Scaffolding in English Teaching

Abstract：This essay basically deals with the application of scaffolding in English teaching class. Moreover， sociocultural interaction， Zone of Proximal Development （ZPD）， mediation， and teachers talk will be discussed as well.

Key words：scaffolding； classroom talk； English teaching； feedback

中圖分類號：H319 文獻標識碼：A 文章編號：1672-1578（2016）08-0001-02

1 Concepts of scaffolding

‘Scaffolding was initially exploited by Vygotsky and

Luria with the aim of identifying how adults show the cultural means to children （Van de Veer and Valsiner， 1991： 226）. The definitions of scaffolding vary slightly from people to people， however， the key concept is the almost the same.

2 Language scaffolding in writing task

According to Richards（2003a： 123）， scaffolding can be exploited in the L2 writing， which means that teachers should provide students with linguistic sources， such as， how to organize sentences and paragraphs in the context， and guide learners to construct their ability to write a piece of article. Eventually， they arrive at a higher level of writing without others help. Teachers can not instruct students to write every part of the essay， which seems to be time-consuming and impractical. Hereby， instead of showing how to write an article from the beginning to the end， teaching students the way of writing is more beneficial and time-efficient. In this situation， the ability of independently fulfilling a task will be increased as well. As Richards declared again， the best choice is to teach students how to write in a macroscopic way by scaffolding language rather than dividing the whole composition into several sections （2003b： 123）.

3 Scaffolding in written feedback

It has been claimed by Weissberg （2006： 247） that oral scaffolding plays an important role in written feedbacks for L2 students. For example， teachers offer the verbal feedbacks to learners based on their written work， and in the process of doing that， students are instructed to probe on the way of writing a beautiful essay. Donato（1994： 40） also suggests that ‘scaffolding is a tool， which used by teachers to push students to attain the zone of proximal development， and exceed the current level to a higher one. As stated by Sinclair （1982： 38）， students will benefit a lot from teachers comments and evaluations， because the learners would like to have a clear idea of how well they have learnt， and also they can modify their mistakes if teachers response timely. Be of most importance， they stop letting the mistakes develop any longer. More specifically speaking， if teachers do not point out the errors in time， students will take it for granted that they are right， and they are likely to continue make the mistakes.

4 The components of scaffolding children

Berk and Winsler（1995： 27） demonstrate that a good children scaffolding should possess three basic features. Firstly， with the same objective， experts participate in the activities and accompany the novices for conquering the problems. During negotiating the activities， novices develop their own cognitive learning. Secondly， the two authors consider ‘inter-subjectivity is also one of the crucial elements in scaffolding learning， which means that the two audiences have the different levels of comprehension of the activities initially， but realizing the identical goal. For instance， experts need to clear about novices current understanding and the higher one that could be achieved with instructions， and then make a link between them two. Thirdly， the scaffolding should be delivering in a kind， praiseful， and responsive tongue， especially for children. After finishing one step， children would like to actively move on to the next step if they are complimented by teachers or parents （p.29）. Likewise， L2 teachers can also follow the three stages to scaffold students properly in their second language learning. 5 Scaffolding in peer collaboration

Donato（1994： 51-52） has carried out an investigation into the ‘mutual scaffolding used by L2 learning with purpose of exploring three novice French students， who focuses on one task helping each other to make progress in the L2 learning. Consequently， through the data analysis， he shows that each person can scaffold the other group members rather than the proficient students help the less capable ones； meantime， individual persons linguistic capacity has been boosted no matter what their levels are at the beginning. Furthermore， the similar study conducted by Ohta （1995， cited in， De Guerrero and Villamil， 2000： 54） also emphasizes that both the experts and the novices can benefit from each other through scaffolding interaction. For the novice， they will upgrade their L2 level. While as to the advanced person， they can adjust and refine their L2 during the communication.

