Abstract:
In Sri Lankan context, a considerable number of students who have completed their primary and secondary studies in their mother tongue, and with limited English proficiency, struggle at the university level where the medium of instruction is in English. These students encounter different types of learning problems. Literature on learning problems among students for whom English is a second language indicates that there is a dearth of empirical research investigating learning problems of these students in-depth with limited intervention strategies to support them. This research aims to introduce a novel intervention approach called 'Therapeutic Scaffolding' (TS) to support ESL students to mitigate their learning problems and enhance academic proficiency. Therapeutic Scaffolding primarily integrates 'Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT),' 'Theory of Scaffolding,' and 'Content and Language Integrated Learning (CUL)' to develop students' cognition, behaviour, and skills.
The methodology comprises a qualitative research approach. The participants include the researcher functioning as the language teacher and the therapist, a content teacher, and 10-20 volunteer underachieving ESL students from an English-Medium Instructional degree programme at a public university in Sri Lanka. These students are exposed to TS for one academic semester, and subsequently, the impact of TS on learning problems and academic proficiency and students' perceptions on TS are evaluated and analysed thematically. The research conceptualises and evaluates TS as a transdisciplinary intervention approach and a collaborative platform to support underachieving ESL students to overcome learning problems and enhance their academic proficiency, and redefines the role of language teachers at the university, across disciplinary boundaries
