Abstract
This study investigates change of learning ability of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) by using scaffolding in EFL vocabulary learning system. We developed an EFL vocabulary learning system (S1) for Japanese students. It has an innovative scaffolding function that helps the learner guess the meaning of target English words in example sentences. This function is called “Hint Translation” and presents Japanese translation of example sentence expect for target English words upon user request. The experiment was conducted to compare how effectively learners were able to learn English words in S1 and a comparison system (S2). Both S1 and S2 were used by five lower and intermediate learners each for two weeks. In the result of experiment, we found that the intermediate learners in S1 group learned more vocabulary than S2 group. Moreover, we found that intermediate learners in S1 group phased out their use of Hint Translation and progressed in their English ability to guess the meanings of English words in example sentences without scaffolding. On the other hand, the lower learners in S1 group depended on using Hint Translation and did not learn English words.
