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The Appropriation of EFL Scaffolding Practices by EFL Student-Teachers at a Normal School Kindergarten

Omar J. Hoyos & Juan A. Altamiranda

Trabajo de grado para optar al título de Licenciado en Lengua Extranjera con Énfasis en Inglés

Advisors:

Ph.D. Jose David Herazo Ph.D. Tatiana Becerra Posada

School of Education, Universidad de Córdoba English Language Teaching Programme Montería - Córdoba

2026

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Acceptation Page

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

RESUMEN

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework

2.1. Scaffolding

2.1.1 Scaffolding as a Didactic Strategy

2.1.2 Distinguishing Between the Zone of Proximal Development and

Scaffolding

2.1.3 Message Abundance

2.2 Review of Literature

2.2.1 Scaffolding and Multimodal Support in Early Childhood EFL

2.2.2 Student-Teacher Challenges and Core Practices

2.2.3 Collective Scaffolding and Co-Teaching Dynamics

Chapter 3: Methodology

3.1 Type and Design of Research

3.2 Context and Participants

3.3 Workshops

3.4 Data collection methods

3.4.1 Documentary Analysis

3.4.2 Direct Observation

3.4.3 Semi-structured Interview

3.4.4 Observation Vignettes

3.5 Data Analysis

3.5.1 Phase 1: Familiarizing with the Data

3.5.2 Phase 2: Generating initial codes

3.5.3 Phase 3: Searching for themes

3.5.4 Phase 4: Reviewing themes

3.5.5 Phase 5: Defining and naming themes

3.5.6 Phase 6: Producing the report

3.6 Role of the Researchers

3.7 Ethical Considerations

Chapter 4: Findings

4.1. Scaffolding Comprehension Through Videos

4.2. Scaffolding Learning Through a Renewed Division of Labor

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4.3. Integrating Message Abundance Through Planned Kinesthetic and Visual

Support

Chapter 5: Discussion

5.1. Message Abundance as a Multimodal Scaffolding Tool

5.2. Documenting Message Abundance in Instructional Planning

5.3. Co-teaching as a Collaborative Scaffolding Practice

5.4. Implications for Early Childhood Teacher Education

Chapter 6: Conclusions

References

Appendix A: Semi-Structured Interview Guide

Appendix B: Reflective Workshops Material

Appendix C: Observation Vignettes

Vignette 1: The Initial Reality of the Practicum

Vignette 2: The Final Observation and Emerging Pedagogical Intentions

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ⅰ

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We express our sincere gratitude to our advisors, Jose David Herazo and Tatiana Becerra Posada, for their exceptional guidance and expertise. We are particularly grateful to Professor Herazo’s Práctica Docente 2 course, which served as the guide for our research journey. We also thank the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería and Mr. Eliud Bedoya for providing the academic space to explore early childhood EFL education. Our deepest thanks go to the student-teachers who participated in this study, Jhonatan, Sandy, Dairlys, Carlos, Maria, and Katier, for their commitment to reflective practice and co-planning. We also thank Fabian, Jose, Jania, and Astrid for their active participation; their contributions helped make this study a truly collaborative endeavor. Personal Acknowledgements:

Omar: I am deeply grateful to my mother for her tireless love and sacrifices, which have been the base of my professional path. To my girlfriend, thank you for your constant support during this adventure. I also give thanks to my aunt for her care, constant support and guidance. Finally, I dedicate this achievement to my father’s memory; even though he departed before I began this road, it would be foolish of me not to say that I'm the man that I want to be, because of him. His values remain my primary inspiration.

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Juan: I am infinitely grateful to God for being my guide and for giving me the wisdom and strength needed to complete this journey. To my parents, thank you for your unconditional love and for supporting me throughout all the years of my degree. I would not be here without everything you gave up for me, so this degree is just as much yours as it is mine. And to my girlfriend, thank you for being so incredibly patient, for keeping me company, and for being my absolute rock on the hardest days. I really could not have crossed this finish line without your love and support.

During the preparation of this thesis, artificial intelligence tools were used exclusively to support grammar revision, phrasing, clarity, and overall textual coherence. All suggestions were carefully reviewed and evaluated by us. The design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation of findings, and conclusions remained entirely our responsibility. We assume full responsibility for the final content of this thesis.

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ABSTRACT

This qualitative case study explored how student-teachers organized in teaching triads appropriated the concept of scaffolding when teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to kindergarten learners. Framed by sociocultural perspectives on collaborative teaching and message abundance, the study implemented a pedagogical support cycle that included two reflective workshops and two co-planning sessions with nine student-teachers in the early childhood education program (Programa de Formación Complementaria) at the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería. Data collection included documentary analysis of lesson plans, direct observations documented through vignettes, and semi-structured group interviews. The data were analyzed through a hybrid thematic analysis. The findings suggest that the appropriation of scaffolding was a gradual and context-dependent process. Initially, participants appeared to rely on an asymmetrical division of pedagogical roles and frequent first-language translation. As the practicum progressed, later data sources contained more explicit references to multimodal forms of support, including the concurrent use of audio, visual, and kinesthetic resources. The findings also point toward an emerging change in coteaching dynamics, where some triads began organizing their responsibilities around specific communicative channels to provide simultaneous mediation. Additionally, multimodal scaffolding strategies became increasingly visible in lesson planning documents. Overall, the study highlights the potential value of collaborative reflection, structured multimodal planning, and co-teaching

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experiences in supporting pre-service teachers as they engage with scaffolding practices during the practicum.

Keywords: Scaffolding, early childhood education, student-teachers, language mediation, message abundance, classroom interaction.

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RESUMEN

Este estudio de caso cualitativo exploró cómo los maestros en formación, organizados en tríadas pedagógicas, se apropiaron del concepto de andamiaje al enseñar inglés como lengua extranjera (EFL) a estudiantes de preescolar. Enmarcado en perspectivas socioculturales sobre la co-enseñanza y la abundancia del mensaje, el estudio implementó un ciclo de soporte pedagógico compuesto por dos talleres reflexivos y dos sesiones de co-planeación con nueve maestros en formación del Programa de Formación Complementaria de la Escuela Normal Superior de Montería. Los datos se recopilaron a través del análisis documental de planes de clase, observaciones directas documentadas en viñetas y entrevistas grupales semiestructuradas, los cuales fueron examinados mediante un análisis temático híbrido. Los hallazgos sugieren que la apropiación del andamiaje fue un proceso gradual y dependiente del contexto. Inicialmente, los participantes parecían depender de una división asimétrica de roles y de la traducción frecuente a la primera lengua. A medida que avanzó la práctica, las fuentes de datos posteriores mostraron referencias más explícitas a formas de apoyo multimodal, incluyendo el uso simultáneo de recursos auditivos, visuales y kinestésicos. Los resultados también indican una reconfiguración emergente en las dinámicas de co-enseñanza, donde algunas tríadas comenzaron a organizar sus responsabilidades en torno a canales comunicativos específicos para brindar mediación simultánea. Además, las estrategias de andamiaje multimodal se hicieron cada vez más visibles en los documentos de planeación. En general, el estudio resalta el valor potencial de la reflexión colaborativa, la planeación multimodal estructurada

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y las experiencias de co-enseñanza para acompañar a los maestros en formación mientras se involucran con las prácticas de andamiaje durante su práctica docente. Palabras clave: Andamiaje, educación infantil, docentes en formación, mediación lingüística, abundancia del mensaje, interacción en el aula.

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Chapter 1: Introduction The teaching of English at primary and preschool levels has become increasingly important in the Colombian educational system. The goal is to prepare globally competent citizens from the very beginning of their schooling. In this setting, the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería (ENSM) plays a central role in its context. It does much more than deliver regular classes; its main mission is to train the next generation of pre-school and primary school teachers through the Programa de Formación Complementaria (PFC). Still, moving from pedagogical theory to actual classroom practice remains a real challenge for these student-teachers, especially when it comes to creating genuine communicative environments in English lessons.

To better understand this context, it is necessary to examine how these studentteachers are prepared. According to the PFC syllabus for the courses “Didáctica del Inglés I and II," it is designed to prepare student-teachers to teach communicatively. During their preparation, they study methods like CLIL, Project-Based Learning, and how to integrate the four language skills. They also practice by planning micro-classes and designing didactic materials like flashcards, songs, and games. In theory, as part of their preparation, studentteachers are exposed to a variety of communicative teaching approaches and instructional resources. Even though these PFC student-teachers already have some background observing and assisting cooperating teachers, taking the lead of an English class by themselves is a completely different challenge. As part of this practicum structure, the school organizes student-teachers into teaching triads intended to encourage co-teaching. But the actual

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dynamic inside the classroom often shifts under pressure. During preliminary observations we noticed that, because they do not always share a prior working connection, the triads naturally fall into an asymmetric pattern to cope with the demands of the young learners. Typically, the student-teacher who feels most confident with English takes the lead in speaking and explaining. Meanwhile, the other two members step back into a supporting role, while the remaining members often assumed responsibilities more closely associated with classroom management . We also noticed that PFC student-teachers, although they use the L2 frequently to address their students, most of the time translate almost all they say to Spanish to keep the lesson going.

Based on our initial conversations with the student-teachers, we also identified that their biggest challenge may not be the general lesson design as much as the specific practice of scaffolded lesson planning. That is, they know how to choose topics and make activities, but they usually have trouble figuring out what language needs the learners will have and planning the specific supports, like visual aids, gestures, or simplified input, that are needed to create a supporting communicative environment in their lessons. They often plan the "what" of the lesson, that is, the grammar and vocabulary topics, but not always the "how" to help the kids participate in lesson communication. Consequently, this study concentrates on the collaborative efforts of student teachers organized in triads in the design of multimodal scaffolding. With this in mind, the purpose of this research is to explore how the use of structured scaffolding tools, such as message abundance and a scaffolded lesson sequence, can help transform the everyday pedagogical practices of student-teachers working in the Pre-school (Transición) classroom. The study addresses the following research question:

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How do student-teachers organized in teaching triads appropriate the concept of scaffolding when teaching EFL to kindergarten learners?

Scaffolding is a widely known metaphor that refers to how teachers can organize instruction that offers different forms of support to help learners do tasks that otherwise would be beyond their current abilities (Gibbons, 2015; Wood et al., 1976). A key tool to achieve this end is enriching the meaning of teachers’ messages in the L2 through multimodal resources, a strategy known as message abundance. By examining the pedagogical practices of these future teachers, we can better understand how they transition from intuitive teaching to a more structured instructional practice that intentionally incorporates message abundance to help their students comprehend the L2 during lessons, effectively reducing the automatic need for Spanish translation.

