This study seeks to examine how a supervisor scaffolds the student-teachers’ learning-to-teach process in the context of one-to-one tutoring sessions in an English as a foreign language teacher education programme in Argentina. The findings indicate that scaffolding implies two main phases: a diagnostic and an intervention phase. Moreover, the supervisor was found to provide contingent help, which suited the student-teachers’ perceived needs and/or difficulties. In conclusion, scaffolded help should be understood in relation to the function it serves and how it accommodates the students’ level of understanding.
EFL teachers’ beliefs, a constituent of teacher cognition, influence their instructional practices. In vocabulary teaching, the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices has not been much studied so far, so further research in a variety of geographical and educational contexts is necessary to compare findings and observe both established and emerging trends. In this article the researchers analyze two teachers’ vocabulary teaching beliefs and their pedagogical procedures based on data from two different educational settings in Argentina, collected by a questionnaire and classroom observations, and from class materials and the progress tests used in class. Data triangulation allowed insights into the characteristics of both teachers’ vocabulary instruction, whereby the choice and amount of vocabulary taught, the aspects of lexical knowledge promoted, and the teaching and assessment techniques deployed revealed different degrees of coincidence with the stated beliefs. Results are in line with studies conducted in other geographical contexts and provide further evidence for the influence of the context of the lesson and the class on teachers’ decisions.
Computers seem to be an unquestionably useful tool to support the learning process, although positive students' and teachers' attitude towards the system is required to guarantee a successful introduction of new technologies in traditional classrooms. Training or exercises provide the students with the challenge of using their knowledge to solve concrete problems, so that they incite students to participate actively. Training can be adapted to different learning styles in order to strengthen student involvement. Moreover, tools to adapt the didactic material to several educational methods must be provided, in such a way that teachers consider the system a helpful tool rather than a substitute. Taking into account the foregoing, this paper describes a training system to create and use exercises in a hypermedia learning environment for hearing-impaired children called CESAR.
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