CHAPTER 4 RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS
4.2 Process of Using Scaffolding Strategies
The second research question is how the two elementary school EFL teachers used scaffolding strategies for enhancing EFL students’ cognitive engagement. In order to answer this question, the researcher focuses on examining the processes of using scaffolding strategies. The previous section showed that cognitive engagement was divided into three categories which include triggering and sustaining attention, enhancing memory, and initiating critical thinking. The two teachers used different strategies at each category of cognitive engagement.
The representative examples of each strategy will be displayed independently according to the categories of cognitive engagement. Moreover, Amy’s examples will be displayed first and then Emily’s examples will be used for comparison.
Category 1 Trigger and sustain attention
Amy used various strategies to alert and direct the students to concentrate on the class.
Teacher Amy 1.1 Give alerts
Amy gave alert for triggering and sustaining the students’ attention by using the following strategies.
1.1.1 Walk around (Teacher Amy)
Walking around refers to the teacher not standing on the platform but walking around in classroom to alert the students to pay attention. It was the most commonly used strategy in Amy’s class. This strategy was used when the students were reading the textbook or participating in the tasks. In fact, the students were often asked to read the textbook at the beginning of each class of Amy’s. There must be a leader who stood on the stage and guided the whole class to read the textbook. The rest of the students were sitting on their seats, reading a text in the textbook, and reading aloud by following the leader. At this time, Amy always walked around the class to see whether the students were really following the leader, the student asked to lead all the other students, and read from the right page. The following excerpt displays how Amy used this strategy when the students were reading the text.
S1: It is spring.
Ss: It is spring.
S1: It’s warm in spring.
Ss: It’s warm in spring.
(…continue to the end of the text)
Teacher Amy: (Walking around to check whether every student was reading the right sentence.)
(Observation 2, Teacher Amy Class B, 09/21/2007)
Amy walked around rather than stood on the platform to check the students’ attention when they were reading the text. According to the observation, every student had to open the book when reading the text. If a student did not read the right page, Amy would walk to the student and turn to the right page for him.
According to the observation, Amy also provided authority for all the students to walk around in the information gap task. When the students had the chance to walk around the class, they started to alert one another actively rather than received alert passively. The following excerpt illustrates how Amy used this strategy in the task of
information gap.
Teacher Amy: I don’t want to see anyone sitting on the chair. Do not sit on the chair. Go asking.
[我不想看到有人坐在椅子上。不可以坐在椅子上喔！
快去問。]
Ss: (Taking their worksheets, walking around and asking others)
Teacher Amy: (Walking around and seeing if the students have any questions)
S1: (Asking Amy about question in the worksheet) Teacher Amy: How’s the weather in American?
(Amy was teaching the students how to ask the question) (Observation 4, Teacher Amy Class B, 10/05/2007)
Amy kept walking around during the task. At the same time, she had the students walk around as well. According to the observation, all students were walking around the class after the teacher’s alert.
1.1.2 Stare at the student (Teacher Amy)
Staring at the students was also used to alert the students. It means Amy’s attention focused on the distracted student. In every class, Amy always used this strategy to alert the students who were absent-minded, talking to others, or doing other things.
For example, Amy used this strategy when she was reviewing the phonics of vowels.
The following excerpt shows how Amy used this strategy while reviewing the phonics.
(Amy was staring at student Eric about four seconds.) What is the short sound of “a” ?
Eric, tell me what short sound of “a” is.
[Eric 告訴我 a 的短音是什麼。]
Student Eric: [ ]
(Observation 7, Teacher Amy Class B, 10/15/2007)
Amy alerted the distracted student, Eric, by staring at him. According to the observations, Amy stared more times at the distracted students than other students.
1.1.3 Stop talking (Teacher Amy)
Stop talking means that the teacher just paused what she was doing and did not talk anymore when there were distracted students. This strategy was used to alert the students and usually followed the strategy of “stare at the student”. For example, Amy used this strategy when she was teaching the sentences of Lesson Two with the textbook while one student was not reading the right page. The following excerpt tells us how Amy used this strategy in class.
Teacher Amy: What is Lisa doing?
Ss: Doing her homework.
Teacher Amy: What is Peter doing?
(Amy was staring at student Peter about four seconds.) Ss: Riding a bike.
Teacher Amy: Ok. (Stopped talking and paused about nine seconds).
Page nineteen. Ok. So he is riding a bike.