Although a great deal of research (Donato, 1994; Fakher Ajabshir & Panahifar, 2020; Rassaei, 2014) has examined scaffolding in second language acquisition, most of it has concentrated on secondary or university levels. However, there is still a clear lack of research on how student-teachers in early childhood settings (specifically in Escuelas Normales Superiores programs) negotiate the complexities of language scaffolding. Very few have looked at collective scaffolding (Donato, 1994; Fakher Ajabshir & Panahifar, 2020; Ibrahim et al., 2023) among student-teachers as a way to reduce overreliance on the mother tongue (Guo & Feng, 2025). To fill this gap, the present study draws on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. It views learning as a socially mediated process rather than an individual effort. Following the ideas of Smagorinsky (2018) and Gibbons (2015) on how instructional support interacts with cognitive growth, this research draws a careful line between immediate task

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assistance and true developmental progress. It emphasizes the importance of contingent support, peer collaboration, and abundant meaningful input as key mediational resources for supporting young learners' development within the Zone of Proximal Development while also providing a conceptual lens for examining how student-teachers learn to enact scaffolding practices.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 builds the theoretical framework. It begins with the core definition of scaffolding, then draws a clear distinction between instructional scaffolding and Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. Next, it looks at scaffolding as a practical strategy for completing tasks, describes the scaffolded pedagogical cycle, and examines the role of scaffolded feedback in language learning. Section 3 explains the methodological approach used for classroom observation and data collection. Section 4 presents the analysis of the student-teachers’ actual pedagogical interventions. Finally, Section 5 offers a discussion of findings in light of current research before presenting the conclusions along with pedagogical implications for student-teacher training programs in similar early childhood contexts.

Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework

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This chapter discusses the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of the current research. It begins with the historical roots and development of scaffolding, then examines its central role in second language acquisition and in the dynamics of collaborative teaching.

2.1. Scaffolding

The concept of scaffolding first appeared in the psycho-educational literature in the work of Wood et al. (1976). In their study of tutoring in problem-solving situations, they described it as a tutorial intervention process that “enables a child or novice to solve a problem, carry out a task, or achieve a goal that would be beyond his unassisted efforts” (Wood et al., 1976). In this view, an expert provides temporary and carefully tailored support that is gradually removed as the learner develops greater independence and skill. Wood et al. (1976) proposed six key functions of scaffolding in effective tutoring: recruiting the child’s interest and securing their commitment to the task; reducing the degrees of freedom by simplifying the task; maintaining the learner’s direction and motivation; marking critical features of the task; controlling frustration and preventing discouragement; and demonstrating or modeling possible solutions.

The idea soon moved beyond one-to-one tutoring. By the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, researchers had begun applying the concept to formal classroom contexts . Their goal was to understand more fully how teachers mediate and support student learning. Over time, later studies expanded the notion further, framing scaffolding not only as immediate practical help but also as a powerful means of promoting deeper cognitive and linguistic growth (Donato, 1994; Gibbons, 2015) . This broader application eventually challenged the traditional assumption that scaffolding always requires an asymmetrical expert-novice

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relationship. A key contribution came from Donato (1994), who introduced the concept of collective scaffolding. He demonstrated that effective support does not always depend on an expert-novice dynamic; it can also arise when peers collaborate symmetrically to solve problems. This change turned scaffolding into a flexible instructional tool suitable for many different educational settings. As the concept gained wider recognition in modern pedagogy, it became closely associated with Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. At this point, it became essential to distinguish the practical tool of scaffolding from the theoretical construct of the zone of proximal development (ZPD).

2.1.1 Scaffolding as a Didactic Strategy

When scaffolding is used as a practical teaching strategy, educators act as temporary mediators. As Wood et al. (1976) originally described it, the approach involves deliberately reducing the degrees of freedom in a task. Rather than simply transmitting content or giving direct answers, teachers break complex activities into smaller, manageable steps. This structured mediation allows students to tackle material and solve problems they would not yet be able to handle on their own.

The success of effective scaffolding rests on two key elements: the teacher’s ongoing assessment of the student’s progress and the gradual withdrawal of support. Gibbons (2015) stresses that scaffolding is essentially future-oriented, with the ultimate goal of handing the task over to the learner. To achieve this in language-learning settings, educators need to provide what Gibbons calls "message abundance." This means presenting information through multiple overlapping channels, such as gestures, visual aids, realia, and varied ways of phrasing the same ideas. By creating this message-rich environment, teachers help students

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grasp the underlying meaning even when they lack the exact vocabulary. Such targeted, multimodal support is then gradually reduced as learners gain linguistic confidence and skill, until they can take full responsibility for the communicative task. In this way, the classroom becomes a space of active guided participation rather than passive reception. For student-teachers doing their practicum at the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería, learning how to manage this fading process is a key part of building their actual instructional skills. As expected, the jump from theory to everyday classroom reality is often overwhelming, making it hard to put these strategies into practice. Mary Kennedy originally termed this 'the problem of enactment' (as cited in McDonald et al., 2013), which describes the huge gap between what the student-teachers can think about in theory and what they are actually able to do when they have a full class in front of them. If we just expect the student teachers to figure it out on their own, they usually just freeze up and fall right back into old habits. To help bridge this gap, McDonald et al. (2013) suggest using instructional activities as "containers." These containers could give the studentteachers working in a triad a safe, prepared space to practice scaffolding without having to invent the whole lesson on the spot or panic over indiscipline. By relying on this kind of support system, they could potentially offer genuine guidance and finally break the habit of relying on simple translation (Donato, 1994; Gibbons, 2015).

Instead of guessing how much help to offer or falling back on direct translations, student-teachers learn to introduce and remove support in a systematic way. In early childhood English settings in particular, this strategy helps student-teachers move away from simply managing the classroom and toward actively scaffolding learning. Ultimately, this structured support can give the student-teachers in the triad the confidence to handle the

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immediate challenges of the classroom. It provides a concrete way to guide the students' learning right now, completely changing their current dynamic.

2.1.2 Distinguishing Between the Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding

The relationship between the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and scaffolding is essentially functional: the ZPD indicates where development can potentially happen, while scaffolding serves as the practical means to support that development. As Gibbons (2015) explains, without a clear distinction between the two, instructional support can easily become permanent dependence rather than genuine assistance. This is a common issue in bilingual classrooms. Teachers often just give direct translations or step in too much. It fixes the problem at the moment, but it does not really engage the ZPD to help the learners use the language beyond that class. When teachers rarely step back to reduce the support, the children never really learn how to do things on their own later on, which defeats the temporary nature that makes true scaffolding effective.

To really understand language scaffolding, it is essential to draw a clear line between Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and the metaphor of instructional scaffolding. Before going any further, we need solid definitions for both concepts. Vygotsky (1978, p. 86) defined the ZPD as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.” Around the same time, Wood et al. (1976, p. 90) described

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scaffolding as “the process that enables a child or novice to solve a problem, carry out a task or achieve a goal that would be beyond his unassisted efforts.”

While it might seem like these ideas describe the exact same thing, keeping them separate is actually crucial. As Xi and Lantolf (2020) and Smagorinsky (2018) remind us, the ZPD is not just another word for scaffolding. The ZPD is the actual developmental window where a student is ready to learn something new. Scaffolding is just the temporary support we use to bridge that gap. The ZPD is the state the learner is in, and scaffolding is how we help them through it.

This whole difference comes down to realizing that learning happens through interaction. Scaffolding is the outside help we provide during a lesson, while the ZPD is about the growth actually happening inside the student's head. Like Xi and Lantolf (2020) point out, scaffolding is really just a teaching metaphor, whereas the ZPD is the actual theory of development. When people mix them up, it creates a huge problem. Suddenly, any random help a teacher gives gets called 'scaffolding.' But true scaffolding has to be intentional. It needs to adapt to the kid, and most importantly, it has to fade away. If it does not eventually disappear, it is not scaffolding; it is just doing the work for the student. Understanding the difference between the ZPD and scaffolding matters because it directly influences how teachers handle classroom interactions. It moves the focus away from simply correcting mistakes and toward using feedback as a scaffolded, collaborative process that supports genuine language development within the student’s Zone of Proximal Development.

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For the student-teachers navigating their practicum at the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería, distinguishing the ZPD from instructional scaffolding provides a critical analytical perspective for understanding their emerging pedagogical actions. When faced with the immediate pressures and the 'reality shock' of the kindergarten classroom, participants may initially rely on immediate Spanish translation to address comprehension difficulties. While this direct translation addresses the situational challenge, separating the ZPD from scaffolding suggests that such practices may function as permanent communicative barriers rather than temporary scaffolding that encourages potential development. Within the context of the teaching triads, maintaining this conceptual contrast allows for a deeper exploration of how these future educators deal with their collaborative roles. Rather than framing their initial reliance on the L1 as a definitive pedagogical failure, drawing a clear line between the learner’s internal developmental state (ZPD) and the intentional, fading nature of scaffolding helps interpret the triads' developing practices as a gradual, non-linear process of learning how to provide contingent, multimodal support that can eventually be withdrawn to foster child autonomy.

2.1.3 Message Abundance

Providing language input in foreign language classrooms is often seen from a traditional perspective as nothing more than a simple transfer of vocabulary from teacher to student. However, when viewed through a sociocultural lens, this dynamic fundamentally changes. As Gibbons (2015) explains, effective language scaffolding goes far beyond simply giving the learner the spoken target word. Instead of a traditional verbal delivery that

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demands high cognitive effort without support, message abundance actively pulls the student into a meaning making process through multiple sensory channels.

To successfully guide students within their Zone of Proximal Development, message abundance relies on specific mediational principles. First, as Gibbons (2015) emphasizes, this strategy demands inherent multimodal redundancy. Teachers must synchronize their spoken English with visual hints, physical gestures, and tangible objects so the core concept is presented repeatedly across different sensory channels. Furthermore, the delivery of these abundant messages must remain contingent. Even though the instructional input is highly enriched, the visual and kinesthetic elements act as temporary tools (Wood et al., 1976). Therefore, the teacher must carefully fade these specific multimodal supports as the children develop the ability to process the spoken language independently. In practice, applying this theory requires constant adaptation and careful responsiveness from the teacher. When introducing new vocabulary or noticing signs of confusion, simply repeating the English word louder rarely helps. Instead, teachers pair the verbal instruction with deliberate gestures or pointing to illustrations. If children still struggle to understand, the teacher increases support by using more exaggerated movements or direct physical modeling. Guo and Feng (2025) emphasize that this kind of dynamic adjustment is essential. It allows the instructional support to align closely with the learners’ immediate needs, helping them acquire the new language more effectively without having to rely on their mother tongue.

