The Application Of Scaffolding Instruction To Improve College English Writing Proficiency

Writing has been widely acknowledged as one of the major parts among the basiclanguage skills. Thus the cultivation of students’ writing proficiency is regarded as oneof the most important objectives of college English learning courses. However, thepresent situation of teaching and learning of college English writing is far fromsatisfactory as expected.Scaffolding Instruction is a teaching strategy based on constructivism andoriginated from the theory of “Zone of Proximal Development” proposed by Vygotsky.It comes into being under the background of learner-centered culture, whichemphasizes setting appropriate conceptual frameworks and specific teaching situationsto help students probe into knowledge gradually, arouse students’ interest in learningand finally achieve the construction of knowledge. Therefore, the present researchapplies scaffolding instruction to the teaching of college English writing, aiming atchanging the current unsatisfactory situation and attempting to testify the followingthree questions:1.What effect will scaffolding instruction have on cultivation ofstudents’ writing proficiency? In which aspects does it improve students’ writingeffectively?2. What effect will scaffolding instruction have on students’ attitudetoward writing?3. What are students’ perceptions on scaffolding instruction?The thesis mainly covers five chapters. In chapter one, a preliminary introductionto the background, the significance and the purpose of the present research is provided.And then the layout of the thesis is presented. Chapter two concerns literature reviewrelated to the research, which lays the foundation of theory in the coming research.Chapter three displays the research methodology, which centers on research questions,subjects and instruments. A twelve-week experiment is conducted in Kunlun Collegeof Qinghai University. Two parallel classes of non-English major freshmen are selectedas experimental class and control class. Students in EC are instructed by scaffoldinginstruction in English writing while students in CC just adopt the routine Englishwriting instruction. In chapter four, the author exhibits the results of the research andmakes a detailed discussion on the data collected. Chapter five is conclusion of thethesis, in which the major findings of the research, pedagogical implications andlimitations of the research is summarized, at last some suggestions for future researchis given. The results of experiment show that students in experimental class make muchmore progress than those in control class. It turns out that scaffolding instruction iseffective to cultivate students’ writing proficiency. The results of questionnaire andinterview reveal that the majority of the students show positive attitudes toward thescaffolding instruction; students’ interest in English writing is motivated to a greatextent, learning process and teaching effect are also optimized.