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An Applied Study On Scaffolding Theory In High School English Reading Classes

Posted on:2013-11-13Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:X DaiFull Text:PDF
GTID:2247330392950953Subject:Curriculum and pedagogy
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The teaching of English reading is a very important part in senior high schools. Improving students’reading competence is one of the objectives of English teaching. So, how to teach reading is very important.In the promoted student-centered reading class, the teacher should seek a way to train students andstimulate them to be involved in reading so as to guide them to conduct an active and effective reading. Asa member of foreign language teaching theories, scaffolding theory is highly valued not only for itstheoretic value but also for its wide application.Scaffolding Instruction, which was originated from the studies of Vygotsky who put forward the“Zone of Proximal Development”, is a teaching strategy based on scaffolding theory. It helps students toplan, carry out and finish their learning by setting up scaffolds and specific situations, complete the processof meaning-construction. With completion of this task, a learner also improved his ability. After a term oftraining, when the temporary support is removed, the learner can solve problems by himself, which makeshim more independent and confident. The model of scaffolding instruction sets up scaffolds opportunelyaccording to students’ ZPD. Its basic procedures are: providing scaffolds; entering the situation;independent explorations; application of cooperative study; application of evaluation. The instructiondivides perplexing tasks into ordinary ones, which enhance students’ English reading ability. It alsoprovides a good guidance for senior teaches to organize English reading classes.There are three research questions in the study:1) Can scaffolding instruction lead to improvement ofsenior students’ English reading learning?2) Can application of Scaffolding Instruction to Senior Englishreading classroom affect students’ reading strategies?3) What’s attitude to scaffolding instruction ofstudents in the experimental class? An experiment was carried out during the period from September,2011to January,2012. Two parallel classes of Grade2from No.59middle school of Lanzhou were selected ascontrol class and experiment class. The author collected data by the means of tests, questionnaires andinterviews and analyzed data by using SPSS18.0to study the feasibility of scaffolding instruction in seniorEnglish reading classes.The results indicate that scaffolding instruction is helpful to enhance the students’ reading proficiency.It improves students’ reading strategies and brings up their independence and confidence. It is proved thatscaffolding instruction is a teaching method which is popular with the students.
Keywords/Search Tags:scaffolding instruction, senior school English reading, reading ability, reading strategies
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