(Observation 6, Teacher Amy Class B, 10/12/2007)
Amy stared at the distracted student, Peter, first. However, Peter was not aware of the teacher’s eyes. It means that staring at the student might not be effective. Amy changed another strategy of “stop talking” immediately. At this time, the whole class became quiet and everyone started to look for the troublemaker. Amy also kept staring at the troublemaker and the students who sat near that student alerted him by touching his shoulder. After doing this, the troublemaker started to pay attention and sustained
his attention for a long time for the rest of class.
1.1.4 Repeat a sentence (Teacher Amy)
Repeating a sentence was one of Amy’s strategies to alert student. It refers to the teacher saying the sentence again. In Amy’s class, most of the students could be alerted when the teacher was staring at him or her. However, there were still some students who were really distracted or were doing other things. Under this condition, Amy often stared at them first and then began to repeat what she was saying. For example, Amy used this strategy when she was teaching progressive tense (e.g., I’m watching TV). Amy took a flashcard showed the picture of “help Peter” and asked the students to say it in progressive tense. The following excerpt shows how Amy used this strategy in class.
Teacher Amy: What is he doing?
Ss: He is helping Peter.
Teacher Amy: What is he doing?
(Staring at Tom and began to repeat the sentence) Ss: He is helping Peter.
Teacher Amy: What is he doing?
(Repeating the sentence, with louder voice) Tom. What are you doing?
(Observation 6, Teacher Amy Class A, 10/08/2007)
That is, while Tom was distracted, Amy stared at him first and then repeated the sentence with louder voice to alert him. At the beginning, Tom was not aware that Amy was repeating the sentence because of him. However, after Amy spoke louder and called his name, he realized that Amy was altering him. This strategy was usually followed the strategy of staring at the students. Moreover, calling student’s name was often used after this strategy.
1.1.5 Call the student’s name (Teacher Amy)
Calling the student’s name was used to give alert in Amy’s class. It means the teacher chanted the student’s name directly. Some students were easily distracted in Amy’s class. This strategy was applied only when the two strategies above (staring at the students and repeating the sentences) were useless. For example, Amy used this strategy when she was teaching the sentence pattern of “It is rainy/cloudy/windy/snowy.” The following excerpt shows how Amy used this strategy.
Teacher Amy: How the weather?
(Amy asked the question with flashcard “windy”) Ss: It’s windy.
Teacher Amy: It’s windy. (Stating at Peter and repeating the sentence) Ss: It’s windy.
Teacher Amy: It’s windy. (Repeating the sentence) Ss: It’s windy.
Teacher Amy: Peter. It’s windy. (With louder voice) Ss: It’s windy.
(Observation 3, Teacher Amy Class B, 10/01/2007)
In the above situation, Amy stared at Peter first and then repeated the sentence.
However, Peter was still absentminded. At this time, Amy only could call Peter directly. This excerpt shows us that calling the student’s name directly only occurred when the strategies of “stare at students” and “repeat sentences” were useless. The occurrence of these three strategies was sequential. It is interesting to find that the occurrence of these three strategies was sequential as the following figure.
Figure 1 The Sequence of Scaffolding Strategies to Alert Students Attention
Staring at the students always occurred before the teacher repeated the sentence and called the student’s name. Calling the student’s name was the most serious situation to alert the students because it indicated that the teacher was upset.
1.1.6 Ask what others said before (Teacher Amy)
Asking what others said before was used to alert the students in Amy’s class. It means that the teacher asked the students to repeat what the others said. The students in Amy’s class were asked to pay attention all the time even when Amy was asking questions to the other students. For example, Amy used this strategy when she was teaching the sentence pattern of “What do you like to do in spring/summer/fall/winter?” She chose the students of the fifth line to practice this sentence pattern. When there was a girl who answered that “I like to play piano in summer,” there were two boys who were talking to each other and did not listen to the girl. Amy just alerted them as the following example.
Teacher Amy: Hank and Jason, I’ll ask you what she just said.
[Hank 和 Jason，我等一下問你們她剛剛說什麼。]
(Observation 2, Teacher Amy Class A, 09/21/2007) Stare at the student
Stop talking
Repeat a sentence (With louder voice)
Call the student’s name (With louder voice)
Hank and Peter were alerted to answer what that girl said. According to my observations, this strategy was very useful for alerting the students because they were afraid of being asked. Furthermore, Amy often used this strategy with louder voice to raise the students’ attention.
1.2 Give directions
Amy gave directions for calling the students’ attention by using the following strategies.
