Abstract:

National curriculum documentation determine Czech pupils should have to learn the first foreign language from their 3rd grade (when 8 or 9 years old), mostly it is English language. The main learning resources for learning English are both textbooks and workbooks (workbooks often as a supplementary resources).

Czech teachers are not instructed what type of resources to work in lessons with, so they can choose another textbooks or materials, in case the school has funds for their purchase. Teachers often prefer textbooks approved by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports because these textbooks provide them professional guarantee and are free for pupils. But how the pupils work with these resources? Do these resources contain potential scaffolding elements supporting their learning?

Ways and principles of scaffolding learning of pupils based on teaching and learning resources are not in scientific literature too much researched. In the Czech educational environment, there is an absence of similar types of studies because current researches in the area of scaffolding learning mostly pay attention to specific learning needs, effective methods of teaching the children from disadvantaged environment and gifted education. So we are interested in which elements of textbooks, in general, help pupils to understand curriculum, whether their learning strategy can be changed in connection with the difficulty of the topic and how, according to pupilsˈ own opinions, should their textbooks look like to facilitate their learning.

This communication presents partial results of more extensive research focused on the role of the textbook and other teaching and learning resources. As a monitored subject we chose English language. The aim of the part of the research presented is, on the statements of the pupils, to map their learning needs in a relation to the learning resources, and identify auxiliary elements in the text (i.e. elements with scaffolding potential).

The research respects a qualitative methodological design which is, with regard to the set goal, made up of two steps:
1. content analysis of English textbooks;
2. realization of semi-structured interviews with lower secondary school students on the topic scaffolding learning based on English textbooks.

The research sample consisted of 8th graders and their learning resources they use in English lessons and beyond. These interviews were recorded and literally transcribed. Data evaluation and interpretation were conducted on the basis of open and axial coding. The research identified pupilsˈ own opinions of how the textbooks could scaffold their learning and help define strategies of pupils leading to mastering difficult curriculum. In addition, the research has revealed the fact that there is a small number of teachers and pupils thinking about effective learning.

Keywords:

Teaching and learning resources, printed and digital resources, scaffolding, pupilsˈ support.