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From a theoretical perspective, multimodal tools function as a form of non-verbal scaffolding that mediates meaning-making. When learners encounter comprehension difficulties, multimodal support provides alternative channels for understanding, potentially reducing the reliance on immediate translation into the mother tongue. Understanding this theoretical mechanism helps explain the tendency to depend on Spanish when multimodal scaffolding is not fully integrated into the teaching practice. Although this approach solves the immediate problem, it may limit the mental effort the children need to actually acquire the new language. By adopting the strategy of message abundance, the student-teachers working in teaching triads could transform the way they guide their lessons. Rather than quickly switching to Spanish, the student-teachers within the triad could collaborate to provide physical gestures and visual support simultaneously. In the end, this shared effort might offer children the precise kind of support they need to remain actively engaged in an English-rich environment.

In short, the theoretical constructs of the zone of proximal development, multimodal scaffolding, and message abundance offer the essential lens needed to understand the pedagogical challenges faced by student-teachers at the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería. Together these concepts create a clear framework for what genuine language scaffolding should look like in early childhood education. They stress the importance of graduated, contingent, and dialogic support rather than mechanical translation. While this theoretical foundation sets out the ideal approach, it is equally important to see how these ideas actually work in real classroom settings. The next section therefore reviews the empirical literature on the implementation of scaffolding strategies, the specific challenges

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faced by student-teachers, and the role of collective scaffolding in contexts similar to the one studied here.

2.2 Review of Literature

This chapter reviews the empirical literature relevant to the pedagogical challenges and instructional strategies examined in this study. To give a clear picture of the current research landscape, the review is organized around three main themes. First, it looks at studies on the implementation of scaffolding and message abundance in early childhood English as a Foreign Language (EFL) settings. Second, it explores research on the pedagogical development and professional identity journey of student-teachers. Finally, it examines work on collective scaffolding and co-teaching dynamics. By bringing these studies together, the chapter highlights the gaps in the existing literature and lays the empirical groundwork for investigating the specific situation of student-teachers at the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería.

2.2.1 Scaffolding and Multimodal Support in Early Childhood EFL

The integration of empirical studies provides a robust foundation for understanding how scaffolding operates in an early childhood English as a Foreign Language setting. Research consistently demonstrates that structured mediation is superior to traditional instruction. For instance, Sarmiento-Campos et al. (2022) established empirically that instructional scaffolding significantly enhances language production compared to traditional, teacher-centered methods. This broad effectiveness is further detailed by Rassaei (2014), who investigated how teachers handle communication breakdowns in the classroom. Rassaei

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(2014) noted that scaffolded feedback using contingent prompts seems more effective than simply offering direct corrections or immediate answers. When applied to early childhood EFL settings, this concept of an 'immediate answer' closely aligns with the practice of providing a direct Spanish translation. This comparison suggests that immediately supplying the mother tongue equivalent likely bypasses the cognitive negotiation needed for meaningful language development.

Applying these principles to early childhood education introduces specific pedagogical challenges, particularly for inexperienced educators. Shi and Yeung (2024) explored the general pedagogical knowledge of early childhood EFL teachers and discovered a critical divergence between novice and experienced practitioners. Their qualitative analysis revealed that novice teachers tend to become overwhelmed by classroom management and discipline, leading them to abandon interactive pedagogy out of anxiety. In contrast, experienced teachers prioritize child-appropriate instructional methods, relying heavily on multimodal scaffolding such as physical movement, varied intonation, and visual aids to maintain target language immersion without frustrating the learners (Shi & Yeung, 2024). This dynamic directly mirrors the situation at the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería, where student-teachers frequently revert to direct Spanish translation as a survival mechanism to maintain classroom control when their pedagogical knowledge is stretched to its limits.

To actively counteract this reliance on the mother tongue, educators must deploy specific and highly structured scaffolding behaviors. Guo and Feng (2025) systematically analyzed scaffolding strategies utilized within pedagogical translanguaging to mitigate dependency on the first language. Their research indicated that highly effective teachers

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avoid using the mother tongue as a permanent instructional crutch. Instead, they rely heavily on strategies such as contextualizing and modeling, providing rich visual and gestural cues to build cognitive schema (Guo & Feng, 2025). Within this effective framework, whenever the first language is introduced, it is used only strategically and temporarily to resolve a specific cognitive hurdle before the teacher immediately returns to the target language through robust multimodal support.

Together, these four studies construct a clear empirical mandate for the studentteachers at the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería. The literature demonstrates that retreating into disciplinary classroom management and direct translation is a common student-teacher reflex, yet it is ultimately detrimental to long-term language development. By adopting the multimodal schema-building strategies identified by Guo and Feng (2025) and the dialogic feedback mechanisms validated by Rassaei (2014), the normalista studentteachers can replace their dependency on Spanish with child-appropriate, highly contextualized scaffolding that truly activates the learners' zone of proximal development.

2.2.2 Student-Teacher Challenges and Core Practices

The transition from learning about teaching to actually doing it is a critical moment. Usually, student-teachers face a “reality shock" when their idealistic plans meet the hard reality of keeping a class in order (Flores-Delgado et al., 2020). The research shows that under this kind of stress, the student-teachers often throw complex strategies out the window and just try to survive in the classroom. At the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería, it seems like this exact pressure is what pushes student-teachers to translate everything. It likely works

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as a quick fix to maintain the control, even if it does not really help with long-term language learning.

This dynamic shows why traditional teacher training might be falling short. As McDonald et al. (2013) point out, simply delivering theoretical concepts is likely not enough to keep student-teachers from reverting to survival-based tactics. In exploring how to effectively train student-teachers, their research argues that identifying good teaching practices must be accompanied by a specific pedagogical framework. To help studentteachers bridge the gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it, they propose a structured learning cycle. The literature indicates that when programs guide student-teachers through clear phases, like introducing, rehearsing, enacting, and analyzing core practices, student-teachers are much better supported in learning how to use knowledge in action. Providing the student-teachers working in teaching triads with this kind of practical framework could potentially ease the shock of the practicum. By reviewing the application of this cycle, McDonald et al. (2013) suggest that this structured support might prevent student-teachers from falling back on basic behavior management, potentially giving them the proper tools they need to handle the classroom and move toward real language mediation.

As McDonald et al. (2013) explain, a key part of this framework is that these core practices are not just a list of rules or mechanical teaching tricks. Instead, they act as practical tools that could help the student-teachers handle the everyday reality of the classroom while getting to know their students better. Rather than just following a strict lesson plan, the goal of these practices is to build the professional judgment teachers need to make decisions on the spot. For the student-teachers working in teaching triads in the kindergarten classroom,

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this approach suggests that mastering these routines might keep their lessons from feeling like a series of random activities. By relying on these practices, student-teachers could potentially become more responsive, adjusting their support naturally to match the language development of the children.

2.2.3 Collective Scaffolding and Co-Teaching Dynamics

The traditional conceptualization of scaffolding often assumes a strict relationship where a highly knowledgeable expert transmits support to a novice. However, empirical research has expanded this paradigm to include peer-mediated environments. Donato (1994) provided the foundational empirical evidence for collective scaffolding, demonstrating that learners can organically co-construct knowledge and support each other symmetrically. In his observations, Donato (1994) revealed that when peers collaborate to solve complex linguistic problems, they pool their fragmented resources to create a shared scaffold that is highly effective. For the student-teachers at the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería, this concept is deeply applicable not only to the early childhood learners but crucially to the teaching triads themselves. Currently, these student-teachers working in triads operate in isolation within the classroom, but by embracing collective scaffolding, they can transform into cohesive co-teaching units.

Building on this foundational concept, contemporary studies have further refined the dynamics of peer scaffolding. Ajabshir and Panahifar (2020) investigated the effects of collaborative dialogue and peer scaffolding on language production. Their study found that peer pairings where participants possess slightly different strengths or temporarily assume

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leadership roles yield highly positive outcomes in language acquisition and task completion (Fakher Ajabshir & Panahifar 2020). This finding directly addresses the dysfunctional structure of the Escuela Normal Superior de Monteria practicum, where one student-teacher typically absorbs the entire cognitive and linguistic load while the other two assume passive disciplinary roles. If the student-teachers within these triads are explicitly trained to engage in dynamic collaborative dialogue, they can distribute the pedagogical burden efficiently. While one teacher provides the verbal English input, another can simultaneously supply the multimodal message abundance, creating an active and highly supportive co-teaching dynamic.

The emotional and psychological benefits of this collaborative approach are equally significant for student-teachers. Ibrahim et al. (2023) examined the impacts of collaborative learning integrated with scaffolding-based instruction. Their research demonstrated that this pedagogical combination not only enhances linguistic comprehension but also significantly reduces anxiety and boosts motivation (Ibrahim et al., 2023). When applied to studentteachers experiencing the reality shock of the practicum, this finding is incredibly valuable. The intense anxiety that triggers their reflexive use of direct Spanish translation can be directly mitigated through shared responsibility. By operating as a collaborative unit, the student-teachers create a secure psychological environment for themselves, which in turn allows them to sustain target language immersion without the fear of losing classroom control.

Ultimately, the literature suggests that teaching in relative isolation can present important challenges for student-teachers in early childhood EFL settings. In response to these challenges, collaborative approaches grounded in collective scaffolding have been

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proposed as a way of distributing pedagogical responsibilities and creating opportunities for shared instructional support. This collaborative framework may provide conditions that support a reduced reliance on the mother tongue while creating opportunities for studentteachers to develop and refine multimodal forms of scaffolding throughout their professional preparation.

In conclusion, the empirical literature reviewed in this chapter establishes a clear consensus regarding the pedagogical and psychological mechanisms required for effective early childhood EFL instruction. The literature indicates that mitigating an overreliance on the mother tongue (Guo & Feng, 2025) demands the deliberate application of multimodal scaffolding and message abundance (Gibbons, 2015; Sarmiento-Campos et al., 2022), which serve to actively engage the learners' zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978). Moreover, the literature suggests that novice teachers often face challenges when implementing these complex strategies in isolation (Donato, 1994; McDonald, Kazemi, & Kavanagh, 2013). The reality shock of the practicum frequently forces a regression to translation-based classroom management, threatening their emerging professional identity. To overcome these challenges, student-teachers may benefit from working within supportive and collaborative co-teaching structures. By engaging in collective scaffolding, studentteachers working in teaching triads can distribute the cognitive and emotional burden of the lesson, creating a secure environment where student-teachers can build their pedagogical agency. Having established this robust theoretical and empirical foundation, the following chapter will outline the methodological design, detailing the specific procedures, instruments, and contextual parameters used to investigate these collaborative dynamics in the real classrooms of the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería.

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Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter outlines the methodological framework used to explore how studentteachers appropriate and implement scaffolding strategies in early childhood bilingual education. To better understand the complexities involved in this process, the chapter begins by describing the research design that guides the study. It then presents the specific classroom

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context and the practical challenges that emerge during collaborative teaching. Finally, it describes the data collection instruments and the procedures followed to analyze the data.