1.2.1 Use slogan (Teacher Amy)
Using slogan was used to direct the students to concentrate on the class. It refers to the fact that the teacher used regulative slogans in class. There were two regulative slogans in Amy’s class: look at me, and listen to me. Generally speaking, Amy used these two slogans when she began to explain important concept or rules of task. The following excerpt shows these two slogans.
Teacher Amy: Listen to me.
Ss: Listen to you.
Teacher Amy: Look at me.
Ss: Look at you.
(Observation 7, Teacher Amy Class B, 10/12/2007)
The students were asked to reply with “look at you” or “listen to you” when they heard “look at me” or “listen to me.” According to the observation, this strategy was like a tacit understanding between Amy and the students. In this sense, the students paid attention to Amy when they heard these two slogans.
1.2.2 Using total physical response (TPR) (Teacher Amy)
This strategy was also used to direct the students to pay attention in Amy’s class. The teacher asked the students to give her physical response according to her direction while using this strategy. It only occurred once in Amy’s class. The only example of this strategy was used when Amy was teaching a rhyme and there were two important words which were “go” and “come.” Amy asked the students to give her physical response as the following example.
Teacher Amy: Ok. Everybody, come here.
(Amy was standing on the platform) Ss: (Quiet, sit on the chairs.)
Teacher Amy: Ok. Stand up. Come here. Come here. Come here.
Come here. Quickly, come here.
Ss: (Walking to the platform.) Teacher Amy: Ok. Go there. Go there.
Ss: (Walking back to their seats) Teacher Amy: No. Go there. Go there.
(Amy spoke loudly and pointed to the back of the classroom)
Ss: (Walking to the back of the classroom) Teacher Amy: Ok. Hello. Go back to your seats.
Ss: (Walking back to their seats)
(Observation 5, Teacher Amy Class A, 10/05/2007)
The students followed Amy’s direction and gave her physical responses. According to the observation, the students paid attention to Amy automatically because they had to focus on Amy’s direction. In addition to triggering the students’ attention, the meaning of these two words became concrete for the students to comprehend.
After examining how Amy used scaffolding strategies for calling the students’
attention, the following parts is going to focus on Emily. Emily gave alerts, directions, and attractions to call students’ attention.
Teacher Emily 1.3 Give attractions
Emily gave attractions for triggering and sustaining students’ attention by using the following strategies.
1.3.1 Providing awards (Teacher Emily)
This strategy was used to attract the students’ attention in Emily’s class. It refers to the fact that the teacher provided oral praise or gave bonus points based on students’
performance. Amy often used this strategy when she asked the students to repeat the sentences or play the tasks. In Emily’s class, the students were put into four groups.
Emily always provided awards to one of the groups in order to alert the others. For example, when Emily was teaching vocabulary with flashcards and asking the students to repeat, she used this strategy as the following excerpt.
Teacher Amy: Group one and three read well. Get one point.
(Emily gave bonus points to group one and three listed on the blackboard.)
[第一組、第三組唸得很好。各加一分。]
(Observation 4, Teacher Emily Class B, 10/03/2007)
According to the observations, most of the students cared about the points in Emily’s class. When the students saw that Emily gave bonus point to other groups, they became more concentrated in order to get the points. Giving awards was a commonly used strategy to alert the students in Emily’s class.
1.3.2. Use tasks (Teacher Emily)
Emily attracted the students’ attention by using different tasks.
1.3.2.1 Code switch (Teacher Emily)
Code switching task was one of the activities used in Emily’s class. Emily used this task to attract the students’ attention in class. It refers to the fact that the teacher asked questions in English and the students answered in Chinese. In other words, the students had to respond in opposite language. For example, this strategy was used when Emily was teaching vocabulary of Lesson One. The following excerpt shows how Emily used it in class.
Teacher Emily: Now. I speak in Chinese and you have to answer in English.
If I speak in English, you have to answer in Chinese. Let’s start.
[現在我講中文，你們要回答英文。我講英文，你們要回 答中文。開始囉！]
聰明的。
Ss: Smart.
Teacher Emily: Naughty.
Ss: 頑皮的。
(Continue to finish all vocabulary)
(Observation 1, Teacher Emily Class A, 09/18/2007)
Emily used the task of code switching to attract the students’ attention. According to the observations, the students were paying attention to Emily when playing this task because they wanted to win the game and then they could get bonus points..
1.3.2.2 Beat the words (Teacher Emily)
Beating syllables was another task in Emily’s class and used to attract the students’
attention in class. For example, Emily used this task when she was teaching a rhyme.
