A Study On Peer Scaffolding In Pair Work In English Class In Senior High School

In recent years,peer interaction has attracted wide attention.Many studies have shown that peer interaction contributes to language development of learners,and peer scaffolding in peer interaction plays a crucial role in language development of learners.The new curriculum also emphasizes cooperative learning among students.Therefore,this study is dedicated to exploring the peer scaffolding in pair work in senior high school English class,and trying to analyze the peer scaffolding among three different pairing modes,in order to provide valuable references for senior high school English teaching and promote the development of learners.At present,senior high school English class in pair work mostly adopts three pairing modes including fixed-paired mode by teacher,free-paired mode by students and proximal-paired mode.therefore,the author chose three parallel classes in senior 2 in Youlan senior high school of Xing County to record 16 pair work interaction in English nature classes(once a week)and combine with the after-class interview to understand the situation of peer scaffolding in three modes in terms of language development and emotional support.The research questions are as following:(1)How does peer scaffolding work in language development and emotion support in fixed-paired mode by teacher?(2)How does peer scaffolding work in language development and emotion support in free-paired mode by students?(3)How does peer scaffolding work in language development and emotion support in proximal-paired mode?(4)What are the differences of peer scaffolding among three different pairing modes ?After studying and analyzing the four questions,the author comes to the following conclusions by using SPSS and EXCEL to analyze the collected data:In the fixed-paired mode by teacher,the teacher pairs students by grades(higher/lower,higher/intermediate,intermediate/intermediate),and the members are fixed every time.The frequency of each peer scaffolding for language development is: feedback,correcting wrongexpressions,providing vocabulary,providing opinion,direction maintenance,explaining to simplify the task,and optimizing the expression.In terms of emotional support,according to the after-class interviews with 6 students,two peer scaffolding of recruitment and frustration control only exist in higher/intermediate and intermediate/intermediate.While for the higher/lower,the lower thinks there is too much pressure cooperating with the higher,and the higher think it doesn't make any sense.In the free-paired mode by students,pairs are chosen by students themselves and the members are fixed every time.The frequency of each peer scaffolding in language development is: feedback,direction maintenance,providing vocabulary,providing opinion,correcting the wrong expressions,explaining to simplify the task,and optimization the expression.In terms of emotional support,according to the after-class interview with six students,two peer scaffolding of recruitment and frustration control are found in the six students,which indicates that students have a strong willing to cooperate with their partners.In the proximal-paired mode,students are paired with their neighbor by the seat,and the members are not fixed every time.The frequency of each peer scaffolding in language development is: feedback,direction maintenance,providing vocabulary,explaining to simplify the task,providing opinion and correcting wrong expressions.In terms of emotion support,according to the six students interviewed after class,only two of them have recruitment and frustration control because of the personalities,relationship and English level,which indicates that students don't have a strong willing to cooperate with each other.The study also finds that there is a difference on the number of peer scaffolding among the three modes,with the fixed-paired mode by teacher and the free-paired mode by students being the most and the difference being small,while proximal-paired mode being the least and having a significant difference with others.Finally,the author puts forward the following suggestions: teachers should consider not only students' grades,but also students' willingness and other emotional factors,and monitor and guide them in the process.However,proximal-paired mode is not suitable for students' development although it is simple.