3.1 Type and Design of Research

This study adopts a qualitative approach and follows a case study design. This methodology is especially well suited for exploring how student-teachers working in teaching triads appropriate and use scaffolding strategies when teaching English to young learners in a real classroom setting. As Yin (2018) notes, case studies are particularly valuable for examining contemporary phenomena within their natural context, especially when the boundaries between the phenomenon and its context are not clearly defined and the researcher has little control over the events. By focusing closely on this small group of student-teachers, the study seeks to understand how they make decisions, negotiate roles, and collaborate in their everyday teaching practice. To implement this case study design, the research process followed a sequence of methodological steps. The process began by connecting with Professor Eliud, whose support helped secure the necessary permissions to access the institution. Afterward, a preliminary observation was conducted to help identify potential pedagogical gaps in the classroom and gain a general understanding of the studentteachers' baseline practices. Initially, specific focal participants were selected for the study; however, as the research evolved, the group was expanded to include a broader number of student-teachers, which allowed for a wider collection of perspectives. Finally, pedagogical strengthening workshops were implemented, with joint planning sessions organized between them to assist the student-teachers in preparing their lessons. These instances were designed to share scaffolding strategies and simultaneously served as a valuable environment to gather

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data regarding the participants' interactions, practical interventions, and conceptual understanding.

3.2 Context and Participants

This study concentrates on the kindergarten grades at the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería, a prominent educational institution in Colombia dedicated to the preparation of student-teachers. Specifically, the research is contextualized within the institution's Programa de Formación Complementaria (PFC), a specialized academic program designed to equip student-teachers with strong pedagogical and methodological foundations. Within the school, the kindergarten classrooms are meant to offer safety and visual stimulation for the youngest learners. The physical space is enriched, and the institution runs a preschool bilingualism project to foster early language acquisition.

Access to this educational setting and the selection of participants were made possible thanks to the direct collaboration of Professor Eliud, a teacher within the PFC program. With his guidance and institutional support, we approached a group of 9 student-teachers who are part of Mr. Eliud’s classes, Didactica del Ingles I and II. A total of 11 students attended the workshops, and 9 attended co-planning sessions. The students in this class usually work on triads. For our analysis, we focus on 9 of the students who were active participants of both the workshop and co-planning sessions and agreed to be a part of the study. Our analysis centers on the student-teachers who actively participated in the reflective workshops and coplanning session. We included the perspectives of Jhonatan, Sandy, Dairlys, Carlos, Maria, Katier, Fabián, José, and Astrid.

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Demographically, the participants range in age from 17 to 30 years old and are currently in their second and third semesters of the PFC program. Regarding their previous teaching experience, these student-teachers had already completed an initial practicum in high school settings accompanying cooperating teachers, as well as the program's first practicum where they assumed a more active pedagogical role.Together, their insights added valuable perspectives to the collaborative process, suggesting how their shared ideas might translate into practical support for the learners.

3.3 Workshops

To bridge the gap between theoretical concepts and classroom practice, we developed and facilitated a series of 2 reflective workshops that took place at the Escuela Normal Superior de Monteria on April 23rd and May 12th. These sessions served as a professional development space for the participating student-teachers throughout the practicum. Methodologically, the workshops were structured around the four-quadrant Learning Cycle of Core Practices proposed by McDonald et al. (2013). Following this framework, the intervention was designed to guide the student-teachers through clear phases of learning: introducing, rehearsing, enacting, and analyzing specific teaching behaviors. During the initial phase, participants were introduced to the core practice of message abundance (Gibbons, 2015). Using specific instructional materials and diagrams (see Appendix B), the student-teachers looked at how to synchronize auditory instructions with visual aids and kinesthetic support. Following that, the workshops provided a structured environment for the student-teachers, often organized in teaching triads to rehearse these strategies and analyze the scaffolding sequence, visualizing how to coordinate auditory, visual, and kinesthetic

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resources to provide simultaneous multimodal support. Eventually, this cyclical approach allowed the student-teachers in these groups to start negotiating their co-teaching roles and prepare for actual classroom enactment.

Figure 1, Pedagogical Support Cycle

3.4 Data collection methods

To build a comprehensive understanding of the student-teachers' development and fulfill the research objectives, the data collection relied on three main data collection instruments. Following Yin (2018), this study utilized multiple sources of evidence to achieve data triangulation. This approach provided multiple measures of the same phenomenon, creating converging lines of inquiry that strengthened the construct validity of the findings. The data collection process involved:

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3.4.1 Documentary Analysis

As supported by Yin (2018), documentary analysis is a qualitative research method that involves systematically reviewing and evaluating printed or electronic documents to extract meaning, gain understanding, and develop empirical knowledge. In the context of this study, this method was essential to examine how pedagogical intentions were translated into written instructional designs. Specifically, we collected several official lesson plans designed by the participating student-teachers. These documents were gathered at two distinct points: an initial set comprising the previous lesson plans developed by the participants and a subsequent group of plans collected after the co-planning sessions. All the collected documents followed the official institutional format required by the program at the Normal Superior de Monteria

3.4.2 Direct Observation

According to Yin (2018), direct observation is a source of evidence that allows researchers to observe behaviors and environmental conditions in real time within their reallife context. In this study, we conducted direct observations during the reflective workshops and collaborative co-planning sessions. While the student-teachers, organized in teaching triads, engaged in these spaces, we directly observed how they negotiated their pedagogical responsibilities, managed L1 tensions, and made collaborative decisions regarding multimodal scaffolding techniques. Field notes and audio recordings were systematically collected to capture these spontaneous discussions. To ensure a reliable record of the data rather than relying solely on memory, all audio recordings were transcribed using the Tactiq extension and Turboscribe software. This provided a detailed textual record of the verbal

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interactions, allowing us to deeply examine their pedagogical reflections and decisionmaking processes.

3.4.3 Semi-structured Interview

Group interviews were conducted with the student-teachers in their teaching triads at the end of the pedagogical intervention. As Yin (2018) explains, semi-structured interviews provide a flexible but guided conversational framework, allowing researchers to explore specific predetermined themes while leaving room for spontaneous insights and deep reflections to emerge. The complete interview protocol designed for this study can be found in Appendix A. These interviews provided a crucial reflective space for the participants to discuss their teaching development, their strategies for managing errors, and the practical challenges of promoting student autonomy in the classroom. Finally, to guarantee the accuracy of the data for the qualitative analysis, the audio recordings of these final sessions were fully transcribed using the Turboscribe transcription software.

3.4.4 Observation Vignettes

As part of the qualitative instruments, we utilized observation vignettes to record key interactions in the classroom. Following Yin (2018), a vignette functions as a brief, focused narrative that captures a specific event within its real-world context. This process included drafting a vignette during a preliminary observation, which helped us understand the initial teaching context. Later, we wrote a concluding vignette based on a short final observation to capture any variations in how the student-teachers applied their pedagogical strategies.

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3.5 Data Analysis

The data gathered from the workshop recordings, micro-teaching sessions, and semistructured interviews were analyzed following the six-phase framework for Thematic Analysis proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006). This method provided a flexible yet highly systematic approach to identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns (themes) from the student-teachers' experiences. For this analysis, we examined the collaborative experiences of the participating student-teachers. The data includes the insights of Jhonatan, Sandy, Dairlys, Carlos, Maria, Katier, Fabián, José, and Astrid. Integrating these diverse perspectives helped provide a comprehensive understanding of the planning phase. Together, their voices added valuable perspectives to the collaborative process, suggesting how their shared ideas might translate into practical support for the learners. The analysis was rigorously conducted through the following sequential stages:

3.5.1 Phase 1: Familiarizing with the Data

The process began with the full transcription of all audio and video recordings from the pedagogical workshops, co-planning sessions, and semi-structured interviews. We immersed ourselves in the generated dataset by actively reading and re-reading the transcripts while taking initial reflexive notes on the student-teachers' spontaneous reactions, collaborative negotiations, and expressed struggles regarding the transition from L1 dependence to multimodal scaffolding.

3.5.2 Phase 2: Generating initial codes

In this phase, we systematically coded meaningful elements across the entire dataset using a hybrid deductive-inductive approach, as supported by Braun and Clarke (2006), who acknowledge that thematic analysis can simultaneously draw from both theoretical

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frameworks and data-driven insights. Deductively, our coding was guided by the predefined concepts of our theoretical framework, specifically targeting categories such as Message Abundance, Multimodal scaffolding, and Collaborative Co-teaching Dynamics. From the beginning, we remained open to emerging, unexpected patterns found in the transcripts that captured the student-teachers' raw experiential realities, such as classroom anxiety and spontaneous behavioral adaptations. This dual approach ensured that the analysis was both theoretically supported and sensitive to the empirical details of the participants' actual interactions.

3.5.3 Phase 3: Searching for themes

The initial codes generated in the previous step were organized into potential broader themes. To ensure a theory-driven analysis aligned with our main research question, codes were grouped around our core analytical categories: Multimodal Scaffolding, Division of Pedagogical Labor, and Instructional Planning.

3.5.4 Phase 4: Reviewing themes

Candidate themes were refined and checked against the coded extracts and the entire dataset to ensure internal consistency and external variability. During this phase, we used a specialized data matrix to achieve data triangulation (Yin, 2018), systematically crossreferencing our direct observational notes from the micro-teaching rehearsals with the selfreported insights obtained from the semi-structured interviews.

3.5.5 Phase 5: Defining and naming themes

Once a solid thematic map was achieved, we conceptualized and defined the key elements of each theme, assigning different and academically rigorous names. These definitions clearly mapped out the strategic and cognitive journey of the student-teachers

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working in teaching triads, capturing how they appropriated multimodal mediation and negotiated their professional roles to sustain an immersive EFL environment without translating.

3.5.6 Phase 6: Producing the report

The final phase involved the selection of the most vivid, compelling, and representative transcript extracts (quotes) and screenshots of lesson plans to illustrate the findings. These empirical proofs were woven into an analytical narrative that went beyond simple description, critically connecting the student-teachers' personal experiences back to the sociocultural principles of instructional scaffolding, the literature on core practices, and our central research question.

3.6 Role of the Researchers

In qualitative case study research, acknowledging the researchers’ position and level of involvement is crucial for ensuring the trustworthiness and transparency of the study. In this investigation, our role was dual: we acted as both pedagogical facilitators and qualitative researchers. As facilitators, we designed and led the professional development workshops, guided the co-planning sessions, and moderated the micro-teaching rehearsals. This active involvement allowed us to establish rapport and foster a collaborative, supportive environment that was essential for the student-teachers to become familiar with new pedagogical practices.

On the other hand, as researchers, we took a reflexive and non-evaluative position during data collection and analysis. We explicitly communicated to the student-teachers that our

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observations, recordings, and semi-structured interviews were strictly for research purposes and carried no academic grading, institutional evaluation, or negative consequences. This clear separation of roles minimized the social appeal bias, encouraging participants to openly share their genuine challenges, anxieties, and barriers when trying to sustain an engaging EFL environment. During the entire research process, we engaged in continuous peer discussion and critical reflection to make sure that the final analysis remained deeply supported in the empirical evidence rather than our personal preconceptions.

