Action Research On Scaffolding Instruction For English Listening And Speaking Classroom In Junior-Middle-School

Language is a communicative bridge among people.There is no doubt that communicative function is one of the most important functions.With the deepening of economic integration,a need for communication rises greatly.English has been brought into basic education for many years.However,a common and serious phenomenon is that English teachers pay great attention to language rules and structures.As a result,students’ listening and speaking abilities have been weakened.With regard to the present situation,how to improve students’ listening and speaking abilities is an urgent consideration for rural middle school teachers.In such a context,this thesis explores the application of the scaffolding teaching from the theoretical perspectives of the zone of proximal development in the middle school English classroom.The objectives of the research are to solve the problems with the students’ listening and speaking skills through scaffolding instruction in English classroom,which has resulted in their improvement in learning outcomes,attitudes and strategies.This thesis aims at two research questions:（i）What learning outcomes does the scaffolding instruction produce that denote improvement in students’ listening and speaking abilities?（ii）What changes do students make after the application of scaffolding instruction?（ⅲ）How do students gain those learning outcomes and changes ?This action research involving 46 student participants in Grade Eight lasted for 20 weeks.In the process of the application of scaffolding instruction,the teacher researcher collected and analyzed the data from the students’ listening,speaking,and other aspects of learning outcomes by means of tests,questionnaire,exams,and interview,and made reflections on the results and further make adjustments of the action plan for improvement.After the implementation of the action plan,the research has achieved the following findings:Firstly,scaffolding instruction adopted in this action research has improved students’ listening and speaking abilities.Most of them have achieved the basic objectives of the listening and speaking.Generally,they could grasp the key information in English materials through listening and understand each other’s talk and meanwhile they could express themselves in English on certain topics.Secondly,students become confident and more active in English language learning.They have the desire and courage to show themselves in learning activities.They enjoy learning English and they feel satisfied when they cooperate with their classmates.Additionally,they gain some learning strategies;the most important one is evaluating their own learning process and outcomes.Students’ awareness for learning evaluation can be attributed to the self-assessment used in this action research.Lastly,several modes of scaffolding instruction that have brought positive effects are suitable for rural students’ language learning,namely,context scaffolding,example scaffolding,apprenticeship scaffolding,picture scaffolding,which could be used flexibly and simultaneously.The research findings have the pedagogical implications: in the specific listening-speaking context,particularly,in rural middle schools,teachers need to adopt proper modes of scaffolding instruction in English classroom,which should be further practiced and researched as a part of the present educational reform in middle schools.