Research On The Construction Of English Teachers’ Talk Scaffolding In Junior English Classes

Originated from Vygotsky’s influences of Socioculture Theory,the Scaffolding Theory has been extensively employed in the English teaching,thus the research on the foundation and functions of scaffolding becoming the prominent part. During the process a student is assisted by the teacher to accomplish what can’t he do without the teacher’s help,and then the teacher removes the scaffolding until the student completes the task independently.As we all know,classrooms are the main places where students re ceive information,acquire knowledge and skills.Teachers’ classroom d iscourse is also an important tool to manage the classroom.Actually,teacher’s scaffolding role is achieved through scaffolding talk wher e students are assisted by the teachers. With the teacher’s scaffol ding talk,the students are facilitated to a higher level of concepti on,skills and comprehension.Based on the Scaffolding Theory,the present study made a detailed description and analysis with the attempt to find out what conversation devices are employed to perform the scaffolding functions and what are the influences of talk scaffolding on the students.And it adopted the conversation analysis,audio-transcription and classroom observation.Concentrated on their scaffolding talk,it has launched a case study of four English classes presented by four English teachers from Junior Middle Schools.One one hand,the classification of scaffolding functions from the predecessors is used for preference;on the other hand,it tries to gain the true face of the raw materials.The findings of the research are shown as follows:Firstly,teachers often use the conversation devices such as repetition,questioning,modeling and encouraging to perform the seven functional types ofscaffolding talk.Secondly,teachers’ scaffolding talk triumphantly achieves scaffolding functions in the development of students’ language ability,cognitive competence,and emotional attitudes.As to the the development of the language ability,students are provided with more comprehensible L2 input and more opportunities for students’ output to negotiate and correct their mistakes;as to the development of cognitive competence,students are guided to learn to think critically;as to the emotional development,talk scaffolding helps establish a relaxing and pleasant teaching situations,which can arouse students’ interest in English learning and build up students’ senses of fulfillment and confidence.