A Study Of Peer Scaffoldling Of Group Interaction In College English Reading Class

Since the 1990 s,social cultural theory has been increasingly influential in the field of second language acquisition and teaching study.Scaffolding,a metaphorical concept,which was originated from Vygostskian conceptions of mediated learning and Zone of Proximal Development,has been applied extensively in teaching.It is a term used to describe the temporary but essentially supportive interaction through which novices(e.g.apprentice learners)are assisted by experts(e.g.teachers or parents)or peers to develop new skills,concepts or higher levels of understanding(Maybin,Mercer & Stierer,1992).The research on the role of "scaffolding" has become the focus of the second language development.According to the different research objects,"Scaffolding" can be divided into teacher scaffolding and peer scaffolding.However,the existing research mainly focused on the role of teaching scaffolding.Little research explores the types and role of peer scaffolding or collaborative scaffolding from the perspective of the Constructivism Theory.Research finds that majority of EFL Chinese learners do not communicate and interact with teachers in class as frequently as their fellow students.When encountered difficulties or problems in their studies,they are more inclined to seek help from their peers.Dialogue regulation between the partners might be more effective than the teacher's monologue type.Therefore,aiming to examine how the types of peer scaffolding promote the learning levels of students,the present thesis made an investigation,using classroom observation and interview method to study peer scaffolding in College English reading classroom.The subjects were 75 freshmen.They are from two business English classes(class one has 38 students,class two has 37 students)in a university of Jiangxi Province.The author observed a total of 12 weeks of English Extensive Reading Class(each class of 6 weeks,each week a group,totally 12 groups)and recorded a total of 12 classes of English reading class accordingly.Each class session is 90 minutes.In order to analyze the data,the author used some previous studies for reference,which not only respect the objective state and details of the data,but also describe the types and functions of peer scaffolding.Interview with students was adopted as a supplementary research tool.The qualitative method and quantitative method were combined in this study to explore the following three research questions:1)What are the types of peer scaffolding in group interaction in college English reading class?2)What are the functions of different type of peer scaffolding in group interaction in college English reading class?3)How do the peers at different levels provide scaffolding to each other?The results of this study are as follows.Firstly,the results of classroom observation and data statistics show that there are totally 10 types of peer scaffolding in group interaction in College English reading class are.They are called Recruitment,Demonstration,Praise/ Encouragement,Intentionality,Contingent responsivity,Affective involvement,Meaning,Simplifying the task,Change and Task regulation respectively.Secondly,peer scaffolding features embodied in the different interactive mode of students are mainly Feedback,Correcting Misrepresentations,Direction Maintenance,Providing Vocabulary,Frustration Control,Increasing Participation,Providing Perspective and Marking Critical Features.Thirdly,students are at different levels provide different levels of scaffold.The present research on types and functions of peer scaffolding in group interaction learning might provide some reference to second language teaching and second language acquisition research: Peer scaffolding plays an important role in group interaction in college English classroom and has a positive effect on the effective development of group interaction.Therefore,teachers should actively carry out effective methods to optimize peer scaffolding in foreign language classroom.