There was a wall chart of rhyme on the blackboard and Emily asked volunteering students to beat the words on the wall chart. The following excerpt shows how this task worked.
Teacher Emily: Please beat if you hear there is an /i/ sound in the word.
[請你聽到 i 的時候敲一下。]
S1: (Followed Emily’s direction and beat the word ) Teacher Emily: Please beat if you hear there are /a/ and /e/sounds
in the word.
[這一次換請你敲有 a 和 e 的地方。]
S2: (Follow Emily’s direction and beat the word ) Teacher Emily: This time, if you hear vowels, please beat.
[再來這一次，只要單字中有母音的就要敲。]
S3: (Followed Emily’s direction and beat the word ) Teacher Emily: If the word is more than three letters, you have to beat.
[如果單字多於三個字數的，你就要敲。]
S4: (Followed Emily’s direction and beat the word) (Observation 4, Teacher Emily Class A, 10/04/2007)
Emily changed lots of ways in the task of beating the words. According to the observations, this task usually lasted about ten minutes. Each way of beating was about three to four minutes. Mostly the students paid attention to the task and were engaged in it.
1.3.2.3 Make a face (Teacher Emily)
Making a face was another task in Emily’s class and also used to attract the students’
attention. This task refers to that the students expressed the meaning of the vocabulary by making faces. This strategy only occurred once in Emily’s class. That is, Emily used this task when she was teaching the sentence pattern of “You look happy/angry/sad/excited.” She asked the students to make faces after they heard the sentence. The following excerpt shows how Emily used this task.
Teacher Emily: Now. Please make faces to express the meaning of the word which I beat. Do your best. If you do not know how to do, just practice.
[現在呢？請你呢？我敲到那個字的時候，你就要做出那 個字的表情。盡量啦！如果不會的話，就練習一下。]
Ok. This one. (Emily beat “angry”)
Ss: (Sinister in appearance, beat the table…etc.) Teacher Emily: Good. Well done.
[很好，很像。]
(Observation 5, Teacher Emily Class A, 10/09/2007)
According to the observation, the students concentrated on what Emily said and many students expressed facially the vocabulary vividly. The students were attracted and engaged enthusiastically in this task.
1.3.3 Use nonverbal expressions (Teacher Emily)
Emily attracted the students’ attention by using nonverbal expression. It refers to the fact that the teacher demonstrated the word by doing an action without voice. Emily often used this strategy when teaching vocabulary. Moreover, this strategy was usually used if the word was an adjective or a verb. For example, Emily used this strategy when she was teaching vocabulary in Lesson One. There was an adjective which was “naughty.” Emily did her best to express the meaning of “naught” by gestures. The following excerpt shows how Emily used this strategy.
Teacher Amy: Naughty is (Emily was making strange sounds and making faces). Naught is that you like to hit others if they touch you.
[Naughty 就是(發出怪聲，扮鬼臉)，碰到你就要打人家 一下。]
(Observation 1, Teacher Emily Class B, 09/19/2007)
According to the observation, the students were attracted by Emily’s nonverbal expressions and Emily’s gestures were funny for them. The students paid attention to Emily unconsciously when she used this strategy.
To sum up, two teachers used different strategies to trigger and sustain the
students’ attention. Amy focused on triggering and sustaining the students’ attention by giving alerts and directions. However, Emily preferred to attract the students’
attention by giving attractions. In other words, Amy requested the students’ attention more severely than Emily
Category 2 Enhance memory
There were different ways to enhance the students’ memory. At this category, the strategies were used to increase students’ familiarity, impression, and comprehension of class materials.
Teacher Amy
Increase Familiarity
Amy provided opportunities for the students to practice in order to increase their familiarity of phonics, vocabulary, grammar, and sentences.
2.1. Provide opportunities to practice
In order to increase familiarity with vocabulary and sentence patterns, Amy thought that providing opportunities for the students to practice was necessary. She used the following strategies to provide opportunities for students to practice.
2.1.1 Give Variety
Giving variety was one of Amy’s scaffolding strategies to provide opportunities for students to practice vocabulary.
2.1.1.1 Visual aids (Teacher Amy)
Giving variety with visual aids refers to the fact that the teacher kept changing the
flashcards to increase opportunities of practices. This was the most commonly used strategy for increasing students’ familiarity in Amy’s class, especially in vocabulary
flashcards to increase opportunities of practices. This was the most commonly used strategy for increasing students’ familiarity in Amy’s class, especially in vocabulary