Effectivenessof“ScaffoldingInstruction”toEnglish

元嘉瑛

【Abstract】English speaking and writing both embody the students English proficiency and thinking skills. Scaffolding Instruction is a teaching mode which can provide appropriate assistance when the learners are faced difficulties during the learning. In this paper， first the overview of Scaffolding Instruction will be discussed. Then the application of Scaffolding Instruction in classroom teaching will be introduced based on a case analysis of an English speaking and writing lesson.

【Key words】Scaffolding Instruction； English speaking and writing； Effectiveness.

1. Introduction

Scaffolding instruction is an advanced pedagogical skill based on the theories of Constructivism， Vygotskys zone of proximal development （ZPD） and his Sociocultural theory. It is studied and applied widely and is attested effective and useful. Besides， the basic teaching principles of scaffolding instruction are fit for the basic requirements in the new national English curriculum in china. And scaffolding instruction is applied in English class， such as speaking， writing， reading， listening and so on. This paper mainly discuss the effectiveness of scaffolding instruction by observing a lesson of English speaking and writing in senior high school， which makes it clear that different types of scaffolding has important impact on English lesson. Moreover， some reflection about the scaffolding instruction will be mentioned.

2. Scaffolding Instruction

Wood， Bruner， and Ross first use the term scaffolding in the article The Role of Tutoring in Problem Solving， Which is one of the primal instructional contexts. Scaffolding is described as “a process that enables a child or novice to solve a problem， carry out a task or achieve a goal which would be beyond his unassisted effort” （Wood， Bruner， Ross， 1976）. In the pedagogical activities， scaffolding is a teaching strategy where the learners and teacher collaborate in problem-solving activities with the teacher's instruction， such as support， input， guidance and demonstrations and the learners can solve problem independently.

In pedagogical activities， there are different types of scaffoldings. Scaffoldings cover emotional scaffoldings， knowledge scaffoldings， organization scaffoldings， strategy scaffoldings and information scaffoldings. Not only the knowledge， but also the emotion of the students should be concerned in the learning process. And later， according to Chunling， scaffoldings also have different types such as context scaffoldings， content scaffoldings， language scaffoldings， structure scaffoldings and emotional scaffoldings （Shao， 2015）.

3. Classroom Description and Evaluation

This Lesson is selected from High school English video lesson selection in 2015 in Guangdong Province and it won the first prize. This lesson lasts for 40 minutes. The teacher， Zhang Meiling， is from Dongguan Tangxia school. Her students are in Class3， Grade 2. The teaching material is Unit4 Wildlife Protection in New Senior English for China， Book 2.This is a speaking and writing lesson. In this lesson， the teacher provides many scaffolding for the students， which achieves a good teaching effect.

3.1 Providing context scaffoldings

Teaching Clip 1：Lead-in （enjoy a wonderful performance）

Before the class， the teacher asks the students to enjoy a wonderful performance， which is acted by the students. There are director， father bear， mother bear， baby bear， hunter， chief cook and interviewer. 5 students perform in front of the class. After the performance， the teacher raises some questions：“What kind of animals is mentioned in the play？ What happened to them？ Could you tell me some other endangered animals？ ”The teacher provides such a suitable context scaffolding for the students so that the students can understand better the situation of the endangered animals and they also have a strong desire to express their opinions about this topic.

3.2 Providing content scaffoldings

Teaching Clip 2： Speaking （discussion）

Before task2， the teacher asks students to discuss Q1：Why are they in danger？ and Q2： What can we do to protect endangered animals？ From these two questions， the students will be required to brainstormed many ideas in group. And later， the teacher shows a more detailed mind map and some useful suggestions for the students. As we mentioned above， this activity embodies the scaffolding instruction that scaffoldings of information and knowledge are the center. The two elements consist of the essential part of scaffolding. Information and knowledge are the necessary in the learning process.

3.3 Providing language scaffoldings

Teaching Clip 3：（Writing）

During the writing part， the teacher gives students some useful sentences for the beginning and the ending of the letter. And the students try to use these different useful sentences in their wiring. The teacher provide such language scaffoldings so the students can choose the sentences they like in their writing， which helps them to develop their writing skills.

3.4 Providing structure scaffoldings

Teaching Clip 4：（Writing）

In this part， the teacher firstly ask students what type of this writing is and then the students figure it out its a letter for suggestion. It will help the students to cultivate the discourse awareness by knowing the type of the writing. And then the teacher asks the students about the start， the ending， the body of the letter so that the students try to think out some discourse markers. The students will master the structure of the letter， which includes the purpose， problem， reason， suggestion， hopes. The teacher then shows some linking words and transition sentences. After the teacher provides the structure scaffoldings， the students can start to write easily.

3.5 Providing emotional scaffoldings

Teaching Clip 5： （writing）

At the end of the wring task， the teacher instructs the students that “Animals are our friends， to protect them is to protect ourselves” The students remember this and cultivate a proper attitude toward wild life protection. Besides， the teacher set some group work activities to cultivate team work spirit. As we mentioned above， this activity embodies that not only the knowledge， but also the emotion of the students should be concerned in the learning process. If the students have no interests on the topic they will learn， then any kind of scaffolding is fruitless.

4. Conclusion

Scaffolding instruction is a bright way in English speaking and writing in the daily teaching activities. In English class， reasonable and appropriate instruction should be designed. A reasonable instruction can promote the autonomic learning， which is of great help for the students' learning， especially for their English writing. Real situation， proper context， some related materials should be provided to the students to solve task in class activities. The teacher should create a comfortable environment for the students to explore and analyze the problem. Besides that， the teacher should also provide some questions to stimulate and enlighten the students' thoughts.

References：

[1]David Wood，Jerome S.Bruner，Gail Ross.1976.The Role of Tutoring in Problem Solving，Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.Cambridge，MA：Harvard University Press.

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