1、西华师范大学科 目 外语教学研究前沿论文题目 The Application of Scaffolding Instruction in English Reading Teaching in Senior School姓 名 何丽姗学 号 313045108005专 业 学科教学（英语）班 级 研一（2）班The Application of Scaffolding Instruction in English Reading Teaching in senior schoolAbstract :English is an important subject in senior high s
2、chool. Among the four skills of language learning, reading is the most important. There are specific requirements of class reading and extra-curricular reading in the new National Standard of English Curriculum. Senior high school students are requested to reach a higher level in English reading, bu
3、t in reality, high school English teaching is faced with many difficulties and problems and the situation of students reading is not satisfactory, which affects students English learning and their interests to a large extent. One of the contributing factors for this phenomenon is traditional teachin
4、g mode, which is dominated by teachers explanations. Students accept knowledge passively and their enthusiasm cant be inspired effectively and their learning potential cant be fully tapped. In order to improve the current situation, it is necessary to change the traditional teaching mode, making stu
5、dents the main body of learning. And scaffolding instruction, based on constructive learning concept, is an important teaching method, which takes place within students zone of proximal development. It takes students as the main learning body, and is an innovation to the interaction between teaching
6、 and students English reading learning. This paper aims to the application in the English reading teaching in senior high school.Key words : scaffolding instruction, application, English reading teaching 1. Introduction Present Situation of Senior English Reading Teaching The New Senior English Curr
7、iculum Standards formulates that students should master four basic language skills, namely, listening, speaking, reading and writing. Among them, reading is one important component that both teachers and students should focus more attention on. And the significance of English is being realized among
8、 the high school students, who take great pains to study the language for various purposes, mainly for higher academic achievement or higher scores in the College Entrance Examination. However, in reality, the situation of students reading is not satisfactory, for which there are many contributing f
9、actors. On one hand, students have many difficulties in English reading, such as, the insufficient command of vocabulary, the lack of reading skills and strategies, and the lack of interest and motivation. The high school students always complain that learning English is energy- and time-consuming,
10、because they spend a great deal of time in looking up in a dictionary new words they come across while reading. The students have no idea of the reading strategies and skills, believing that reading is something related to knowing about the Chinese meanings of the new words. As a result, some studen
11、ts show a complete lack of interest and motivation in English reading. However, it is fairly well known that reading ability is intimately related to the students interest and motivation in reading. On the other hand, the traditional teaching method is effective in that this method enhances students
12、 performances in examinations composed of traditional types of questions and therefore, detailed vocabulary explanation and the analysis of grammatical rules are given more attention to. Then, the teacher are more familiar with traditional teaching mode and thus ignore renewing teaching methods and
13、offering more scientific guidance of reading skills and strategies. In the traditional teaching method, students are just listeners, who accept in a passive way the explanation of the teacher about some grammatical points, translation of the sentences in reading passages and some individual words an
14、d phrases that puzzle them. Under the direction of the New Curriculum Standard, it is vital to probe into better design of senior English reading teaching, which has important practical significance to the successful implementation of the New Standard. The teachers should change their traditional co
15、nception of reading teaching and apply more scientific teaching approaches to better their reading teaching. And in this aspect the Scaffolding Instruction has great superiority over the traditional reading teaching method. 2. Literature reviewScaffolding is a temporary structure used to support peo
16、ple and material in the construction or repair of buildings and other large structures. In the field of construction and building, scaffolding provides construction workers with space to build and the scaffolding also offers a way for the construction worker to reach work areas which they can not ha
17、ve access by themselves. When the construction is finished, the scaffolding is removed. By the similar understanding, when this term is used in the area of teaching a second or foreign language, it refers to a temporary and adaptable support and the support makes students finish a task successfully
18、“that would be impossible without the scaffolding or to accomplish a task more efficiently or more easily than they could without the scaffolding” (Graves Meyer, 1993). Scaffolding Theory was first introduced in the late 1950s by Jerome Bruner, the famous cognitive psychologist. In Role of Tutoring
19、in Problem Solving, the term scaffolding was used as a metaphor to describe a “process that enables a child or novice to solve a problem, carry out a task or achieve a goal which would be beyond his unassisted efforts”(Wood, Bruner 2)contributions to cooperation study; 3) the achievement of the know
20、ledge that they are acquiring. The subject of learning is students who play a main role in the learning process. They gather and deal with the information independently. They check whether their English reading comprehension has been satisfactory or not. Then they will adjust their previous plans an
21、d make more efforts in learning activities. In short, the substance of scaffolding instruction is to supply students with an appropriate language learning environment. Teachers are assistants in the process for students to construct knowledge. They offer students supports and scaffolds and gradually
22、 remove them as students can develop autonomous learning, thereby cognitive learning skills of the students are promoted. 4. Conclusions Based on the review of the theories of scaffolding instruction, three main points are following. 1.Scaffolding instruction may be more effective to improve the stu
23、dents English reading proficiency compared with the traditional teaching method.2. Scaffolding instruction may be more effective in improving the students overall English level than the traditional teaching mode. 3. In the class where scaffolding instruction is applied, the students interest in Engl
24、ish reading and English learning may stimulate more effectively than that of the students in the class who are taught with traditional teaching methods. The application of scaffolding instruction is effective to arouse the students interest in English and the emotional arousal leads the students to
25、conscious decisions to perform better. In the process of the motive power become stronger, it is more favorable for the students to do more reading, develop their reading skills and good reading habits. So interest is important internal motive. Once the conditions are right, they will break out in a
26、mazing ways. Applying scaffolding instruction, is of great help for students to give full play to initiative, to cultivate the innovation consciousness. Based on the above statements, the following suggestions are given. First of all, teachers should try their best to keep pace with the development
27、of latest theories and researches on scaffolding instruction. In the aspect of practice, teachers ought to avoid the appearance of the situation that the teaching methods become a mere formality without practical effects. In scaffolding instruction, what the teachers should do is to find the right c
28、onnection between teaching and learning and build up scaffolding for learners according to this. When applying scaffolding instruction, the teachers should be aware that the scaffolds are not changeless, but dynamic and sensitive, which change with the students practical levels and study activities.
