SCAFFOLDING STRATEGIES IN CHINESE LANGUAGE TEACHING: A MIXED-METHODS STUDY ON PRACTICES AND PERCEPTIONS OF CHINESE LANGUAGE TEACHERS IN THAILAND / 汉语教学中的支架策略：关于泰国汉语教师实践与认知的混合研究

Abstract

Scaffolding is a significant teaching and learning approach in contemporary education because it provides a way for teachers to support students’ learning and development. This study aimed to: 1) identify the types of scaffolding strategies used by Chinese language teachers in Thailand. 2) examine the frequency with which these scaffolding strategies are applied in classroom teaching, and 3) investigate teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of scaffolding strategies in Chinese language teaching. A purposive sampling method was used to select 45 Chinese-language teachers in Thailand for a questionnaire survey and eight of them for semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that Thai Chinese language teachers mainly used six scaffolding strategies: cognitive, affective, peer, interactive, technological, and language scaffolding. They reported that language scaffolding was used most frequently, whereas peer scaffolding was used least frequently. However, the relatively low use of peer and technological scaffolding may be attributed to students’ age and limitations in teaching resources. As for the effectiveness of the scaffolding strategies, all strategies were found promising with language scaffolding strategies at the most effective. It is recommended that teachers flexibly apply various scaffolding strategies in conjunction with classroom practice to improve the quality of Chinese language instruction further.

支架式教学是当代教育中一种重要的教学与学习方法，因为它为教师支持学生的学习与发展提供了有效途径。本研究旨在：1）识别泰国汉语教师所采用的支架策略类型；2）考察这些支架策略在课堂教学中的使用频率；3）探究教师对支架策略在汉语教学中有效性的看法。研究采用目的抽样法，对泰国45名汉语教师进行问卷调查，并从中选取8名教师进行半结构式访谈。研究结果表明，泰国汉语教师主要采用六种支架策略：认知支架、情感支架、同伴支架、互动支架、技术支架以及语言支架。其中，教师报告语言支架使用频率最高，而同伴支架使用频率最低。然而，同伴支架和技术支架使用率相对较低，可能与学生年龄以及教学资源受限有关。在支架策略的有效性方面，所有策略均被认为具有积极效果，其中语言支架被认为最为有效。研究建议教师结合课堂实践，灵活运用多种支架策略，以进一步提升汉语教学质量。