An Experimental Study On The Application Of The Scaffolding Functions In The Teachers' Questioning To The Teaching Of English Reading In Middle School

Reading plays an important role in English teaching,especially in middle school.Questioning is one of the most frequently used methods for the teacher-student interaction.The effectiveness of questioning directly affects the teaching of English reading.Generally,students do not have much interest in English reading classes.They only listen to the teacher's explanations passively and avoid active participation in reading classes.Many studies show that most of teachers' questions are ineffective.However,it is also known that this is a major factor that can affect students' reading performance,reading speed and reading interest.Effective teachers' questioning can inspire students' thinking,motivate them for learning.However,the validity of the questions depends to a large extent on the scaffolding functions used by English teachers when asking questions.Most of the theses on the use of questioning by teachers focus on the study of questions and their classification.There is a lack of quantitative research that can confirm the effectiveness of use of questions by teachers and its relationship with language acquisition.Based on a thorough literature review,the researcher used the six scaffolding functions proposed by Wood,D.,Bruner,J.& Ross,G.(2010).Then the researcher applied them in the scaffolding functions in the teacher's questions in the middle school.The purpose of this study is to test whether the scaffolding functions in the teacher's questions will affect the effectiveness of the questioning and improve the student's reading performance.This thesis first introduces the research background,significance,purpose and current situation inside and outside China.Based on the literature review and the current teaching situation in China,the researcher intends to address the following two research questions:1.Can the application of the scaffolding functions in the teachers' questioning to the teaching of English reading improve the students' English reading comprehension in middle school?2.What kinds of scaffolding functions are realized in the teachers' questioning in the reading class? And how?This study was conducted in two natural classes in Grade One of Guangzhou No.17 Middle School.Each class has 43 students and was taught by the same teacher.This research used three research instruments: classroom observations,questionnaires,and examination.Before the experiment,the researcher found the students' attitudes to the teacher's questioning and their use of scaffolding functions in the middle school English reading through the questionnaire survey.The results of pre-questionnaire and pre-test revealed that there was no significant difference in the scores of the two classes,and the reading levels of the two classes were the same.Then the researcher applied scaffolding functions by Wood,D.,Bruner,J.& Ross,G.(2010).to the reading class questionings in the experimental class,but the control class still used traditional teaching methods.After the experiment,the experimental class had a significant difference in the attitudes and interests of the teacher's questioning through the questionnaire survey.The students were interested in the teacher's questioning.They thought that the application of the scaffolding functions can improve their English reading abilities from the reading rate and the reading accuracy.These proved the effectiveness of the reading classes.Through the data collection and statistics of SPSS 20.0 for post-test,the results showed that the post-test scores of the experimental class were significantly higher than the post-test scores of the control class.And the improvement degree of reading scores in these two classes was significant.The researcher concluded that there was a positively correlation between the scaffolding function of English teachers' reading classroom questions and the students' English reading ability.This study reveals two main results.One is the use of the scaffolding functions in the teacher's questioning can stimulate the students' reading interest and improves their reading abilities.The other is six scaffolding functions proposed by Wood(2010)are used in the teacher's questioning,especially simplifying the problem,maintaining the direction,and marking the key features with higher degrees of recognition.Thus,the following research implications can be drawn.First,the scaffolding function in teachers' questioning is an effective teaching method of English reading.It is necessary to improve teachers' awareness of effective teachers' questioning in the students' Zone of Proximal Development.Second,the scaffolding functions in teachers' questioning can raise students' interest in English reading,improve their English reading ability,and help the students to develop their communication skills.The researcher hopes that this study can provide some valuable references for English teachers.