Self-confidence Fostering Activities - Scaffolds tor EFL Learners" Reading Strategies

Self-confidence Fostering Activities

  Researchers and educators have made great efforts to help students learn English reading strategies. Reading is considered very important in academic worlds, including Korea, where English is learned as a foreign language (EFL). What makes EFL learners embrace new reading strategies has been little researched, compared with the amount of previous studies on how to teach them. Since teaching how to use reading strategies itself is important and needs to be rigorously investigated, the research focus tends to be given on teaching materials, instruction models, and so on. In addition to these important issues, what can be effective scaffolds for EFL learners should be also identified because the scaffolds can enhance the effectiveness of strategy instruction. Therefore, this study is designed to better understand effective scaffolds for Korean EFL learners and their self-confidence as English readers. The results were very interesting. Participants" prior knowledge of English grammar served as a confidence-building comfort zone for learning how to use new reading strategies. Students" attitudes toward the strategies changed to be positive after practicing with familiar grammar-related activities. In accordance with their changed attitudes, their self-rated English reading proficiency improved dramatically. Implications for EFL learners, such as the Korean participants in this study, are given.