Scaffolding agent as pedagogical tool to assist sentence composition in Bahasa Malaysia / Suhada Mat Zin

The big question is and has always been how to best promote robust learning in the resource-constrained classroom environment. One of the strong answers is by providing and improving tailored support to the learners in their Zone of Proximal and this can also be accomplished by the role of computer application. Nevertheless, an emerging of focus is on the potential of computer application to provide cognitive support for the students engaging in intellectual activities as the use of it in interactive learning environment is a challenging process and increases numerous questions about the design of its interface elements as well as the interaction of teachers, tools, and students in the classroom environment. Nowadays attention has been focused on the role of teachers and curriculum materials in scaffolding students. Drawing upon this, this study seeks to examine how effective the scaffolding is designed to enhance the student in process of composing sentence, targeting on primary school students, year 9- 10. It examines the use of scaffolds designed into a computer assisted application with the presence of pedagogical agent; Scaffolding agent. The study was based on a constructivist learning theory and it implemented a qualitative methodology, namely; observation, questionnaire and interview. Twenty students and five teachers from a primary school were randomly assigned for experimental session. Results of the study revealed the learnability of the courseware and the presence of scaffolding agent in the courseware was the key factor that promotes composition skills and gave educational outcomes in composing Bahasa Malaysia sentences. Thus, confirming the computer aided design embedded with Scaffolding agent can assist student in a number of ways of Bahasa Malaysia sentence composition.