An Empirical Study On Scaffolding Instruction In English Vocabulary Teaching In Junior High Schools

Vocabulary is a fundamental and significant part in English teaching.As English has played an important role in international communication,teachers should pay more attention to English teaching,especially vocabulary teaching.However,traditional vocabulary teaching method focuses on the forms and use of the words,rather than their construction and usage in specific contexts.Thus,most of students are lack of comprehensive capability to use English vocabulary properly.Scaffolding instruction is a new teaching method that based on constructivism and Vygotsky’s theory,which named the zone of proximal development.It requires teachers or other adults to provide appropriate assistance when the learners face difficulties during their learning process and allow them to complete the learning tasks independently.Guided by scaffolding instruction,the study intends to probe into the effects on vocabulary teaching in junior high schools.Two research questions are addressed:(1)Compared with the traditional vocabulary teaching method,how does the scaffolding instruction in vocabulary teaching cultivate junior high school students’ vocabulary learning interest and confidence?(2)Compared with the traditional vocabulary teaching method,how does the scaffolding instruction in vocabulary teaching improve juniorhigh school students’ vocabulary learning ability?113 Grade two students of two intact classes were selected at random from a junior high school in Hunan province.After conducted a pretest between two classes,the author found students’ vocabulary competence in these two classes were in the similar level.So just chose one as the experimental group under scaffolding instruction of vocabulary,and the other as the control group under traditional vocabulary teaching method.After about one semester,through a pretest,a treatment of two different methods of instruction,and an immediate post-test,the data were collected and analyzed,revealing the major finding: scaffolding instruction can cultivate learners’ interests and confidence on vocabulary learning as well as improve their vocabulary learning ability through communication between teachers and students and between students and students to urge them learn independently.The findings provide an empirical proof for scaffolding instruction and also expand the field of application and research,revealing both theoretical and pedagogical implications.The author hopes this empirical and experimental study will be certain reference value in English vocabulary teaching in junior high schools.