Constructivism and Pedagogical Practices of English as A Second Language (Esl) Teachers

This paper investigated how constructivism was reflected in the pedagogical practices of ESL teachers. It is a qualitative case study where teachers were observed during classroom discussions and interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide and a cellular phone with video and camera features and voice recorder. Findings showed that the teachers encouraged their students to link their schema to their new knowledge through asking questions, using games and video clips, and dividing the class into groups. For students to formulate and show their own understanding of the concepts, the teachers used differentiated group and individual activities. In terms of classroom assessment, the teachers used various assessment tools that were categorized into individual and group/collaborative formative and summative assessments. Constructivism was manifested in the classroom based on the following assumptions: cooperation among learners, making use of multimedia technology, and autonomous learning. Furthermore, several implications were presented for ESL instruction and for future research.