Application Of Scaffolding Instruction In Rural Junior Middle School English Reading Teaching

Reading proficiency is an important aspect of four basic language skills. Although much attention has been paid to it, there are still many problems in English reading teaching approaches in China, especially in rural areas.Many English reading classes in rural areas focus on words, phrases, structures and grammar, less attention has been paid to students' interest, motivations, and learning process. However, these factors are very important to students' English study and cannot be neglected. Compared with traditional teaching approaches, scaffolding approach adapts the role of the instructor and students and changes the students' information reception process from passively receiving information to actively meaning construction under the assistance of the instructor. The process also takes emotion factors and learning procedures of students into consideration, and can enable students to go beyond their ZPD and finish their learning tasks through timely scaffolds.Scaffolding instruction was applied to rural junior middle school English reading class in Qianhe Junior Middle School of Baoji, Shaanxi Province from September 2015 to November 2015 in this study, and the effectiveness of it on students' English reading achievements, reading interest and their usage of reading strategies were discussed through analyzing the data gathered from the whole teaching practice in the experiment.The process of the experiment was divided into three periods. The first period is the preparation for the experiment, including pre-test to both the two classes and pre-questionnaire towards the experiment class. The second period is the stage of eight-week's teaching experiment. Scaffolding instruction was applied to the experimental class while the control class was taught through traditional way. After the experiment, the post-test was conducted to the students in both the experimental class and the control class, and the students in the experimental class were arranged to do the post-questionnaire and interview.This thesis consists of six parts. Part one is a brief introduction to the research background, objective, and significance. The significance and objective are put forward on the basis of the current situation and existing problems of English reading teaching in rural areas. Part two is literature review, which mainly analyzes the contributions and deficiencies of previous studies on English reading teaching and scaffolding instruction. Part three is the theoretical framework, which expounds the definition, characteristics, functions, and teaching processes of scaffolding instruction on the basis of constructivism and Vygotsky's theory of zone of proximal development in order to play a supporting role. Part four is the research design, and this part introduces the design of the experiment from four aspects: the research questions, objects, instruments, and processes. Part five is results and discussion. The data collected during the whole experiment are used to analyze and discuss theeffectiveness of applying scaffolding instruction in rural junior middle school. Part six draws a conclusion of this study, including the major findings, research limitations, implications and suggestions for further study.The results of the study show that scaffolding instruction is more effective than traditional English teaching approaches in English reading class. The application of scaffolding instruction can improve students' reading achievements and interest, and can promote students' usage of reading strategies in many aspects. Some implications and suggestions for further studies are put forward on the basis of this study. Despite some limitations and shortcomings of the experiment, it has still attained the expected results.