How I Develop the Skill of Giving Reinforcement in the English Class During My Teaching Practicum Program: A Self-Reflective Research

Abstract

As teachers take an essential role to encourage students’ participation in learning activities, the skill of giving reinforcement must be learned and practiced by pre-service teachers during their teaching practicum program. This study attempted to report the developments of my skill of giving reinforcement as a pre-service EFL teacher during my teaching practicum program at a government senior high school in Jember, East Java, Indonesia. The data of this research was collected by videotaping my teaching practices and writing reflective journals during the teaching practicum program. The results of thematic analysis revealed that developing the skill of giving reinforcement was done by implementing the factors that influence the effectiveness of reinforcement, comprising the immediacy factor, the contingency factor, and the magnitude factor. Moreover, I was also utilizing some types of instructional reinforcement, such as praise and other verbal reinforcement, token reinforcement, tangible reinforcement, symbolic reinforcement, and activity reinforcement. The findings imply that through the skill developments of giving reinforcement, pre-service teacher could make specific changes in students' behavior and increased their learning motivation.