Teaching Philosophy in Action: Scaffolded, Human-Centered Learning with AI Support

Designed for Adult Learners | Grounded in SLA Theory | Enhanced by Thoughtful AI Integration

This teaching portfolio documents a 50-minute online practicum with two A2–B1 Master’s students from National Chung Cheng University — learners with strong conceptual ability but significant speaking anxiety, vocabulary retrieval gaps, and minimal English exposure outside class.

Guided by the ADDIE model and informed by Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis, Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, and Nation’s Four Strands, I designed three progressive, real-world communication lessons:

🔹 Lesson 1: Airline Customer Service
Focused on polite problem-solving in high-stakes service contexts. Learners moved from analyzing authentic complaints to upgrading informal utterances (“Sorry” → “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience”) — building pragmatic competence while lowering anxiety through structured scaffolds.

🔹 Lesson 2: Generating and Presenting Ideas
Targeted academic fluency for graduate collaboration. Using tiered tasks, sentence frames (“The reason behind this idea is…”), and a joint 60-second presentation, students co-constructed knowledge and delivered ideas confidently — embodying Nation’s Fluency Development strand.

🔹 Lesson 3: External “Thank You” Email
Bridged formal writing and spoken summary, emphasizing genre structure (Opening–Details–Closing) and professional vocabulary (appreciated, smoothly, recommended). A personalized scenario (missing seminar registration) ensured relevance and transfer.

AI was used intentionally—not as a replacement, but as a drafting partner. ChatGPT assisted in rapid prototyping, but every suggestion was filtered through learner needs: accepted when it reduced cognitive load (e.g., joint presentation template), adapted for affective safety (e.g., extended timing, note-use), and rejected when it ignored anxiety (e.g., debate tasks). As one student reflected:

“AI makes vocabulary learning faster, more interactive, and less stressful.”
My role? To ensure it stays that way—by keeping the human at the heart of language learning.

This portfolio reflects my core belief:

Great teaching isn’t about perfect plans — it’s about responsive presence.
When we listen to learners’ voices—both linguistic and emotional—we don’t just teach English.
We restore confidence, unlock potential, and build bridges across languages and cultures.