A Study On The Status Quo Of Scaffolding Instruction Among Middle School English Teachers In Chinese Rural Areas

Scaffolding instruction is a significant teaching method based on the concept of constructivism.It refers to the process of providing temporary scaffolding for students to help them have a good command of knowledge and removing the scaffolding when they can complete the learning tasks independently.It breaks the traditional teacher-centered teaching mode,emphasizes teacher-guided and student-centered principle in the learning process.In recent years,with the continuous implementation of the new curriculum reform,scaffolding instruction has been more and more widely used in English teaching,and has gradually attracted the attention of the foreign language teaching researchers in China.Therefore,it is essential to study the status quo of scaffolding instruction among English teachers in China.Scholars at home and abroad have made some achievements in theoretical and empirical research on scaffolding instruction.Nevertheless,the research on the status quo of scaffolding instruction used by English teachers in Chinese rural middle schools is still relatively scarce.In view of this,on the basis of previous research,the author tries to systematically study the status quo of scaffolding instruction among English teachers in Chinese rural middle schools,and finds out problems in practical teaching,then analyzes the causes of these problems and proposes counter measures to solve the problems.This study aims to provide some references for English teachers in middle schools,especially those in rural areas where educational resources are relatively insufficient,and to fill the gap to some degree in the research field of scaffolding instruction in rural middle schools.This study is guided by the following four research questions:(1)What is the status quo of scaffolding instruction among middle school English teachers in rural China?(2)What are the existing problems of scaffolding instruction in practical teaching?(3)What are the causes of these problems?(4)What effective measures can be taken to solve these problems?In this study,85 English teachers from eight rural middle schools including Wenfeng Middle School,Boya Middle School and Qiliping Middle School in Hubei Province,and Sanlian Middle School in Guizhou Province etc are selected as the research participants.Through the comprehensive use of classroom observation,questionnaire and interview,it is found that there are four main problems in the practical application of scaffolding instruction.Specifically,in terms of the types of scaffolding,some teachers only use a single type of scaffolding instead of a variety of scaffolds;second,as for the properties of scaffolding,some teachers ignore the temporality and variability of scaffolding;third,in terms of the content of scaffolding,some teachers fail to connect with students' actual life experiences when setting up the scaffolding;fourth,when it comes to the scope of scaffolding,some teachers fail to provide scaffolds for all the students,or fail to take individual differences into account.Through further research,the author finds that the causes of these problems mainly come from two aspects.On the one hand,the scaffolding theory itself is limited.Due to the multiplicity of zone of proximal development and the lack of guiding teaching samples,the practical application of scaffolding instruction has become more difficult.On the other hand,the reasons on teachers' side,for example teachers' unfamiliarity with the scaffolding theory and the inadequacy of their professional quality may also cause the problems.In order to tackle these problems,this study proposes some corresponding and workable measures.First of alL when applying scaffolding instruction,teachers should make comprehensive use of a variety of scaffolding types as far as possible,and pay much attention to the temporality and variability of scaffolding,such as timely removing or adjusting the scaffolds in order to fit the studentsf zone of proximal development.Secondly,when setting up the scaffolding,students' life experiences need to be fully considered to avoid being divorced from students' actual life.Finally,teachers should respect the students,provide different scaffolds to meet the needs of students at different levels,and design personalized teaching for all students as much as possible.