ENHANCING ENGLISH CONDITIONAL SENTENCES AMONG EFL UNDERGRADUATES THROUGH SCAFFOLDING TECHNIQUES

Abstract

Students have the potential to progress to a higher level in their language learning and development. To test this hypothesis, this research aims to 1) examine how scaffolding techniques improve English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ understanding of conditional sentences, and 2) investigate the students’ attitudes towards the use of scaffolding techniques in the if-conditional instruction. The participants were 27 English major students in a public university in Thailand. Two instruments were used to collect the data: two sets of tests on conditional sentences and a questionnaire. The data were analysed by using the SPSS software (version 20) and were converted into mean scores and standard deviations. The results from a paired t-test demonstrated that there were significant differences between the pre-test and post-test. Thus, it can be indicated that scaffolding techniques, namely, conceptual, metacognitive, strategic, and procedural could reinforce the students’ grammatical knowledge of conditional sentences. Additionally, the results from the questionnaire acknowledged that the students had positive attitudes towards the use of scaffolding techniques in the if-conditional instruction. Therefore, scaffolding techniques can be regarded as effective techniques that help EFL students overcome their grammatical difficulties with if-conditionals and reach higher achievement in their language learning.

Keywords

• EFL students
• grammatical knowledge
• if-conditionals
• scaffolding techniques