29、 Only in this way can learners have more space and develop their autonomy. The teaching mode set a high demand on the teachers so the teachers should improve themselves continuously. Second, since the scaffolding instruction has already been proved to have positive effects in English reading teachin
30、g, both the teachers and students should hold their own roles well to achieve better teaching results. Teachers are not the center of the class and students are not passive learners. Teachers have the responsibility to help students to stimulate their potential not only for their English study but a
31、lso for their future development. Third, although the application of scaffolding instruction has many advantages, the traditional teaching mode should not be abandoned entirely. The best method is to combine them appropriately. The traditional mode still has some merits. For example, when just impar
32、t knowledge to students, to apply the traditional methods is more effective. Last, it is important for teachers to consider students emotional factors in the process of teaching. High school students are special groups who have to bear stresses of getting good scores in various examinations; on the
33、other hand, they are in the special period of psychological transition. The teachers should not only pay attention to their academic records but also their emotional changes, which is in favor of the relationship between the teachers and students. And this, in turn, will be more effective to inspire
34、 them to study harder so as to get good development in the future. What s more, when it comes to students academic records, It can say that marks should not be the only tool for measuring teachers teaching and students learning. Practical and scientific teaching evaluating system should be establish
35、ed which is an important safeguard to achieve the objectives of the English curriculum. Although the scaffolding instruction can be used to optimize teaching, there are still some limitations and difficulties in the process of scaffolding instructionFirstly, in scaffolding instruction teachers act t
36、he roles who design the teaching activities to help them develop skills and concepts, who promote students learning. The main aim is to help students gain independence, that is, to learn how to learn. It puts forward high demands on teachers. Scaffolding instruction requires teachers to be empatheti
37、c and skilled, which, in fact, is a great challenge for teachers. It is obvious that the role transition is difficult for teachers from the traditional teaching mode. Secondly, the application of scaffolding instruction requires the teachers to have rich background knowledge and a good master of the
38、 teaching materials so as to choose proper materials for the students use in the limited time. Whats more, if the teachers are not trained properly, he may not implement scaffolding instruction effectively and the full effect is hard to see. Thirdly, the students received traditional teaching for ma
39、ny years after all, therefore, they are more familiar with the previous mode. The students need time and more efforts to adapt themselves to the new teaching methods. For some students with poor English base it will be more difficult. Usually they have great worries in study and show discouragement
40、when they meet with difficulties, which will widen the gap between themselves with the others. Its difficult for this group of students to participate in the class teaching. Fourthly, the scaffolds the teachers give are helpful to students but once the scaffolding is removed, not all students can st
41、ill complete the tasks by themselves. The point of removing the scaffolds is hard to control according to ever students real abilities. Thats also a barrier for students in the reading activities, as they cannot relate the given tasks to realistic situation, which results in unpractical implementati
42、on of the instruction. Reference1. Berk,L.E., & Winsler, A. Scaffolding Childrens earning: Vygotsky and early childhood education. NAEYC Research and Practice Series, 7J. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1995(8): 89-102. 2. Guerrero, M. C. M. de. , Villamil,
43、O. Activating the ZPD: Mutual scaffolding in L2 peer revision J. The Modern Language Journal, 2000, 84 (1): 51-68. 3. Meyer, D.K. What is Scaffold Instruction? Definitions, Distinguishing Features, and Misnomers. In D.J. Leu & C. K. Kinzer, (Ed.), Examining central issues in literacy research, theor
44、y and practice. M. Chicago: The Notional Reading Conference, 1993. 4. Wood, D. J., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G. The role of tutoring in problem solving. J. Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 1976, 17(2):89-100. 5. 杜军. “支架式 ”教学应重视“脚手架”的搭建J. 教学理论与实践，2005(7): 51-53. 6. 刘晓蓉. 支架式教学模式在教学中的运用研究 J. 理论经纬， 2010 (2) : 19-20.7. 武晓燕. 试论建构主义理论对英语教学的启示 J. 外语与外语教学 , 2006 (2).
