A Study Of The Teaching Of College English Writing Based On Scaffolding Theory

Steiner holds that"Writing is a dynamic and innovative learning process. It is also a natural process with spiral rising to the infinite possibility."Writing skill is a necessary part in the integrated application ability of English language. With the improvement of the requirement of English in the society, the writing ability of the student is also valued. As a significant link obtained from language learning, its status in language teaching cannot be neglected. This is because writing is good for the improvement of the language knowledge and language skills of the students. Besides, because information is processed and summarized through writing, writing can also reflect the language expressing ability and ideological understanding level of the author. Although the teaching of English writing is of great significance, writing course is still English Majors'patent. Xiong Lijun, Yin Meng hold that"Our teaching of college English writing has experienced a process of highlighting reading to listening and speaking, writing has always been ignored. The Teaching Program seldom arranges specialized lessons for writing during the basic period of the teaching of college English."Therefore, the author considers that it is necessary to arrange writing course in the teaching of college English.Scaffolding is originated from the theory of Zone of Proximal Development put forward by Vygotsky. It stresses students'center position. According to the learning ability and learning level of the students, the teacher establishes reasonable scaffolding along with which the students can rise up. Since the Scaffolding Theory was advanced, it has been paid great attention by linguistics. It not only has important theoretical value, but also has comprehensive practical value in foreign language teaching. Based on the Scaffold Theory, this paper discusses the active effect of direction in the teaching of college English writing.This paper consists of five parts. The first part is the introduction. It primarily introduces the current situation and the causes of the teaching of college English writing, which is discussed from two aspects, the teaching and the students. It also discusses the purpose, significance of the research, and the frame of the work.Chapter One is the literature review of the research. It primarily analyzes the Scaffolding Theory, a concept of the Zone of Proximal Development, and the significance of Cooperative Learning. It includes the study of Scaffolding Theory abroad and the research of the teaching of college English writing in China.Instructed by the Scaffolding Theory, this thesis establishes a Scaffolding Teaching Model of Writing in Chapter Two. The Scaffolding Teaching Model of Writing is that the teacher establishes reasonable support to assist the students to improve their level and achieve the internalization of knowledge. Chapter Two also discusses how to apply this theory to the teaching of English writing. It mainly demonstrates the impact of the teacher's role, which means to provide interactive support, psychological support, and support for evaluation and writing skills.Chapter Three focuses on the case study with the application of theory and practical teaching. The author chooses a suitable topic to examine the control class and experimental class before and after experiment and makes a periodical comparison. With the method of interview and model essay writing, the author confirms that the active effect of scaffolding in the teaching of English writing. The last part is the conclusion. It mainly demonstrates the advantages and disadvantages of the application of Scaffolding Theory in the teaching of English writing. The teaching of English writing, which is based on Scaffolding Theory, is significant for the students to improve their motivation of writing, cultivate the subject consciousness, advance learning from each other, and especially improve the writing skills from the aspect of structure and content of the essay. Meanwhile, the author indicates the difficulties in setting up a scaffold related to the Zone of Proximal Development. Because the teacher can not change his role timely according to the problems arising from the cooperative process, such as difficulties in cooperation, negative sentiments, and diversion topic and so on, this causes specious ineffective cooperation. In addition, the teacher should consider standing on the position little ahead students'Zone of Proximal Development. So the teacher should be fully prepared before class, and provide help to students according to their Zone of Proximal Development.