesson by calling out group by group to the front to distribute the
learning materials and gave instruction. She took a lot of time at this stage

and I saw other

pupils started making noise and disturbed each other while waiting for their turn. She also
started yelling in Malay in order to make the pupils quiet. As the classroom manager, I suggest
the teacher to give instruction to the whole class first and inform the pupils what she wants
before, during and after each activity in the lesson. According to Canter (1979) the teacher
should show her power throughout the lesson. Assertive teacher always confident giving rules.
At the same time, she should be a bit democratic by giving the group, ample time to
choose a leader among them. Then, the leader will come to the front to collect the learning
materials. In that way, pupils misbehavior and the noise level can also be reduced. Teaching
and learning activities also can be carried out smoothly and systematically without any
disturbances. In assertive discipline theory, every pupil has the right to learn. According to Jacob
Kounin (1970) in The Kounin Model, effective managers do not leave a lesson hanging while
tending to something else instead of keeping the pupils alert by holding their attention and
involving them in the lesson.

During the question and answer activity, Puan Nor Azira had to shout and repeat her
instruction a few times. However, some of the pupils were still not ready and did not pay
attention to her. She also needed to raise her voice and reprimanded them to get their attention.
She used a lot of translation during the lesson which was unsuitable in ESL lesson. In my
opinion, for effective classroom management, the teacher should be accountable in her action.
If the English Language teacher does not use English appropriately, then it will demonstrate a
lack of accountability. In order to make our pupils perform in the language, we should make
rules during the teaching and learning. Pupils achievement will increase if we are able to be a
good model and apply the rules consistently.
In her teaching, Puan or Azira applied teacher centered approach where she had more
direct control over what is to be taught and learnt in this lesson. All the sources of information
came from her and the pupils received the information. She used one-way communication in the
activity. I also find her as an authoritarian where she applied autocratic teaching and learning
process as she ensured pupils to follow what she said or asked and showed ( Manning, 2007).
The pupils did not get the chance to practice communication skills in the lesson. They just
simply listened to the question and wrote the answers on the board. I also realized that most of
the time the same pupils would ran to the front and wrote the answers. There were also a few
pupils in the same group fought among each other to participate but still under controlled. In my
opinion, the teacher needs to be autocratic at certain stage to avoid dominance pupils conquer
the activity in the classroom and providing opportunity for other pupils to participate. Several
boys were very motivated to answer when they ran dangerously to the front of the class. Their
action was copied by other pupils. Due to this action, the classroom was getting noisy and
distracted other members in the classroom to concentrate. In my suggestion, the pupils can
have equal chances to answer if the teacher applied assertive discipline in her classroom.
Assertive teacher sets clear rules of behavior and expectations ( Canter,1979). She can devise
firm and specific rules for class activity such as turn taking, raise hands to answer and pupils
movement . In order to make the pupils be aware of the rules, she can paste the classroom
rules on the notice board and always remind the pupils. Classroom discipline not only can
educate the pupils to respect others but at the same time can avoid a number of accidents in
the class.
During the lesson, the teacher moved around and guided the pupils. This showed that
she is very concerned with her pupils understanding. The teacher applied traditional
methodology which is chalk and talk methodology. Even though this method is still relevant for

today education purposed, yet it should be add on with the use of ICT. For example showed the
songs on numbers from the You tube as the set induction and prepared words cards for the
pupils to paste instead of writing answers on the board which consumes a lot of learning time.
She can also use games in her teaching to enhance pupils vocabulary and make the lesson
more fun and interesting.
A credit should be given to the teacher when she applied collaborative learning activity
and integrated the lesson with the picture of sea creatures as learning resources, but to make
the language lesson more effective in future, I think the teacher should be more democratic in
her teaching-learning process by using two-ways communication to encourage pupils
participation and air their opinions through discussion. According to Lippit and White, from
Lewis (Mills, 2007), pupils of democratic teachers accomplish both a great deal of excellent
academic work and establish positive social climates.
Besides teacher - pupils questioning and answering activity, the teacher should set the
task to each group and let the pupils solve the problems for themselves. Each group can take
turn to question and answer during the activity to encourage pupils centered approach. As a
result, the teacher can act as a facilitator to manage group activities efficiently and able to
exploit the teaching resources meaningfully.
Another resource that the teacher used at the post stage was the textbook. At this stage
I found that, the pupils still having problem pronouncing the numbers and reading the questions
and sentences stated in the book due to lack of speaking and reading practice at the practice
stage. If I was the teacher, I will use the text in the book to help the pupils master the
vocabulary, phrases or sentence patterns. By doing so, the pupils will have enough knowledge
and language content before proceeding to further stages of activities. According to Marzano,
Pickering, & Pollock, 2001 (cited in PPG module) the primary role of teachers is to plan and
deliver instructions effectively and efficiently. To do so, the teachers need to select appropriate
teaching materials and devise suitable activities to facilitate pupils learning.
Lastly, I would like to suggest

the teacher to plan the lesson well in order to achieve

the learning objective successfully. She

should balance teacher pupils talk and apply

democratic style of teaching to allow group interaction. She also should show her concern by
praising the pupils if they are able to answer correctly or obey the teachers instruction. To
maximize pupils participation, the teacher should minimize the number of pupils in the group.
Pair work is more pupil-centered, as it will increase the amount of communication

(Nesamalar.elt). Being assertive also necessary in giving clear instruction. For example,
demonstrate how they should work by giving a whole class instruction. The teacher can avoid
problems in the classroom if she administered meaningful instruction consistently during the
lesson throughout the year. She also could apply assertive discipline to handle misbehavior
problems by recognizing good behavior through verbal praise such as praising or calling out
names of pupils who ran in the classroom when they stopped doing the action. To be an
effective classroom managers, we should explain and demonstrate procedures, allow pupils to
practice them and giving feedback to pupils about their performance if necessary.