A Study On The Application Of Scaffolding Instruction To English Vocabualry Teaching In Senior High School

Vocabulary,pronunciation and grammar are the three elements of language,and vocabulary is the basis for improving language skills such as listening,speaking,reading and writing.However,a lot of teachers still adopt the boring cramming method in vocabulary teaching,leading to students memorizing words through rote memory,in which case both teachers and students suffer a lot.What’s more,The New Curriculum Standard proposes higher requirements for students in senior high school.Students’ vocabulary knowledge cannot meet the demands of the present society.On account of these facts,the author attempts to apply scaffolding instruction in senior high school English vocabulary teaching in the hope of exploring an effective vocabulary teaching method to improve the current situation.The author conducted a 12-week experiment in a senior high school of Huai’an and selected two classes from Senior Two as the research subjects with a total of 100 students.The experimental class uses scaffolding instruction in English vocabulary teaching,whereas the control class uses the traditional English vocabulary teaching method.Both of the classes are taught by the same teacher.With the help of questionnaires about vocabulary learning attitudes and special tests on vocabulary knowledge,this thesis tries to address these three research questions:(1)What impact does scaffolding instruction have on the senior students’ vocabulary breadth?(2)What impact does scaffolding instruction have on the senior students’ vocabulary depth?(3)What impact does scaffolding instruction have on the senior students’ attitudes to English vocabulary learning? Before the experiment,the pre-test of vocabulary breadth and the pre-test of vocabulary depth were delivered to students in two classes and the pre-questionnaire was distributed to the students in the experimental class.After the experiment,the two post-test papers were delivered to the students in two classes and the post-questionnaire was distributed to the students in the experimental class again.Meanwhile,the author interviewed 10 students in the experimental class who are randomly selected according to their student number.The results of tests show that compared with the control class,the students in the experimental class have better performance in average score,which shows that scaffolding instruction can improve students’ vocabulary knowledge.In terms of vocabulary breadth,students can memorize much more words with the assistance of scaffolds,such as affix,root,hyponym and hypernym.In terms of vocabulary depth,students in the experimental class have made progress in the aspect of word association,lexical collocation and usage of words and the improvement in word association and usage of words is more significant than that in lexical collocation.The results of questionnaires testify that scaffolding instruction can have a positive effect on students’ vocabulary learning attitudes.More students are interested in learning new words and succeed in memorizing new words with the assistance of scaffolds.And a majority of students are willing to review the words they have learned in class.This thesis verifies that scaffolding instruction in senior high school English vocabulary teaching is effective.Therefore,English teachers are inspired and encouraged to adopt this teaching method in senior high school English vocabulary teaching.