The influences of a native-speaking teacher’s beliefs regarding scaffolding used in an academic English classroom
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Abstract
It has been asserted that teachers’ beliefs affect teachers’ behaviors during teaching, and these impact students’ outcomes. These beliefs can originate from the teacher’s prior experienceoras a result of being trained as a professionaleducator.This study concerns how the native-speaking teacher’s beliefs influence oral scaffolding in an English classroom. The participants were one experienced native-speaking teacher and eight Thai postgraduates in the second semester of theacademic year 2012-2013 in a university in Nakorn Pathom, Thailand. In order to gather data from the participants, in-depth interviews, participant observation, and digital audio recording were all employed.The results revealed that the native-speaking teacher’s beliefs influencethe scaffolding techniques that were used in the classroom in various ways as follows: 1) using ‘spelling’ may help clarify a word’s meaning, 2) using ‘repetition’ may give students a chance to understand the question and reply to it, 3) using ‘rephrasing a question’ may help students by exposing them to various question patterns, 4) using ‘giving a clue’ may help extend students’ answers, 5) using ‘giving the correct answer’ may help students progress to the next lesson easier, and 6)using ‘modeling a word or a phrase’ may help students with their listening skills. In conclusion, the teacher’s beliefs influence his scaffolding techniques because he thinks that those teaching practices can benefit the students’ English competency. Teachers should understand their teaching beliefs to enhance their professional practices and benefit their students to meet the objectives of each lesson effectively.
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