The Application Of Scaffolding Theory In High School English Writing

Scaffolding has drawn great attention among linguists. Apart from its great theoretical value in linguistic study, scaffolding is highly valued in many disciplines. This present study tries to apply the theory to high school English writing.For a long time people think that speech is language, since many languages do not have a written form and we learn to speak before we learn to read or write. Language is "primarily what is spoken and only secondarily what is written" (Brooks 1964). Therefore, it was assumed that speech has a priority in language teaching. This was contrary to popular views of the relationship of the spoken and written forms of language, since it had been widely assumed that language existed principally as symbols written on paper, and that spoken language was an imperfect realization of the pure written version. Since speech was held to be primary and writing secondary, it was assumed that writing should be delayed until reasonably late in the language learning process. English Language Syllabus of Middle School in China stresses that the language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) should be combined. At the same time, reading is viewed important. So it is not difficult to find that writing is ignored for a long time. Now Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) holds the view that language learning is learning to communicate, reading and writing can start from the first day, if desired. Besides, since China has opened its door to the outside world and entered WTO, English is becoming increasingly important as a communication tool, English teaching has been the focus of considerable interest.Different emphases have been given in language teaching to aspects of the production of written test. Writing approaches can be considered as current theories of writing and on their research bases with particular reference to second and foreign language writing. Scaffolding theory is based on constructivism, it depends on the studies of Lev Vygotsky who created the Zone of Proximal Development. The concept in this kind of frame is required for development of learners' further understanding of the question so that the complicated study task should be dissolved in advance in order to progressively guide the learner's understanding into depth. Scaffolding is defined as the process by which an expert provides temporary support to learners to "help bridge the gap between what the learner knows and can do and what he or she needs to accomplish in order to succeed at a particular learning task". Upon completion of this task, a learner is better able to make the connection between prior knowledge and new information, the temporary support is removed, and the student becomes more independent and confident.This thesis consists of five chapters. In Chapter 1, the introduction, the author...