3.7 Ethical Considerations

This study followed the ethical principles required for qualitative educational research. Before starting the data collection at the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería, institutional access was established through a verbal agreement with the practicum supervisor in charge of the student-teachers. This teacher presented the research project to the participants, and we were present during this explanation to clarify doubts and answer their questions. Following this initial conversation, the student-teachers verbally agreed to take part in the process, seeing it as a valuable opportunity for their professional development. Even though no written consent forms were signed, we clearly explained the research

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objectives and data collection procedures, providing a verbal notification that audio and video recordings would be used during the workshops, micro-teaching rehearsals, and interviews. Participation in this study was completely voluntary. We made it clear to the studentteachers that they could withdraw from the research at any moment without facing any academic, institutional, or personal consequences. To protect their privacy while respecting their ownership over their pedagogical reflections, no last names or identifying personal data were collected or reported. By mutual agreement, only the student-teachers' real first names (such as Astrid, Katier, and Jhonatan) were used during the transcription, data analysis, and reporting phases. Additionally, all digital files and transcripts were stored securely and were only accessed by the research team for academic purposes, ensuring total respect for the participants' privacy, as emphasized by Yin (2018) regarding the protection of human subjects in case studies.

In summary, the methodological framework detailed in this chapter provides a rigorous, transparent, and ethical structure to examine how student-teachers working in teaching triads appropriate scaffolding practices. By systematically aligning a qualitative case study design (Yin, 2018) with a hybrid thematic analysis framework (Braun & Clarke, 2006), this study ensures that the participants' experiences are both theoretically grounded and empirically grounded. Having established the procedural and ethical foundations of this investigation, the following chapter presents the empirical findings and analysis derived from this systematic process.

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Chapter 4: Findings This chapter presents the main findings that resulted from our thematic analysis of the data. The purpose of this study was to explore how student-teachers learned to use scaffolding strategies to support young learners in a preschool setting. By looking at their written lesson plans, their discussions during co-planning sessions and reflective workshops, and their final group interviews, we identified three central themes (Scaffolding

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Comprehension Through Videos, Dividing the labor to scaffold language learning and Integrating Message Abundance Through Planned Kinesthetic and Visual Support). In the following sections, we explain each theme in detail using direct examples from the student-teachers to show the realities of teaching English in a preschool classroom. Please note that all the excerpts and quotes from the student-teachers were originally spoken or written in Spanish. We have translated them into English for the purpose of this report.

4.1. Scaffolding Comprehension Through Videos

The triangulation of lesson plans and classroom observations suggests a gradual adaptation in how the student teachers mediate audiovisual input. In the preliminary data, the use of videos appeared to function primarily as an independent viewing activity, which seemed to foster a mostly observational dynamic among the children. In contrast, the evidence points toward a methodological variation. The student-teachers appeared to begin pairing the digital projection with concurrent physical and visual support, which might indicate an exploration of more guided viewing experiences. However, this pedagogical adaptation does not seem to manifest uniformly across all student-teachers in the research. This initial approach to audiovisual materials is reflected in the preliminary data. In the early planning, specifically in the warm-up phase of Lesson Plan from Dayrlis of greetings on March 13th (See figure 2 below), the procedure indicates that if students do not grasp the target vocabulary after the video ends, the teacher will pronounce similar-sounding words so the children can guess the greeting. Replaying the material is presented merely as a conditional option, noting it will be done "if possible... until students guess the word." This

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might suggest that the video operated mainly as an initial and sole input, possibly indicating that there was no specific plan to fully exploit the audiovisual resource during its reproduction.

Figure 2. Initial planning on March 11 As the plan reveals, student-teachers planned for showing the video (the teacher will show a short video… after that…) and then moving to another activity. Additionally, this initial planning dynamic seemed to be reflected in practice during the first classroom observation, as evidenced in our observation vignette:

"When the video started, the way the student-teachers working in the triad used it was very direct. Jhonatan stopped the clip several times. During these short breaks, he mostly asked the children about the greetings using Spanish. Occasionally, he asked them to make a hand sign while saying the word in English. At the same time, the children appeared mostly passive. They copied the hand movements for "good morning" when asked; that was their participation in this

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moment of the class. After the video ended, Jhonatan asked questions in Spanish to check if they understood. He asked what parts of the day they saw and who the characters were. Throughout this part of the class, Kenia and Katherine stayed focused on the discipline and order in the classroom" (Classroom observation March 20 vignette; see full vignette in appendix C).

As described in the vignette, Jonathan played and paused the video and asked questions; however, there was a potential disconnection between the audiovisual material, the children's participation, and the roles assumed by the supporting student-teachers as they mostly used Spanish and not the video itself to facilitate comprehension.

Both the lesson and observation evidence that videos were rarely used for scaffolding. After the workshops and coplanning session, the student-teachers started to show a change in their planning for the use of videos. This change appeared to be negotiated and shaped during the co-planning sessions. When discussing how to move beyond using videos as independent viewing activities, participants reflected on the need to provide initial pedagogical support. For example, after discussing the stages of the scaffolding sequence to scaffold audiovisual materials, Jhonatan explicitly reconsidered the structure of his instructional design:

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"So it would be more prudent that this song is no longer played here in the warmup, but for example here, where the vocabulary is already present and each part has already been explained with a phrase." (Co-planning Session 2, May 14).

This collaborative reflection and emerging awareness of how to sequence audiovisual input appeared to materialize in their later written documents. For instance, in their lesson plan for body parts, Jhonatan, Sandy, and Katier divided the presentation of the video into specific stages (see Figure 3). For instance, in their lesson plan for body parts, Jhonatan, Sandy, and Katier divided the presentation of the video into specific stages (see Figure 3). The lesson plan includes instructions to pause the video, provide verbal explanations, and ask the students to perform physical movements. The inclusion of these strategies for video viewing in the lesson plan resembles the principles of message abundance and the five-step video scaffolding framework that we addressed in the workshops (see figure 1, methodology section and appendix b) and coplanning sessions.

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Figure 3. Phases for video viewing in lesson plan. May 15

Besides being documented in the lesson plan, this evolution in the use of videos appeared to materialize during the second observation. As vignette 2 illustrates, during the second viewing of the video, the student-teachers seemed to share the pedagogical responsibilities by adopting different multimodal roles, potentially transforming a standard projection into an actively guided and immersive activity.

“For the second reproduction of the video, the triad asked the children to stand up, and each member took a different position during the activity. Jhonatan stayed at the front, calling out words like "head" and "here" while performing the

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physical actions. At the same time, Sandy held up specific flashcards that matched the vocabulary from the song. Meanwhile, Katier walked among the students. When she noticed children remaining still or not following the movements, she approached them and placed their hands on the corresponding body parts” (Class Observation Vignette on May 22. See full vignette in appendix C). These findings may point to a potential transformation in how some of the studentteachers approached audiovisual resources. The movement from a continuous viewing format to a segmented structure, accompanied by visual and physical support, could be interpreted as an exploration of multimodal scaffolding. By breaking down the video and providing concurrent guidance, educators such as Jhonatan, Sandy, and Katier seemed to foster a more guided environment, which might have helped in making the linguistic input more accessible to the young learners. The diverse guiding roles student-teachers assumed while using multimodal scaffolding is also another theme that we analyzed and described in the next section.

4.2. Scaffolding Learning Through a Renewed Division of Labor

As pointed out in the previous section, the collected data evidences an emerging reconfiguration of how the student-teachers shared responsibilities during the lessons. In the early stages of the practicum, the student-teachers working in teaching triads seemed to divide their roles based on their ability to use English and to control class discipline. For instance, one member usually assumed the central role of delivering the language content, while the supporting peers focused primarily on maintaining discipline and classroom order. This initial division of labor was evident during the first classroom observation at the

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start of the process. The observed dynamic suggested a level of separation between pedagogical delivery and disciplinary control, as the following vignette describes: "Throughout the majority of the lesson, he [Jhonatan] took on the vocal responsibility, introducing the target vocabulary related to greetings and parts of the day. Meanwhile, Kenia and Katherine positioned themselves near the classroom entrance on the right side. Their physical position appeared somewhat closed, and their principal function was disciplinary. They focused on keeping order, reminding the children to stay seated, and managing the noise level." (Classroom observation vignette on March 20. See full vignette in appendix C).

As described in the vignette, while Jhonatan assumed the primary responsibility for delivering the linguistic input, there appeared to be a visible division of pedagogical labor within the group. The supporting student-teachers appeared to assume a predominantly disciplinary role rather than a pedagogical scaffolding role, which may suggest that collaborative scaffolding was not yet clearly integrated into their practice at this initial stage.

Analysis of lesson plans and co-planning sessions indicates that these roles began to gradually evolve. The student-teachers appeared to start developing a more collaborative instructional dynamic, where the audio, visual, and kinesthetic channels were distributed among the triad members to offer simultaneous pedagogical support to the young learners. During the co-planning session 1, Fabian explained a different practical arrangement for sharing the teaching responsibilities:

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“Generally, with my partner, we organize everything this way, I prepare the lesson plan, and he delivers the class because he has greater fluency when speaking. He is easier to understand and has a louder voice. He takes charge of that part. As for me, I provide the mimicry for the children, guide them, and play with them while we are doing an activity.” This reflection provides insight into how the student-teachers conceptualized and divided their co-teaching dynamic, suggesting an intentional effort to distribute the pedagogical responsibilities to scaffold language based on their individual strengths rather than on just delivering language and controlling discipline.

This analysis is backed up by interview data following the workshops and coplanning sessions. The interview data suggested that participants were beginning to describe these roles in relation to the multimodal support to scaffold language or support language comprehension. When explaining how they coordinated to support children's understanding without relying on direct translation, Katier described an emerging distribution of responsibilities.

"First, the vocabulary is introduced. Since the three channels work hand in hand and simultaneously, and there are three of us, each one leads a channel. First is the auditory channel, where the children listen to the pronunciation of the vocabulary and learn. We integrate this with the visual channel, incorporating images so they can connect what they hear with what they see. Then we move to the third channel, the kinesthetic, integrating physical actions. It involves using the body to create a sort of mimicry or a non-oral translation of what we want to convey" (Final interview with student-teachers, May 22).

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As illustrated by Katier, some student-teachers started to articulate a conscious strategy for dividing their pedagogical responsibilities to provide simultaneous multimodal support. The reflection suggests that rather than separating disciplinary and teaching duties, the group appeared to intentionally distribute the audio, visual, and kinesthetic channels among themselves. This coordinated approach points toward a developing understanding of how to coordinate their physical presence and resources collaboratively to scaffold learners' comprehension of linguistic input. This reported intention to divide the roles appeared to materialize after the second observation. During the second viewing of the video, the vignette illustrates how the student-teachers in the triad shared the pedagogical responsibilities to mediate the linguistic input "Jhonatan stayed at the front, calling out words like 'head' and 'here' while performing the physical actions. At the same time, Katier held up specific flashcards that matched the vocabulary from the song. Meanwhile, Sandy walked among the students. When she noticed children remaining still or not following the movements, she approached them and placed their hands on the corresponding body parts." (Classroom observation vignette on May 22. See full vignette in appendix C).

