This study aimed to investigate elementary school EFL teachers¡¦ use of scaffolding strategies for enhancing EFL students¡¦ cognitive engagement, and to examine whether the teachers¡¦ beliefs correspond to their strategy use. The three main focuses of the study included: 1) the types of scaffolding strategies used by elementary English teachers to enhance EFL students¡¦ cognitive engagement; 2) the processes of using these scaffolding strategies; 3) the teachers¡¦ beliefs in using these scaffolding strategies.
The present study utilized an exploratory-explanatory case study design. Two elementary English teachers participated in this study. Data were collected from interviews and classroom observations during late-August to mid-October 2007. The researcher carried out all the interviews and classroom observations after she got the two teachers¡¦ permission to participate in this study. Five hours of interviews and eleven hours of classroom observations were collected from one teacher, while one and a half hours of interviews and nine hours of classroom observations were collected from the other. The interview data were audio-taped and then transcribed word by word. The classroom observation data were video-taped, and the useful parts were transcribed word by word. The researcher adopted constant comparative method and the template approach for data analysis. The process of data analysis with the use of constant comparative method included categorizing the types of scaffolding strategies from the collected data and analyzing the two elementary English teachers¡¦ beliefs of using scaffolding strategies. In addition, Gallimore and Tharp¡¦s (1990) six teaching strategies were used as a template to confirm that there was no missing code in the data analysis process.
The three major findings of this study are as the following: 1) the two elementary English teachers in this study believed that cognitive engagement is classified into three categories: attention, memory, and critical thinking; 2) the two elementary English teachers in this study used scaffolding strategies in different ways to help students achieve different categories of cognitive engagement; 3) the two elementary English teachers¡¦ different beliefs of cognitive engagement played an important role in their use of scaffolding strategies, and they guided students to achieve different levels of cognitive engagement in class based on their beliefs.
The findings of the present study, in general, respond to EFL teachers¡¦ perceptions of ZPD (Vygotsky, 1978) and scaffolding (Wood, Bruner, & Rose, 1976) which pointed out the importance of teacher¡¦s role in assisting students¡¦ second language learning. The expected findings discussed are as the following: 1) similar scaffolding strategies for enhancing students¡¦ cognitive engagement found in the present study were recognized in previous studies; 2) teachers¡¦ beliefs played an important role in teachers¡¦ use of scaffolding strategies.
Unexpected, or interesting findings discussed are as the following: 1) one teacher in the present study believed that cognitive engagement was a sequential concept; 2) the two teachers in the present study showed different perceptions of the role of EFL teacher in initiating students¡¦ critical thinking; 3) The two teachers in the present study were not aware that students could be active listeners or learners in class; 4) The two teachers in the present study put more emphasis on students¡¦ memory of vocabulary and sentences than on critical thinking.
Three pedagogical implications are suggested in this study: 1) Elementary English teachers need to be aware that critical thinking of some students¡¦ might need assistance from teachers; 2) elementary English teachers need to be aware that step-by-step assistance is more likely to help students achieve critical thinking; 3) teacher education should provide related courses about cognitive engagement, and practice teachers should learn how to assist students in engaging cognitively in English class.
Finally, this study suggests three directions for further research: 1) the future study should investigate on teachers¡¦ beliefs or perspectives on using scaffolding strategies in class; 2) the future study should take students¡¦ perspectives into account to identify the effectiveness of scaffolding strategies in enhancing EFL students¡¦ cognitive engagement; 3) the future study should take parents¡¦ expectation or perceptions of English teaching into account to investigate how parents¡¦ expectations and feedback influence teachers¡¦ scaffolding strategies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0215108-103010 |
| Date | 15 February 2008 |
| Creators | Yeh, Jia-Wen |
| Contributors | Shu-ing Shyu, Yu-Feng Yang, Chin-Chi Chao |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0215108-103010 |
| Rights | off_campus_withheld, Copyright information available at source archive |
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