A Comparative Study Of Scaffolding Discourse Between Expert English Teachers And Novice Teachers In Senior High Schools

Teacher talk is an important resource of language input to students,and scaffolding talk,as one kind of teacher talk,can increase opportunities of students language output,enrich language output content and improve students' self-learning abilities,therefore how to improve scaffolding talk effectiveness is a valuable topic.There are differences of scaffolding talk between expert teachers and novice teachers because of their professional abilities.Based on Scaffolding Theory in Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory,Input Hypothesis and Output Hypothesis,Interaction Hypothesis and Needing Analysis,this thesis aims to conduct a comparative study of the scaffolding talk between expert and novice teachers in senior high school,grade one,to answer the following three research questions:1.What are the similarities and differences between expert and novice teachers' perceptions of scaffolding talk?2.What are the similarities and differences in the actual use of scaffolding talk between expert and novice teachers?(1)What are the similarities and differences of scaffolding talk quantities between expert and novice teachers?(2)What are the similarities and differences of means of scaffolding talk between expert and novice teachers?3.Is there a gap between expert and novice teachers' scaffolding talk and students' expectations?The author chose four teachers(two expert teachers and two novice teachers)in a key senior high school in XX,and had an interview with them about their perceptions of scaffolding talk.Besides,the author observed twelve classes,each teacher three classes,and video-recorded them which were then transcribed into written documents,among which two kinds of teachers' scaffolding talk was analyzed,under three situations: students are unable to answer a question,have problems in language organization or produce wrong,obscure or incomplete answers.Students in these four teachers' classes were invited to be part of the questionnaire investigation.Through the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the video-recorded transcriptions,classroom observation,and the results of the teacher interview and the student questionnaire,comprehensive results are as following:1.Both expert and novice teachers don't have a clear knowledge of the scaffolding talk definition,but both of them recognize its importance and use it mostly in English class.Besides,expert teacher give more emphasis to scaffolding talk reflection after class.2.The similarity of expert and novice teachers' use of scaffolding talk is that they all use telling rarely.The difference is that the amount of expert teacher talking is less than that of novice teacher,but expert teachers use more scaffolding talk than novice teachers.And expert teachers are inclined to use multiple scaffolding talks more flexibly.The most frequently used scaffolding talks by novice teachers are modeling and explaining,while expert teachers are hinting and questioning.3.Expert and novice teachers' multiple use of scaffolding talks are in line with students' expectations.In the following learning context:(1)When students are unable to answer the question,expert teachers' more choice of hinting and explaining is consistent with the expectations of their students.Students hope their teachers can use more modeling and encouraging,while students hope their novice teachers can use explaining and extending waiting time.(2)When students have problems in language organization,expert teachers' choice of hinting,encouraging and extending waiting time are students' expectations,while students hope their novice teachers can use telling less but extend waiting time.(3)When students produce wrong,obscure or incomplete answers,expert teachers use reformulating and questioning more,which is similar to students' expectations.And students hope their novice teachers can increase use of questioning,encouraging and extending waiting time.4.Teacher scaffolding talks have positive effects on students' language development,thinking patterns and learning strategies.