This vignette may provide evidence of a potential evolution in the team's scaffolding approach. Through Jhonatan's verbal and kinesthetic modeling, Katier's use of visual aids, and Sandy's direct physical guidance, the student-teachers appeared to provide multiple forms of support during the activity. In addition, Sandy's action of guiding the students' hands may be interpreted as a practice consistent with contingent support, as she provided additional guidance to children who were not actively participating in the task.

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These findings may suggest an increasing use of the student-teachers' physical presence to support visual and kinesthetic forms of mediation during classroom activities. Compared to the earlier observations, the student-teachers appeared to assume a more active role in managing visual and kinesthetic input during classroom activities. This pattern appears consistent with the principles of message abundance from Gibbons (2015) that were discussed during the workshops and co-planning sessions. Through this distribution of responsibilities, the student-teachers working in the triad appeared to create a more guided instructional environment, which was intended to provide learners with additional support for engaging with the second language.

However, it is important to highlight that this pedagogical adaptation does not seem to be seen identically or with the same theoretical awareness across all student-teachers. Notably, while this coordinated division of labor was clearly observable during the lesson delivery, it was largely absent from the written lesson plans. While some student-teachers explicitly linked their roles to communication channels, other student-teachers indicated that their role division was managed more procedurally. When asked how they negotiated who would speak or show the cards, one student-teacher stated that roles were assigned "at random" to ensure everyone experienced being the leader at least once. This suggests that while the physical distribution of multimodal support is observable in practice, the theoretical intention behind it may remain partially assimilated within the scope of our collected data. However the data confirms that student-teachers became aware of the need to use multimodal support as a form of message abundance to scaffold language, a theme that we'll describe in the next section.

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4.3. Integrating Message Abundance Through Planned Kinesthetic and Visual

Support Our analysis of initial lesson plans revealed that during the preliminary stages, lesson plans appeared to organize instructional resources as separate activities, with limited explicit reference to gestures or other forms of kinesthetic scaffolding. However, the latter lesson plans, classroom observations, and interview reflections suggest a growing consideration of how audio, visual, and physical supports could be combined within the same instructional sequence. This pattern may indicate an increasing attention to multimodal forms of support in both lesson planning and classroom practice, a development that appears consistent with principles associated with message abundance that were key in our workshops.

Some variations become noticeable when comparing lesson plans produced at different stages of the study during student-teachers' practicum. In the greetings lesson plan by Jhonatan developed on March 20 (Figure 4), the audiovisual resource was presented primarily as a viewing activity, with no explicit references related to teacher scaffolding or physical gestures within the written procedure.

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Figure 4. Extract from lesson plan greetings and parts of the day (March 20) As illustrated in the early lesson plans from Jhonatan (Figure 4), it appeared to document the use of videos primarily to activate students' attention rather than to scaffold language. If the children struggled to answer the follow-up questions, the planned solution seemed to rely heavily on verbal repetition, having the teacher say different words aloud, often without explicitly incorporating visual or kinesthetic strategies to clarify meaning. By contrast, the lesson plan developed on May 15 (Figure 4) contained explicit references to kinesthetic support within the written procedure. In their geometric shapes lesson plan, Astrid outlined specific actions for mediating the vocabulary activity. The procedure specified an introduction in which the teacher would accompany each word with

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body movements, followed by the directive: “forming a circle with the hands, a triangle with the fingers and drawing a square in the air.”

Figure 4. Extract from Lesson Plan: Shapes: circle, triangle, square, rectangle and oval (May 15) The lesson plans appear to provide evidence of how these multimodal supports, specifically the deliberate combination of audio input, visual aids, and kinesthetic actions, were documented. During the final interviews, several student-teachers referred to the addition of gestures as a way of supporting learners' understanding without relying on direct translation:

"In our classroom, we try to make it as kinesthetic as possible so that they can visually understand, 'The teacher is saying this.' Sometimes, some students are left

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wondering, 'What does the teacher mean?' So, we always do it using gestures. Today we were teaching numbers, so everything was gestural to help them understand better.” (Final interview with student-teachers, May 22).

"So, if suddenly we are talking about 'head' and he doesn't catch on, he can't process it, he isn't able to reason it out in the moment, but I start moving my head like this, the child suddenly starts familiarizing the visual with the auditory channel" (Final interview with student-teachers, May 22) This reflection from Dayrlis and Jose seems to suggest a practical exploration of message abundance within the classroom. The student-teacher's perspective points toward a potential effort to use physical gestures to accompany auditory input and in that way compensate for possible gaps in oral comprehension. By aiming to make the pedagogical delivery 'as kinesthetic as possible,' the student-teachers appear to utilize their body movements to provide simultaneous, non-verbal scaffolding, which might aid in making the target vocabulary more accessible to the learners.

Additionally, the interview data also offers insight into how some student-teachers perceived their use of gestures and kinesthetic support throughout the practicum. Jhonatan, for example, reflected on becoming more comfortable using physical actions to convey meaning and support learners' understanding:

"I have noticed a significant development in my competence, mainly in my teaching methodology, because I have better developed the kinesthetic aspect. Previously, I found it a bit difficult to figure out how to kinesthetically express certain words, objects, or

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meanings. I find that, with experience, you end up mastering the topics, the pronunciation, and the way you progressively facilitate that learning for the child." The practices described by Jhonatan in the interview also appeared to be reflected in the second classroom observation. As illustrated in the vignette, verbal explanations, physical actions, and visual supports were used concurrently during the activity. "Jhonatan stayed at the front, calling out words like 'head' and 'here' while performing the physical actions. At the same time, Katier held up specific flashcards that matched the vocabulary from the song." (Classroom observation vignette on May 22. See full vignette in appendix C).

The evidence suggests that this increased focus on multimodal support emerged directly from their collaborative reflections following the pedagogical workshops. During the co-planning sessions, participants began explicitly discussing how to combine the different communicative channels in their planned activities. For instance, when designing a memory game, Katier expressed a conscious intention to provide simultaneous mediational support:

"Here the three [channels] are being worked on... here they are implementing the visual with the manipulative [kinesthetic] as well as the audio... integrating the vocabulary with the dynamic part." (Co-planning Session 2, May 14).

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Taken together, the lesson plans, interview reflections, and classroom observations may suggest an increased consideration of message abundance throughout the practicum. While the earlier lesson plans contained limited explicit references to gestures or kinesthetic mediation, later documents appeared to incorporate physical actions alongside visual and audio resources as part of the instructional procedure. Similar patterns were reflected in student-teachers' descriptions of their teaching practices and in the classroom observations, where multiple forms of support appeared to be used together. Although these findings do not allow for definitive claims because they are based on a short implementation, the patterns observed across the available data appear consistent with the principle of message abundance, which emphasizes the use of multiple modes of communication to facilitate meaning-making.

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Chapter 5: Discussion The present study aimed to explore how student-teachers working in teaching triads appropriated the concept of scaffolding when teaching English as a Foreign Language to kindergarten learners. Building on the findings presented in the previous chapter, this discussion interprets the identified patterns through the lens of Vygotskian sociocultural theory, the learning cycle proposed by McDonald et al. (2013), and the broader literature on core pedagogical practices. In line with the core practices literature, learning to scaffold language and appropriate pedagogical practices is understood as a gradual and complex process that develops over time (Sagre et al., 2025). Therefore, the following interpretations are grounded in the specific context and evidence examined in this research. The patterns discussed next suggest possible meanings and emerging understandings within the studied context, rather than absolute generalizations applicable to all student-teacher training environments.

5.1. Message Abundance as a Multimodal Scaffolding Tool

Within the context of this study, the findings suggest a gradual modification in how the student-teachers scaffolded linguistic input. Initially, the student-teachers in the teaching triads appeared to manage classroom confusion by falling back on direct Spanish translation or focusing primarily on disciplinary control. However, as the pedagogical accompaniment progressed, the data point toward an increasing incorporation of multimodal resources. The student-teachers began to combine verbal instructions with physical gestures and visual aids

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concurrently, while later lesson plans also included more structured and segmented uses of video experiences.

This observed integration of varied communicative channels like the auditory, visual, and kinesthetic support shown across Findings 4.2 and 4.3 appears to align closely with Gibbons's (2015) concept of message abundance. From a Vygotskian perspective, these multimodal supports might function as temporary scaffolds that engage the learners' Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). By overlapping audio, visual, and kinesthetic information, the student-teachers provided additional linguistic clues that may have allowed the children to participate in meaning-making without relying exclusively on their mother tongue. Consistent with the core practices literature (Sagre, Herazo, & Morales, 2025), the findings suggest that these multimodal strategies can be understood as pedagogical practices that may be developed through guided experience, reflection, and classroom practice. Their increasing visibility across lesson plans, interviews, and classroom observations may indicate an emerging effort to make these forms of support more deliberate and explicit within instructional practice.

The use of these multimodal inputs could be interpreted as an emerging appropriation of genuine scaffolding tools that actively support early language learning. Nevertheless, exploring alternative explanations is necessary for a rigorous analysis. While the studentteachers utilized more visual and kinesthetic aids, this pattern does not necessarily indicate a complete internalization of multimodal scaffolding. Alternatively, this behavioral change might suggest an initial coping mechanism to navigate the "reality shock" (Flores-Delgado et al., 2020) typical of the practicum. Faced with the overwhelming pressure of a kindergarten

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classroom, using structured gestures and segmented videos might have provided the studentteachers with a practical instructional anchor, temporarily overriding their default reflex of L1 translation.

5.2. Documenting Message Abundance in Instructional Planning

Beyond what occurred during classroom instruction, the data also drew attention to the way this multimodal pedagogical support was anticipated during lesson planning. Across the collected lesson plans, gestures and other forms of kinesthetic mediation appeared with different levels of visibility. While some of the earlier documents focused primarily on the sequencing of activities and resources, later plans included more explicit references to actions intended to accompany verbal and visual input. When considered alongside the interview reflections and classroom observations, these planning decisions may indicate a growing effort to make multimodal support a deliberate component of instructional design. McDonald et al. (2013) argue that novice teachers do not always make explicit the many decisions that shape what happens during a lesson. From this perspective, the limited references to gestures and kinesthetic support in some of the earlier lesson plans may reflect the difficulty of anticipating and documenting these forms of scaffolding during the planning process. In contrast, the more explicit inclusion of physical actions in later plans may suggest an effort to represent aspects of instructional support that are frequently left unstated. This tendency appears consistent with the principles of message abundance (Gibbons, 2015), as multimodal forms of support became more visible within the written planning documents.

