An Experimental Study On Scaffolding Instruction In English Reading Of Senior High Schools

As a main channel of language input,reading is an important part for English learners to gain language skills.Therefore,reading teaching plays an important role in English teaching and learning.However,under the influence of traditional teaching methods,the current English reading teaching is confronted with many problems and difficulties,which to a great extent affects students’ reading interest,reading effect and even English learning.In order to better the current situation,the author designs an experimental research to solve the problem that the reading effect of senior high school students in English class is not ideal.Based on constructivism and Vygotsky’s theory of zone of proximal development,this thesis explores the application of scaffolding instruction in English reading teaching of senior high schools.By building some specific scaffolds for students under specific situations,students can conduct independent and cooperative exploration,and finally construct knowledge on their own.The research questions of this study include:(1)What is the effect of scaffolding instruction on the subjects’ English reading interest in senior high schools?(2)What is the effect of scaffolding instruction on the subjects’ English reading strategies in senior high school?(3)What is the effect of scaffolding instruction on the subjects’ English reading competence in senior high schools?The selected subjects of this research are the students of two parallel classes taught by the author in the second grade of a four-star high school.One class is used as the implementation subject of the experimental research and carries out scaffolding instruction;the other class is used as the comparison class of the research results and continues to use traditional teaching methods.Through the pre-questionnaire and pretest,the author tries to understand the current situation of students’ interest,strategies and competence in English reading and design a targeted experimental research which lasts more than four months.The author guides students in the experimental class to carry out a series of classroom reading activities through scaffolding instruction,combining the six teaching steps of scaffolding instruction with the three stages of reading teaching organically.In the later stage of the study,the results of the research are analyzed and the effect of the experimental research is evaluated through the interview and the comparative analyses of the changes of students from the two classes in reading interest,reading strategies and reading competence in the pre and post questionnaires and tests with the help of SPSS23.0 software.The results show that in the process of English reading teaching,applying scaffolding instruction flexibly can benefit students’ English learning in senior high schools.The application of scaffolding instruction in English reading teaching stimulates the students’ reading interest to a large extent and helps them learn to read with proper and useful reading strategies to improve their understanding of the passage,thus improving their reading competence.Therefore,scaffolding instruction is of positive significance to the optimization of English reading teaching in senior high schools.