TEACHER’S SCAFFOLDING BEHAVIOR IN CSCL - A Case Study

2010

Although scaffolding is an important and frequently studied concept, much discussion exists with regard to its conceptualizations, appearances, and effectiveness. Departing from the last decade’s scaffolding literature, this review scrutinizes these three areas of scaffolding. First, contingency, fading, and transfer of responsibility are discerned in this review as the three key characteristics of scaffolding. Second, an overview is presented of the numerous descriptive studies that provided narratives on the appearances of scaffolding and classifications of scaffolding strategies. These strategies are synthesized into a framework for analysis, distinguishing between scaffolding means and intentions. Third, the small number of effectiveness studies available is discussed and the results suggest that scaffolding is effective. However, more research is needed. The main challenge in scaffolding research appears to be its measurement. Based on the encountered and described measurement problems, suggestions for future research are made.

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2014

Teachers in various contexts worldwide are sometimes unfairly criticized for not putting teaching methods developed for the well-resourced classrooms of Western countries into practice. Factors such as the teachers' "misconceptualizations" of "imported" methods, including Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), are often blamed, though the challenges imposed by "contextual demands," such as large class sizes, are sometimes recognised. Meanwhile, there is sometimes an assumption that in the West there is a happy congruence between policy supportive of CLT or Task-Based Language Teaching, teacher education and supervision, and curriculum design with teachers' cognitions and their practices. Our case study of three EFL teachers at a UK adult education college is motivated by a wish to question this assumption. Findings from observational and interview data suggest the practices of two teachers were largely consistent with their methodological principles, relating to stronger and weaker forms of CLT respectively, as well as to more general educational principles, such as a concern for learners; the supportive environment seemed to help. The third teacher appeared to put "difficult" contextual factors, for example, tests, ahead of methodological principles without, however, obviously benefiting. Implications highlight the important role of teacher cognition research in challenging cultural assumptions.

2013

Teacher scaffolding and more specifically, support that is adapted to or contingent upon a student's understanding, is considered effective in promoting student learning. Increasing control upon a student's failures, decreasing control upon a student's successes and keeping the degree of control the same in the case of partial student understanding are considered contingent support which provides an appropriate level of challenge. However, these theoretical premises have not yet been tested in classroom situations. The main goal of this study was to investigate different patterns of contingency and to explore how contingency affects student learning. Twenty-two pre-vocational teachers' lessons were analysed regarding contingency and student learning, using micro-analysis. The results show that: (1) if the initial student understanding is poor, contingent support results in increased student understanding, and (2) teachers seldom underestimated students' understanding but often overestimated students' understanding. Contingent support can be effective and future research should focus on facilitating teachers in learning how to correctly diagnose students' understanding.

2011

This article reports a study of a university supervisor and a preservice English language arts teacher as they worked collaboratively within two different field experience sites to develop a conceptual understanding of instructional scaffolding. An analysis of classroom observations and mentoring conversations was conducted to examine how the supervisor supported the preservice teacher's transfer of tools for instruction from a university program to the high school classroom. Findings indicate the significant role of the teacher education program's conceptual base in fostering this transfer.

ournal of Modern Research in English Language Studies, 2023

The emerging interest in scaffolding as a dynamic, multifaceted, and evolving construct has mounted over the last decades due to its impact on teachers' professional development and students' learning. The present paper adopted conversation analysis to analyze scaffolding intentions in content-based instruction (CBI) based on Van de Pol et al.'s (2010) framework of scaffolding intentions, which includes direction maintenance, cognitive structuring, reduction of the degrees of freedom, recruitment, and frustration control. Through convenience sampling, four science teachers in English-medium CBI were selected, and the videotaped recordings of 12 hours of their online classroom instruction were transcribed and analyzed. The findings indicated that scaffolding intentions mostly pertain to enhancing students' cognitive structuring, controlling their frustration, and promoting their engagement in the learning process. The findings showed that the cognitive load of learning concepts was one of the main determiners of teachers' scaffolding. Also, various activities to recruit interest were used by the teachers to provide scaffolding. The findings evidenced that teachers' interactional and instructional techniques were mostly centered on directing students towards the pedagogical aims and engaging them in the various activities at hand to call students' attention to the applicability of science matters in the real-life or personal experience. In this study, developing self-supporting and self-reflecting strategies was found to be demanding for the teachers. These findings have implications for the teachers and teacher educators to heighten teachers' awareness of scaffolding in CBI classes to enact more effective teaching.

2012

Given the scarcity of scaffolding in classrooms, we developed a professional development program (PDP) focusing on scaffolding. The PDP was based on a model of contingent teaching consisting of three steps: diagnostic strategies, checking the diagnosis and intervention strategies. The development of four social studies teachers’ scaffolding knowledge, use of scaffolding in practice and reflections on practice were analyzed. Insights regarding openness, students’ understanding, and co-construction e that occurred while reflecting with the model of contingent teaching e appeared to foster teachers’ scaffolding development. A fourth step, checking students’ learning, is suggested as an additional step in contingent teaching.

Historia: Jurnal Pendidik dan Peneliti Sejarah

To establish a qualified history teaching-learning equipped with a good constructivistic nuance requires teachers’ knowledge towards teaching-learning process. Besides comprehending subject matter, chosen teaching model, classroom management, and teaching media, teachers also need to comprehend scaffolding. Teachers’ knowledge towards the importance of scaffolding in history teaching in senior high school level is an important thing to get a good history teaching quality. The scaffolding implementation model in history teaching was the aim of the research.The development towards the metacognitively-oriented scaffolding implementation model in this study was conducted using teacher questionnaire analyzed through SmartPLS. The hipotetical model proposed on the first phase was confirmed by teachers’ response data that generated theoretical model. The next analytical model was then developed through model optimizing phase.Findings of the study show that the optimal model was the suittes...

Instructional …, 2003

This study aims to examine the process of scaffolding in terms of teachers' and students' discussions, and how transition from teacher regulation to student regulation takes place during a learning project carried out in a web-based learning environment. The participants were two secondary school teachers from separate schools, together with their students. The data were collected through videotaping. The results showed the relationships between teacher-student discussions and teachers' conceptions of their role. The data as a whole indicated a transition from other-to self-regulation in the classroom of one teacher, but not the other. These findings are discussed in terms of the teacher's role as challenger, monitor and evaluator of student learning, and the implications for successful scaffolding.

2016

Although scaffolding is an important and frequently studied concept, much discussion exists with regard to its conceptualizations, appearances, and effectiveness. Departing from the last decade's scaffolding literature, this review scrutinizes these three areas of scaffolding. First, contingency, fading, and transfer of responsibility are discerned in this review as the three key characteristics of scaffolding. Second, an overview is presented of the numerous descriptive studies that provided narratives on the appearances of scaffolding and classifications of scaffolding strategies. These strategies are synthesized into a framework for analysis, distinguishing between scaffolding means and intentions. Third, the small number of effectiveness studies available is discussed and the results suggest that scaffolding is effective. However, more research is needed. The main challenge in scaffolding research appears to be its measurement. Based on the encountered and described measurement problems, suggestions for future research are made.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the patterns of scaffolding contingency in teaching and learning mathematics carried out by three teachers. Contingency patterns obtained by examining the transcription of conversation fragments between educators and students during the provision of scaffolding. The video recorder recorded the pieces. The result shows that the three teachers expressed different interaction contingencies in their scaffolding activities, which are contingent dominant, non-contingent dominant, and pseudo-contingent. Also, the learning interaction performed by experienced teachers tends to be contingent dominant compared to novice teachers.