A Study Of Scaffolding Instruction Theory And Its Application To Senior English Reading Teaching

With the deepening of the reform of basic education in our country and thepublication of New English Curriculum standard of senior high school, Englishcurriculum requires students to gradually grasp some basic English knowledge and skillsin listening, speaking, reading and writing, forming some comprehensive languageproficiency. English reading teaching, as an important part in senior high schools,contributes to the improvement of students’ comprehensive language proficiency.However, the teaching effect is still far from satisfactory. In this case, how to teachreading is particular important. In the promoted student-centered class, the teacher shouldseek an effective way to guide students in English reading teaching, stimulating them tobe involved in reading actively. As a part of foreign language teaching theories,scaffolding instruction is highly valued not only in theory but also in practice.Scaffolding instruction as a teaching strategy comes from Lev Vygotsky’s concept ofZone of Proximal Development (ZPD). It contributes to help students plan, carry out andcomplete their learning through setting up scaffolds and specific situations. This papermeans to conduct a study of scaffolding theory and its application in reading class ofsenior high school under the principles of constructivism and Lev Vygotsky’s “Zone ofProximal Development”. In the process of reading teaching, learners construct knowledgefrom experience with supportive scaffolds under teachers’ direction. Scaffoldinginstruction divides the learning process as follows: setting up scaffolds, leading into asituation, independent exploration, cooperative learning and group evaluation. Throughmaking scaffolds and leading into situation, the teacher guides students to explore, discussand consult mutually, forming learning groups to share ideas and wisdoms and helpingstudents to achieve the construction of knowledge at last.For the sake of studying this teaching model, the author did an experiment of4months in which the experimental class was given scaffolding instruction, while thecontrol class still adopted the traditional instruction. In order to study this teachingstrategy, the author did an experiment in which a pre-test and a post-test were given to students. At the end of the experiment, a questionnaire was adopted in the experimentalclass so as to know about students’ attitudes towards scaffolding instruction and theirinterest in reading. The results from the pre-test and post-test were dealt with IndependentSample t-test and Paired Sample t-test of SPSS software.As a result, students’ readingskills were greatly developed and it has a great effect on the motivation of students’English learning as well by applying scaffolding instruction to reading teaching in seniorhigh schools.However, there were still some limits in the experiment for various factors. Theauthor sincerely hopes that the above findings may help the English teachers of seniorhigh school get a deeper and better understanding of scaffolding instruction and itsapplication in reading teaching from the empirical point of view. At the same time, hopingthe results of the present study can provide some reference for further study onscaffolding instruction in China.