An Exploration On Peer Scaffolding In Collaborative Task Planning Process In College English Classes

Since Ellis(2005)called for more social and process-oriented planning research,an increasing number of studies from various perspectives have explored how second language learners approach the collaborative tasks in the process of planning.However,few studies adopted peer scaffolding to probe into real-time collaborative planning.To fill this gap,the current study was conducted to demonstrate how the functions of peer scaffolding work during learners' planning process and how learners do with collaborative planning tasks in the real-time situation by adopting Vygotsky's(1978)Sociocultural Theory as the framework.Experiments are designed to address the following research questions:(1)What are the functions of peer scaffolding working in the joint planning process?(2)How do Chinese EFL learners approach collaborative planning tasks in English classroom?To answer the two questions,the study employed a qualitative method to explore how peer scaffolding affects the dynamically collaborative task planning process and the patterns of peer scaffolding in the planning process.The participants involved were three freshmen majoring in English at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.English proficiency was ensured to be at the intermediate-high level for all the participants and they were required to complete one decision-making task planning.Participants' verbal and non-verbal performances during group tasks were audio-recorded,video-recorded,transcribed and analyzed to delve into how the collective task planning process develops with the framework of peer scaffolding.The results revealed that:(1)peer scaffolding did frequently exist among peers in the following aspects: providing opinions,providing words and expressions,increasing participation,correcting wrong usages,explaining to simplify tasks,task maintenance and frustration control.Among them,providing opinions accounts for the most frequently used function,frustration control and increasing participation rank the second and third,respectively;(2)the seven functions of peer scaffolding could be classified into four categories,including linguistic forms polishing,idea contribution,activation of engagement and emotional support;(3)the functions of peer scaffolding in the same category frequently emerged concomitantly;(4)the function of frustration control had a vital effect on the collective planning process.These results are in concordance with Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory,which sheds new light on the patterns of the functions of peer scaffolding during the task planning process.Admittedly,there are some limitations needed to be addressed in the future.Overall,the present study emphasizes the vital effects of peer scaffolding in the collaborative planning process,and also provides some teaching implications for College English Teachings.