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The increased visibility of multimodal support within the lesson plans may suggest a growing tendency to make pedagogical decisions more explicit during the planning process. Rather than limiting lesson plans to activities and resources, some student-teachers began to document specific mediational actions intended to support instruction. This pattern may indicate a closer alignment between what was planned and the forms of support later observed in the classroom. At the same time, the available evidence allows for other possible interpretations. The more detailed inclusion of multimodal support in later lesson plans may have been influenced, at least in part, by the planning formats and reflective activities introduced during the pedagogical support process. Consequently, it remains difficult to determine whether these changes reflect a deeper appropriation of multimodal scaffolding or a response to the organizational demands of the intervention itself.

5.3. Co-teaching as a Collaborative Scaffolding Practice

In addition to these planning strategies, the reported findings suggest that the practical enactment of multimodal scaffolding relied heavily on how pedagogical responsibilities were distributed within the teaching triads. Early observations appeared to reflect role allocations in which one member assumed primary responsibility for delivering linguistic input, while the supporting members focused mainly on classroom management. However, the findings also indicate that during the study some student-teachers started to describe alternative ways of organizing their collaboration, including the distribution of specific communicative functions or responsibilities according to individual strengths. These patterns may offer insight into how the student-teachers interpreted and enacted collaborative scaffolding within the context of the practicum.

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These patterns invite further reflection on collaborative perspectives of scaffolding. The existing literature on collective scaffolding, particularly the foundational work of Donato (1994), has traditionally examined how learners jointly construct knowledge and support one another in solving linguistic problems. While the context of the present study differs from those learner-centered interactions, the findings suggest that a similar logic of shared support may also be observed within the student-teacher triads, specifically observing how Jhonatan, Sandy, and Katier assumed distinct multimodal roles to assist learners simultaneously. In some instances, pedagogical responsibilities appeared to be distributed among members of the triad, allowing different student-teachers to contribute through complementary communicative functions, as was reported for Fabián and his partner, who allocated speaking and mimicking tasks based on their individual teaching strengths. By distributing these roles, the communicative resources associated with message abundance (Gibbons, 2015) appeared to be coordinated across different members of the triad. This shared approach may have facilitated the simultaneous provision of multimodal support during classroom activities. However, the data also present an important tension when viewed through a theoretical lens. Many foundational accounts of scaffolding emphasize the importance of intentional and responsive support tailored to learners' immediate needs (Wood et al., 1976; Vygotsky, 1978). In contrast, some of the evidence collected in this study suggests that the distribution of pedagogical responsibilities was not always guided by explicit pedagogical reasoning. For example, interview data from Carlos, Katier and Maria suggested that scaffolding tasks were occasionally assigned at random so that all members could experience leading classroom activities. This pattern suggests that the student-teachers' division of roles

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was not always fully deliberate. According to the literature, effective collaborative scaffolding seems to occur when peers intentionally combine their strengths to support learners, rather than just assigning tasks at random (Fakher Ajabshir & Panahifar, 2020)."

5.4. Implications for Early Childhood Teacher Education

The appropriation of scaffolding documented in this study carries important practical implications for teacher education programs, particularly within the context of the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería (ENSM). The findings indicate that providing student-teachers with structured, multimodal strategies might help them navigate the initial uncertainty or "reality shock" of the practicum, as reflected in Jhonatan’s descriptions of his growing confidence in the use of kinesthetic support to communicate meaning without relying exclusively on the mother tongue. Therefore, this study suggests equipping student-teachers with tangible frameworks, such as the principles of message abundance, to support more agentic roles during the practicum and help bridge the gap between abstract theoretical knowledge and classroom enactment.

Furthermore, the variations observed in how the student-teachers distributed their pedagogical responsibilities suggest that the structural formation of teaching triads represents only one dimension of collaborative practice. Moving beyond independent teaching and toward more coordinated forms of co-teaching appears to require opportunities for explicit reflection on how mediational roles can be distributed to support common instructional goals. In this sense, the findings suggest that teacher education programs such as ENSM could

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benefit from creating spaces where student-teachers discuss and negotiate these pedagogical responsibilities collaboratively. For example, such opportunities might include planning sessions in which participants explicitly consider how different forms of audio, visual, and kinesthetic support can be coordinated during instruction.

Ultimately, these patterns highlight the value of structured lesson planning as a crucial space for making pedagogical decisions more visible and open to reflection. Multimodal forms of support can and should be discussed, planned, and systematically documented during pre-service teacher preparation processes. At the same time, the literature emphasizes that learning to enact and coordinate these core pedagogical practices requires sustained opportunities for guidance (Sagre, Herazo, & Morales, 2025). Therefore, shaping the appropriation of scaffolding in pre-service educators must be understood as a gradual, continuous endeavor that extends well beyond a single practicum experience.

Chapter 6: Conclusions This study set out to explore how student-teachers working in teaching triads appropriated the concept of scaffolding when teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to kindergarten learners. The findings suggest that this appropriation took multiple forms across the practicum and was reflected in the student-teachers' instructional decisions, collaborative practices, and planning processes. Throughout the study, scaffolding appeared

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to be interpreted and enacted in different ways, including the use of multimodal forms of support, the distribution of pedagogical responsibilities within the teaching triads, and the increasing visibility of mediational strategies in lesson planning. Rather than pointing to a uniform or fully consolidated understanding of scaffolding, the findings suggest an emerging process of appropriation that has been gradual, varied across student-teachers, and closely connected to the specific conditions of the practicum context.

Several methodological and contextual limitations should be acknowledged when interpreting these findings. The duration of the practicum was affected by a range of institutional and scheduling factors, including public holidays, activities associated with the student-teachers' training program, and events within the preschool setting. As a result, the opportunities available for sustained classroom observation and pedagogical accompaniment were more limited than originally anticipated. In particular, the study included fewer classroom observations after the workshops than originally planned, which restricted the possibility of examining how the documented practices were maintained, adapted, or expanded across subsequent lessons. In addition, the composition of some teaching triads changed throughout the practicum due to organizational decisions within the placement context. This lack of stability limited the possibility of examining how collaborative scaffolding practices were sustained and negotiated within the same teams over time. These limitations also suggest several directions for future research and teacher education. Within the context of the Escuela Normal Superior de Montería, the findings suggest that opportunities for collaborative planning and reflection may have contributed to how student-teachers engaged with scaffolding practices during the practicum. Future

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research could address some of the limitations of the present study by examining these processes over longer periods of time, incorporating a greater number of classroom observations after the workshops, and working with more stable teaching teams. Additional studies may also explore more closely how the pedagogical intentions documented in lesson plans are enacted during classroom instruction, providing a clearer understanding of how student-teachers translate theoretical principles of scaffolding into practice. Furthermore, longitudinal research following participants beyond the practicum and into their early years of professional teaching could offer valuable insight into how these emerging understandings of scaffolding continue to develop, adapt, or become integrated into classroom practice over time. Such studies may provide a deeper understanding of how collaborative and multimodal forms of scaffolding are sustained, adapted, or reinterpreted throughout the practicum experience and beyond.

Finally, the process of supporting and analyzing the experiences of the participating student-teachers working in triads also inspired us to reflect on the complexities of enacting pedagogical concepts within real classroom settings. Observing how the student-teachers negotiated instructional decisions, responded to unexpected challenges, and adapted their support strategies throughout the practicum provided a closer view of the demands involved in scaffolding young learners' language comprehension. These experiences motivated us to look beyond theoretical descriptions of concepts such as scaffolding, message abundance, and collaborative scaffolding and to consider how they are interpreted, adapted, and sometimes constrained by the realities of classroom practice. In this sense, the study

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reinforced the value of continuous reflection when examining the relationship between educational theory and pedagogical action.

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https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

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Donato, R. (1994). Collective scaffolding in second language learning. In J. P. Lantolf & G. Appel (Eds.), Vygotskian approaches to second language research (pp. 33–56). Ablex.

Fakher Ajabshir, Z., & Panahifar, F. (2020). The effect of teachers' scaffolding and peers' collaborative dialogue on speech act production in symmetrical and asymmetrical groups. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 8(1), 45–61. Flores-Delgado, L. D., Olave-Moreno, I., & Villarreal-Ballesteros, A. C. (2020). The impact of role modeling on the professional identity of pre-service teachers. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10(1), 143-152. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v10i1.25024 Gibbons, P. (2015). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: Teaching English language learners in the mainstream classroom (2nd ed.). Heinemann. Guo, X., & Feng, Z. (2025). Translanguaging pedagogies in EFL writing education International Journal of TESOL Studies, 4(1), 20-35.

Ibrahim, K. A. A.-A., Carbajal, N. C., Chenet Zuta, M. E., & Bayat, S. (2023). Collaborative learning, scaffolding-based instruction, and self-assessment: Impacts on intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension, motivation, and anxiety. Language Testing in Asia, 13(16). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-023-00229-1 McDonald, M., Kazemi, E., & Kavanagh, S. S. (2013). Core practices and pedagogies of teacher education: A call for a common language and collective activity. Journal of Teacher Education, 64(5), 378–386.

Rassaei, E. (2014). Scaffolded feedback, recasts, and L2 development: A sociocultural perspective. The Modern Language Journal, 98(2), 417–431.

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Sagre, A., Herazo, J. D., & Morales, I. (2025). Core practices for foreign language teacher professional development: An identity journey. Foreign Language Annals, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.70025 Sarmiento-Campos, N.-V., Lázaro-Guillermo, J. C., Silvera-Alarcón, E.-N., Cuellar- Quispe, S., Huamán-Romaní, Y.-L., Apaza, O. A., & Sorkheh, A. (2022). A look at Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (SCT): The effectiveness of the scaffolding method on EFL learners’ speaking achievement. Education Research International, 2022(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3514892 Smagorinsky, P. (2018). Deconflating the ZPD and instructional scaffolding: Retranslating and reconceiving the zone of proximal development as the zone of next development. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 16, 70–75. Shi, X., & Yeung, S. S. (2024). The general pedagogical knowledge underpinning early childhood education teachers' classroom behaviors who teach English as a foreign language in Chinese kindergartens. Behavioral Sciences, 14(7), 526. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.

Wood, D., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17(2), 89–100. Xi, J., & Lantolf, J. P. (2020). Scaffolding and the zone of proximal development: A problematic relationship. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12260 Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.

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Appendix A: Semi-Structured Interview Guide

● Cuando se sientan a planear la clase en tríada, ¿cómo deciden el orden exacto de las

actividades?

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● El ciclo de andamiaje pide ir de mayor a menor ayuda (Modelling a Independent). Al

escribir la planeación, ¿les cuesta trabajo imaginar cómo hacer esa transición o ya les surge de forma natural?

