An Empirical Study Of Scaffolding Instruction For The Development Of Chinese Non-english Majors’ Learning Autonomy

According to Vygotsky’s socio-cultural perspectives, language and culture play acritical role in human development (Lantolf,2005). Through social interaction peoplecreate knowledge in using their first language, and use of language helps guide theirjoint activity in particular settings, allowing for ways of thinking to be shared andlearned. Many of Vygotsky’s concepts have proven very readily applicable tosecond/foreign language education, one of which is the scaffolding instruction withinthe learner’s zone of proximal development (ZPD), referring to the range of tasks thata child or a less competent learner cannot do alone but can accomplish with assistance,and its ultimate goal is to optimize learning and the development of learner autonomy.This dissertation is an empirical study based on Vygotsky’s socio-culturaltheory.The general hypothesis tested in the study is that scaffolding instruction based onVygotsky’s socio-cultural theory, providing learners with tailored support, guidedmeta-cognitive strategy use within the learners’ ZPD, leads to the improvement oflearning autonomy and language proficiency. Three research questions are addressedin this study:1) What effect does scaffolding instruction have on Chinese EFL collegelearners in developing their learning autonomy?2) How can scaffolding instruction foster Chinese EFL learners’autonomous competence?3) What is the relationship between learners’ autonomous competence andtheir English learning achievement?The study employs a questionnaire to investigate the learners’ autonomouslearning competence before and after the experiment.51first-year non-English majorstudents from two classes are involved in this study. One class is the experimentalgroup and the other, the control group. The experiment was conducted for a wholeacademic year with scaffolding instruction as teaching approach in the experimental group under a comparison with a traditional approach in the control group.Questionnaires, national College English Test Band4paper, and semi-conductedinterviews were used to collect the data. Independent Sample T-tests and PairedT-tested, Pearson Correlation Test were employed for statistical analysis. Through theinterpretation of the quantitative and qualitative results, the following conclusions arereached.Firstly, the approach of scaffolding instruction is effective in developingnon-English major students’ autonomous learning competence. Students from theexperimental group are better able to set their learning goals and to formulate theirown learning objectives. They are more engaged in their learning and, therefore, takemore responsibility of their own learning.Secondly, scaffolding instruction is found to work as an effective strategy tofoster students’ autonomous learning competence by helping students to select anappropriate strategy and implement them in the learning process. In addition,scaffolding instructor offers continuous assessment and feedback on the learnerslearning. They become better reflective learners.Thirdly, improvement in autonomous learning competence leads to students’better academic performance. Students from the experimental group outperformed inthe National College English test band-4after a year’s scaffolding instruction.Based on the above conclusions, some pedagogical implications of the findingsare also discussed.