The art of scaffolding an EFL writing class in a hybrid environment : a practical experience

Abstract

Many universities are adopting e-
Learning in their programs. Accordingly,
there is an urgency to reconsider the
pedagogical perspectives, which need to be
refined in order to meet the demands of
learning conducted in these technology-rich
environments.

The theory of scaffolding, which
aligns with the constructivist theory, is
revisited to teach an EFL writing class and
expanded in order to provide our future
learners in a hybrid environment (both online
and face-to-face) with better pedagogical
strategies. As a result, learning writing within
these scaffolded environments occurs in a
carefully-monitored manner but outside the
scaffolds used, it is intended that learning
may then occur in a natural and disorganized
way without the students being conscious of
having to achieve assessment objectives. This
‘natural and disorganized way’ is referred to
as chaotic creativity.

An action research design has been
utilized throughout this study to achieve a
paradigm shift as well as to inform practice in
these technology-rich environments so that
teachers continually strive to improve and
rethink their existing pedagogical
perspectives while using a hybrid learning
environment.

The results have indicated that the
students take the advantages of using the
scaffolds implemented in a hybrid learning
environment to enrich their rich and
meaningful learning journeys. The online
activities, mostly conducted after the F2F
mode, have given them greater opportunities
to both reinforce and expand the knowledge
they have acquired in the F2F mode.