Scaffolding Instruction In ESP Course

As the last few decades has witnessed a tremendous economic progress of China, there is a strong demand for a large number of technical talents who not only master the specialized skills but also have a good mastery of English to engage in world economic affairs. Higher vocational education aims to train the special talents in production, technology, service, and management field. So English teaching in higher vocational colleges should highlight the features of application and practice. In Basic Requirements of English Course for vocational college released in2000, it is stated that English learning should be combined with the professional knowledge by offering English course for vocational purpose. In this context, many higher vocational colleges in our country have set up the ESP courses based on the needs of professional characteristics and employment. But currently most ESP teaching practice has some problems, especially problems in teaching modes.This study intends to use the scaffolding instruction to improve the quality of ESP teaching in a vocational college. It aimed to answer the following questions:(1) What are students’attitudes towards the scaffolding instruction used in the ESP course?(2) Will the scaffolding instruction help to arouse students’interests, and build their confidence and motivation?(3) Is the scaffolding instruction more effective in learning results in ESP course?The subjects of this study were two parallel classes of grade12in Hefei Tongyong Technical and Vocational college. The students were total125who were majoring in Electromechanical Integration. The experiments were divided into the experimental class and the control class. In Mechanical Engineering English teaching, the experimental class adopted the scaffolding instructional mode for teaching. In the teaching process, based on students’ZPD, the teacher decomposed the complex learning tasks to build the scaffolding timely for students, and followed the five-steps teaching mode:to build the scaffolding; to create the context; collaborative learning; independent exploration and effective assessment. The control class employed the traditional mode of teaching, where the teacher did the explanation and translation, and few classroom activities were carried out. Through the experiment for one semester, compared with the differences between the two classes in English learning interest, motivation, self-confidence and learning outcomes using questionnaires, interviews and English tests, the study had the following findings:(1) Scaffolding instruction was accepted by students in experimental class and most students had the positive attitude towards it.(2) Scaffolding instruction stimulated the interest and motivation of the students to a certain extent, and eliminated the students’ fear in ESP learning.(3) By the comparison of the two classes’ scores of the pre-test and posttest, it was proved that the experimental intervention is significant. That meant scaffolding instruction improved the effect of mechanical engineering English learning in a certain extent.This research demonstrated the applicability and positive effect of scaffolding instruction in ESP teaching in vocational colleges, which provided favorable insights as to how ESP courses could be conducted in vocational colleges. But limitations still remain such as the sample size and scope of the research. Based on the research, suggestions are made for the further ESP teaching and research.