● ¿Cómo negocian quién hablará (Líder), quién mostrará las tarjetas y quién hará la

mímica?

● Ya en el salón de clases real, ¿qué tan difícil es para los apoyos visuales y kinestésicos

contener las ganas de hablar o traducir?

● Cuando el Líder da una instrucción en inglés, ¿cómo logran coordinarse el visual y el

kinestésico para que el niño entienda sin recurrir al español?

● Imaginen este momento: Ustedes dan una instrucción, pero el niño los mira

confundido o se equivoca de figura. Siendo totalmente honestos, ¿en qué momentos la tentación de traducir al español es casi imposible de aguantar?

● En esos momentos de crisis, ¿sienten que depender de sus otros dos compañeros de

tríada (para que muestren la tarjeta o hagan el gesto) los hace sentir más seguros o les genera más ansiedad?

● Mencionan que el libro de texto suele ser el trabajo independiente. Pero, si el niño

se bloquea frente al libro sin la ayuda visual o la mímica, ¿cuál es el primer instinto de ustedes? ¿Vuelven a andamiar o traducen?

● Pensando en las primeras clases que dieron o planearon, frente a cómo se paran hoy

frente a los niños: ¿Sienten que su concepto de lo que significa "enseñar inglés en preescolar" ha cambiado? ¿Sienten que su rol pasó de ser "traductores" a otra cosa?

Appendix B: Reflective Workshops Material

Workshop 1

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Workshop 2

Appendix C: Observation Vignettes

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Vignette 1: The Initial Reality of the Practicum The observation began in a traditionally arranged classroom, with desks organized in vertical rows to accommodate two students each. As the session was about to start, the environment was filled with the natural energy of young learners. Children were talking, laughing, and organizing their materials, creating a high noise level. While the room eventually settled into a more focused atmosphere, the dynamic was frequently interrupted. Every twenty minutes, one student would ask for water, causing several others to make the same request. This common situation required constant behavioral management from the student-teachers and inevitably influenced the rhythm of the lesson. The teaching triad for this session consisted of Jhonatan, Kenia, and Katherine. From the start, a clear spatial and pedagogical division of labor became apparent. Jhonatan assumed the role of the lead instructor. He positioned himself at the front of the classroom, standing closely next to the whiteboard and the digital projector. Throughout the majority of the lesson, he took on the vocal responsibility, introducing the target vocabulary related to greetings and parts of the day. Meanwhile, Kenia and Katherine positioned themselves near the classroom entrance on the right side. Their physical position appeared somewhat closed, and their principal function was disciplinary. They focused on keeping order, reminding the children to stay seated, and managing the noise level. For the most part, they stayed near that area on the right corner of the classroom rather than fully integrating into the main explanation. This physical separation gave the impression that the lead instructor was handling the core pedagogical delivery mostly on his own.

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This segmented dynamic was particularly visible during the instructional sequence. The student-teachers working in the triad tended to divide the lesson into individual activities, with each member taking charge of specific moments. The session opened with a warm-up featuring the "If you're happy" and "Hello" songs. Following this, Jhonatan prepared to introduce a video about greetings that featured animated dinosaurs and a volcano. At this point, the pacing of the lesson seemed to change. He spoke entirely in Spanish to present the material, yet the vocabulary he introduced corresponded to a different topic planned for a later stage of the class. This unexpected conflict of themes occurred just before the video played, and the students' observable reactions suggested a possible moment of doubt regarding what they were about to watch. When the video started, the way the student-teachers working in the triad used it was very direct. Jhonatan stopped the clip several times. During these short breaks, he mostly asked the children about the greetings using Spanish. Occasionally, he asked them to make a hand sign while saying the word in English. At the same time, the children appeared mostly passive. They copied the hand movements for "good morning" when asked; that was their participation in this moment of the class. After the video ended, Jhonatan asked questions in Spanish to check if they understood. He asked what parts of the day they saw and who the characters were. Throughout this part of the class, Kenia and Katherine stayed focused on the discipline and order in the classroom. They focused mainly on keeping the children quiet and did not join the video activity. The lesson then moved on to explicit vocabulary instruction. Jhonatan presented concepts related to the sky, introducing terms for the learners such as "darkness," "moon,"

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and "stars." Following this explanation, Kenia and Katherine took over the central role for a specific physical game. They called students randomly to their corner of the room to roll a large, physical dice featuring different greetings. The children had to perform a gesture matching the greeting they rolled. Once this activity concluded, the student-teachers in the triad distributed a coloring worksheet. During this independent practice, the three studentteachers moved around the room to offer support and keep the students focused. Finally, the class concluded with a brief review of physical commands like "sit down" and "stand up." Kenia and Catherine led this closing activity, but they delivered the instructions from their position on the right side of the classroom. In the end, this first observation suggested a division in how they shared the teaching roles. The materials seemed to function mostly as basic physical support, and in the class, they were using Spanish to give instructions and keep order in the classroom.

Vignette 2: The Final Observation and Emerging Pedagogical Intentions This observational session was notably short, lasting approximately thirty minutes. The class was interrupted early because the regular classroom teacher needed to take the young learners to their scheduled breakfast. The pedagogical focus for this specific period was introducing vocabulary related to body parts. The teaching triad for this session consisted of Jhonatan, Sandy, and Katier. From the beginning, their physical arrangement suggested an active distribution of the classroom space. While Jhonatan remained primarily at the front of the room near the whiteboard to lead the central explanation, Sandy and Katier moved constantly throughout the space. They walked among the desks, approaching

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the children and maintaining close physical proximity to offer immediate support and help to children.

The lesson opened with an activity centered around the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." Before playing the video, the student-teachers placed a visual representation of a human body on the whiteboard. Sandy participated in this initial phase by pointing to the figure, performing the corresponding gestures, and encouraging the children to say the target words aloud. After this introduction, they played the video for the first time without any pauses. During this viewing, the students remained seated, watching the screen and occasionally trying to imitate the movements from their chairs.

For the second reproduction of the video, the student-teachers asked the children to stand up, and each member took a different position during the activity. Jhonatan stayed at the front, calling out words like "head" and "here" while performing the physical actions. At the same time, Sandy held up specific flashcards that matched the vocabulary from the song. Meanwhile, Katier walked among the students. When she noticed children remaining still or not following the movements, she approached them and placed their hands on the corresponding body parts. As the tempo of the music increased toward the end, the noise level and physical activity in the classroom also increased. The children played along with this higher energy for a couple of minutes before the student-teachers called for their attention to continue the lesson.

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After the song, the lesson continued with a matching game that integrated a digital WordWall and physical flashcards. The three student-teachers in the triad took specific positions for this activity. Jhonatan stood at the front, giving the verbal instructions for the game and being the one moving the computer to handle the game dynamic. Sandy was holding and displaying the physical cards, repeating the sounds of the words, while Katier stood next to the students who came to the front of the classroom to make their selections. The children were called up one by one. During the game, one boy was shown the card for the word "nose." While standing at the front, he pointed to his nose and performed the physical gesture used in the song. In another turn, a girl went to the board and had to find the match for "knees." She paused without selecting a card. Sandy, who was standing next to her, hummed the melody of the song they had played earlier. After this, the girl picked the corresponding card and finished her turn.

Throughout the session, the student-teachers used Spanish in specific instances. Sandy and Katier used brief Spanish phrases to address behavior or call a student's attention. Jhonatan used Spanish during the WordWall game to explain the rules of the activity. Their use of Spanish was limited to these managerial and procedural interactions. The session concluded when the regular teacher returned to take the students to the cafeteria.

Cita: Hoyos Cárdenas, Omar Junior, Altamiranda Blanco, Juan Ángel (2026), The appropriation of EFL scaffolding practices by EFL student-teachers at a normal school kindergarten, Universidad de Córdoba, p. N. https://repositorio.unicordoba.edu.co/handle/ucordoba/11524

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

RESUMEN

2.1. Scaffolding

2.1.1 Scaffolding as a Didactic Strategy

2.1.2 Distinguishing Between the Zone of Proximal Development and

2.1.3 Message Abundance

2.2 Review of Literature

2.2.1 Scaffolding and Multimodal Support in Early Childhood EFL

2.2.2 Student-Teacher Challenges and Core Practices

2.2.3 Collective Scaffolding and Co-Teaching Dynamics

3.1 Type and Design of Research

3.2 Context and Participants

3.3 Workshops

3.4 Data collection methods

3.4.1 Documentary Analysis

3.4.2 Direct Observation

3.4.3 Semi-structured Interview

3.4.4 Observation Vignettes

3.5 Data Analysis

3.5.1 Phase 1: Familiarizing with the Data

3.5.2 Phase 2: Generating initial codes

3.5.3 Phase 3: Searching for themes

3.5.4 Phase 4: Reviewing themes

3.5.5 Phase 5: Defining and naming themes

3.5.6 Phase 6: Producing the report

3.6 Role of the Researchers

3.7 Ethical Considerations

4.1. Scaffolding Comprehension Through Videos

4.2. Scaffolding Learning Through a Renewed Division of Labor

4.3. Integrating Message Abundance Through Planned Kinesthetic and Visual

5.1. Message Abundance as a Multimodal Scaffolding Tool

5.2. Documenting Message Abundance in Instructional Planning

5.3. Co-teaching as a Collaborative Scaffolding Practice

5.4. Implications for Early Childhood Teacher Education

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

RESUMEN

2.1. Scaffolding

2.1.1 Scaffolding as a Didactic Strategy

2.1.2 Distinguishing Between the Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding

2.1.3 Message Abundance

2.2 Review of Literature

2.2.1 Scaffolding and Multimodal Support in Early Childhood EFL

2.2.2 Student-Teacher Challenges and Core Practices

2.2.3 Collective Scaffolding and Co-Teaching Dynamics

3.1 Type and Design of Research

3.2 Context and Participants

3.3 Workshops

3.4 Data collection methods

3.4.1 Documentary Analysis

3.4.2 Direct Observation

3.4.3 Semi-structured Interview

3.4.4 Observation Vignettes

3.5 Data Analysis

3.5.1 Phase 1: Familiarizing with the Data

3.5.2 Phase 2: Generating initial codes

3.5.3 Phase 3: Searching for themes

3.5.4 Phase 4: Reviewing themes

3.5.5 Phase 5: Defining and naming themes

3.5.6 Phase 6: Producing the report

3.6 Role of the Researchers

3.7 Ethical Considerations

4.1. Scaffolding Comprehension Through Videos

4.2. Scaffolding Learning Through a Renewed Division of Labor

4.3. Integrating Message Abundance Through Planned Kinesthetic and Visual

5.1. Message Abundance as a Multimodal Scaffolding Tool

5.2. Documenting Message Abundance in Instructional Planning

5.3. Co-teaching as a Collaborative Scaffolding Practice

5.4. Implications for Early Childhood Teacher Education