The Application Of Scaffolding Instruction-based English Writing In Upper Primary Class

Writing is the process of recreation using knowledge by students, and is also the best reflection of students’ language proficiency. In the English Curriculum Standards (2011), students graduated from Grade six in primary school have to meet the second level requirement of writing, which includes that students can write simple greeting and blessing expression, can write simple recount according to certain pictures, words or example sentences, can correctly use capital and lowercase letters and appropriate punctuation marks. However, English writing in upper primary class is generally felt to be more problematic for pupils because of linguistic features such as the use of vocabulary, structures and connectives and the related background knowledge. Scaffolding Instruction is based on constructionism theory and originated from the teaching idea of ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development). It refers to the process that with the teacher or peers’ help, learners decompose the complex learning task. In the process, the teacher or peers set up scaffolding for the learners to finish tasks step by step (Hua,2011). To improve pupils’ English writing ability, the teacher should provide them "just-in-time" support and guidance from multiple perspectives and ways according to students’ specific situation.Based on the investigation of the status quo of upper primary class English writing teaching, the writer raises the problems which mainly include two parts: writing attitude and writing ability. The thesis puts forward the research hypotheses: through this study,1) students’ writing interest can be stimulated; 2) student’s writing ability can be improved. Besides, it designs the research procedures and strategies of the application of Scaffolding Instruction. The thesis applies the research in two parallel classes of Grade Six in primary school. Class 1 is Experimental Class, in which using Scaffolding Instruction method, while Class 2 is Control Class, in which applying traditional teaching method. There are the same number students in both classes, and the proportion of male and female is generally equal. From Sep.2015 to Jan.2016, the research lasted 18 weeks. During the period, the writer adopted the methods such as comparison of Pre-test and Post-test, observation, questionnaire surveys and interviews, etc. In the stage of data analysis, the writer verifies one of the hypotheses about writing ability by statistics and analysis of Pre-test and Post-test; and tests the other hypothesis about writing attitude through comparison of questionnaire and interviews.The major findings of the research indicate that:1) Scaffolding Instruction based English writing in upper primary class is useful to improve pupils’attitude and stimulate their motivation; 2) Scaffolding Instruction based English writing in upper primary class can improve young learners’writing ability effectively. In the end, some implications and suggestions of the research are pointed out.