6 Scaffolding by using the L1

L1 scaffolding can reduce the misunderstanding in the L2 learning classroom， which makes the interaction progress smoothly， and subsequently students will fulfill the task or activity successfully. L1 is a bridge of the mother tongue and the target language， and teachers can explain their meaning in the L1 directly. Nevertheless， over using the L1 will interfere with the psychological tool in the interaction （Guerrero and Villamil， 2000： 64）. Therefore， they make a compromise by saying that the application of the L1 should depend on the real circumstance and the characteristic of the task， as the L1 is not practicable for every collaboration.

7 Mediation

Mediation is another concept relevant to sociocultrual and Vygotskian theory， which is useful for establishing the activities and producing the higher mental processes. As illustrated by Vygotsky（cited in， Danato and MacCormick （1994： 453）， mediators vary from materials， symbols and language or a persons target language in the collaboration. Again， according to Danato and MacCormick （1994： 453）， the forms of mediation are involved in the sociocultrual process， and they still indicate that learning strategies can not be taught and trained directly. The role of the teacher is to encourage students to exploit a strategic theory of the activity. Ahmed （1994： 158） also follows Vygotsky statement， ‘student exploit language as a symbolic tool to communicate with teachers and peers， and the language used in the interaction is a mediator. That is to say， language is a vital tool in students cognitive learning.

8 Conclusions

In summary， Vygotskian theory plays a very important role in second language acquisition. The author analyzed the principles of his famous theory. In addition， the author tried to connect each theory with second language learning， meanwhile， recommend some suggestions for teachers job in different aspects. More specifically， as Mithell and Myles （1998： 161） claimed， sociocultural considers language as an instrument for thought， and we use the language to send messages and express meanings， therefore， interaction plays a central role in this concept. In the very beginning of the article， the different types of interaction are mentioned， namely， teacher-student and student-student interaction. In the following section， one of the most influential Vygotskian theories was introduced. Moreover， the author talked about the four stages of the ZPD， and the different roles the teachers should play. The purpose of doing that is to offer the appropriate assistant based on the learners right level. Subsequently， scaffolding in second language classroom， especially in writing task was described， in addition， the feedbacks from peers in written are emphasized. As mentioned above， L1 should be used in scaffolding if guidance in L2 from the competent people can not be fully understood by the novice. Finally， the author discusses the significance of teachers talk in second language classroom. On one hand， L2 teachers input is a crucial source for L2 learners， and on the other hand， it is the teachers language that scaffolds students to learn the target language. This essay deals with the applications of Vygotskian theory in second language classroom， and it is evident that through the whole article several concepts related to Vygotsky are discussed. Hereby， teachers and learners are better to integrate them harmoniously in order to make full use of them in the second language teaching and learning classroom.

Reference：

[1] Ellis， R. Second Language Acqusition[M]. Oxford： Oxford University Press，1997.

[2] Gibbons， P. Scaffolding Language， Scaffolding Learning[M]. Portsmouth： Heinemann， NH，2002.

[3] Lantolf， J. P. 'Sociocultural theory and second language learning： Introduction to the special issue'[M]. The Modern Language Journal， 1994，78 （4）， 418-420.

[4] Nunan， D. The learner-Centered Curriculum. A Study in Second Language Teaching[D]. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press，1988.

[5] Nizegorodcew. Input for Instructed L2 Learners[M]. UK： MPG Books Ltd，2007.

[6] Richards， J. C. Second Language Writing[D]. Cambridge：

Cambridge University Press，2003.

[7] Sinclair， J. The Structure of Teachers Talk[D]. Oxford： Oxford University Press，1982.

[8] Storch， N. 'How collaborative is pair work？ ESL tertiary students composing in pairs'[J]. Language Teaching Research， 5， 29-53，2001.

[9] Tharp， R & Gallimore， R. Rousing Minds to Life[D]. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press，1988.

作者簡介：史娜威（1983-），女，講師，碩士，研究方向：應用型英語教學。