Perspectives of tourism students on the development of foreign language reading through scaffolding

Abstract

Reading is an essential skill for learners of English. It helps students develop
vocabulary, learn grammar and grasp the subtleties of the English language. However,
reading is also crucial for fostering a love of learning and the development of critical
thinking skills. While, at the same time learners may face with challenges while reading
texts in foreign languages. Therefore, tutors can use Scaffolding approach in order
overcome issues. Similar to scaffolding in a building, scaffolding in education serves
as a supporting framework for construction. Scaffolding is a term used by teachers to
describe the process of first supporting a learner and then gradually removing this
assistance as the learner develops task independence. Overall, 54 learners took part
from International University of tourism and hospitality in Turkestan. The descriptive
research was conducted to examine how learners felt about learning to read using
Scaffolding. 25 male and 29 female participants participated in this study and in
addition descriptive analysis carried out; quantitative research method was used. The
results were generated using SPSS version 23.0, which stands for Statistical Package
for the Social Sciences. Descriptive data and variations by their year of study at the
university and gender were analyzed using Mann Whitney U-test. The results of the
item analyses reveal that English language learners’ attitudes are confident. There
were no significant differences between participants’ grades and gender.