An Empirical Study On Scaffolding Instruction Model In English Writing Teaching In Junior Middle Schools

With the continuous development and progress of society,the importance of English has become increasingly prominent,and learning English is also an irresistible trend.English writing is a necessary skill for English learners.For junior middle school students,English writing is very important in entrance examination for senior high school and future development.However,in the current junior middle school English teaching,students have weak English foundation and lack good writing habits.However,most teachers adopt the traditional writing teaching method,paying too much attention to the results of writing yet little attention to the process of writing,which leads to students' low interest in English writing and low writing level.Based on the theory of social constructivism,scaffolding instruction model combines with Vygotsky's theory of the zone of proximal development.When learners encounter difficulties in their learning process,teachers or more capable peers provide timely and appropriate help for learners to decompose complex learning tasks and gradually complete them by themselves,so as to enhance their abilities to complete tasks independently.When learners have the ability to complete tasks independently,the help provided by teachers and peers can be evacuated so that learners can prepare for the next zone of proximal development.The model was firstly applied abroad,and its validity and feasibility were confirmed.However,there are few studies on the application of scaffolding instruction model in junior middle school English writing.Therefore,this study attempts to apply scaffolding instruction model into junior middle school English writing teaching.Based on constructivism theory and the theory of the zone of proximal development,the following research questions are put forward combined with English writing teaching practice:(1)What effects does scaffolding instruction model have on the students' interest and proficiency in English writing in junior middle school?(2)How should teachers set up scaffolds for students with different English proficiency in English writing in junior middle school?The research is conducted through comparing the traditional method,the Product Approach,with the scaffolding teaching for English writing in a designed teaching experiment for a period of 16 teaching weeks.The subjects of the research are 72 grade seven students from Class 3 and Class 5 respectively of Junjing Middle School in Guangzhou City,Guangdong Province for the reason that their English learning background and English proficiency is similar.Class 3 and Class 5 are randomly selected as the Experimental Class and the Controlled Class respectively.The research instruments are questionnaires,tests and interviews.Questionnaires include pre-questionnaire and post-questionnaire.Tests include pre-test and post-test.Interviews include teachers' interviews and students' interviews.The data collected was analyzed with SPSS 20.0(Statistics Package for Social Science Version 20).The results of the pre-test and post-test show that there is no significant difference in the writing proficiency of the two classes before experiment;After experiment,scaffolding teaching model has a significant effect on the students' writing level in the Experimental Class,while the traditional writing teaching method has no significant effect on the students' writing level in the Controlled Class.The pre-experiment questionnaire shows that the students in the two classes hold a negative attitude towards the traditional writing teaching method,while the students in the Experimental Class have a very high recognition of the scaffolding instruction model after experiment.Therefore,the author believes that the scaffolding instruction model can be applied to junior high school English writing teaching to improve students' writing proficiency and interest.In view of author's limited knowledge and many unpredictable factors,the design and conclusions of this study need to be further explored and improved,and the application of scaffolding teaching mode also needs more practical verification of classroom teaching by English teachers in junior middle school.