摘 要

阅读对英语学习非常重要。然而，大学英语阅读教学中存在很多问题。大学英语课程基本上仍采用以教师为中心，以教科书为中心和以语法为中心的常规教学模式，这种教学模式导致学生在许多大学英语课堂中成为被动学习者，这会使学生对英语阅读学习失去兴趣。

支架式教学法是一种以学习者为中心的方法，目的是提高学习者独立思考能力。

在前人的研究成果基础之上，本研究采用问卷调查，访谈方法，系统地了解我国大学英语教师应用支架式教学的现状，找出其在实际教学中存在的问题，分析导致这些问题的原因并力求寻找解决问题的方法，希望为广大大学老师提供一些参考借鉴。

第一章介绍了英语阅读的重要性，大学英语阅读现状，支架式教学相关文献综述和研究方法。

第二章分析了大学英语阅读教学中存在的支架式教学问题。

第三章分析了大学英语阅读教学中支架式教学问题存在的原因。

第四章分析了大学英语阅读教学中支架式教学问题产生原因的方法。

第五章总结了这项研究。

关键词：支架式教学;大学英语;阅读教学；策略

Abstract

Reading is very important for English learning.However, there are many problems in college English reading teaching. College English courses are basically still using the teacher-centered, textbook-centered, and grammar-centered conventional teaching models.This teaching model has led to students being passive learners , which makes students lose interest in English reading .

The scaffold teaching method is a learner-centered method, the purpose is to improve the learner's independent thinking ability.

Based on the previous research results, this research use questionnaire surveys, and interview methods to systematically understand the current status of college English teachers applying scaffolding in reading classes and find out the problems in actual teaching. Analyze the causes of these problems, and find strategies to solve the problem, hoping to provide some reference for the majority of university teachers.

Chapter 1 introduces the importance of English reading, the current status of college English reading, literature review and research methods of scaffold teaching.

Chapter 2 analyzes the scaffold teaching problems in college English reading teaching.

Chapter 3 analyzes the reasons of the scaffold teaching problems in college English reading teaching.

Chapter 4 provides strategies to solve the problem of scaffold teaching.

Chapter 5 summarizes this study.

Key Words: scaffold teaching; college English; reading instruction; strategies

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Research purpose and significance 1

1.2 Current status of college English reading 1

1.3 Literature Review 2

1.4 Research Methodology 6

2 Problems of using scaffold teaching in college English class 8

2.1 The scaffold teaching is not for all 8

2.2 Ignoring the students ’recent development areas and gradual withdrawal of the bracket 8

2.3 Single bracket type 9

2.4 Single feedback and evaluation 9

3 Analysis of the causes of problems in the application of scaffolding in college English class 11

3.1 Insufficient cases of scaffold teaching 11

3.2 Difficulties in actual teaching conditions 11

3.3 Multiplicity of students' recent development zones 12

3.4 Different teaching levels 12

4 Strategies provided to solve problems in scaffold teaching 14

4.1 Double teacher system 14

4.2 The use of multiple brackets 14

4.3 Considering student differences and gradual teaching process 15

4.4 Positive feedback 16

5 Conclusion 18

References 19

Acknowledgements 21

Appendix： 22

The Application of Scaffold Teaching in College English Reading Teaching

1 Introduction

1.1 Research purpose and significance

In recent years, with the development of applied linguistics and psychology, many educators have begun to realize that the factors that affect students' reading ability are not only from language knowledge, more from other factors such as interest and motivation.

As a kind of teaching mode under relatively mature theoretical guidance, scaffolding teaching has a lot of research on teaching English middle school and elementary school. However, there are few studies on scaffolding college English reading teaching. Scaffolding teaching should be a feature that is more suitable for college students' English learning.One of the main purposes of building a "bracket" is to allow students to develop from the current actual level to the potential achievable level (Qian Keying 2012). The “bracket” provided by teachers or peers to students is to decompose complex learning tasks and complete new reading tasks step by step through the role of brackets. Students' abilities have also improved.

1.2 Current status of college English reading

In the traditional college English teaching mode, teachers are still teaching centers. The teacher emphasizes the teaching of language knowledge,mainly using translation reading, which is to read words first, and then the teacher will explain sentence by sentence, analyze the sentence and text structure, translate the text, explain the usage of rhetoric, and then practice on this basis. Students also passively take notes mechanically in the classroom and passively accept knowledge. This teaching model can neither increase students' interest nor improve their ability to solve problems, or help them develop good reading habits.

According to the author's collection of literature,it is found that in addition to completing the extracurricular reading tasks assigned by the teacher, few students insisted on extracurricular English reading. Even if the students take the initiative to read, most of the reading is for the purpose of taking the test, such as preparing for the fourth and sixth grades, postgraduate study, and going abroad. In the selection of reading materials, most students take the exam reading book as the main reading material. Some students will use mobile terminals to read English news and magazines. A small number of students read English novels or professional books.

1.3 Literature Review

1.3.1 The concept of scaffold teaching

Regarding the concept of scaffolding teaching, Wood (Bruner amp; Ross, 1976) and others defined it as “the learner achieves the process of answering questions and completing tasks with the help of others.”^[1]Specifically, in the daily learning process, learners often encounter a considerable difficult task, which is a big gap with the learner's ability to solve problems or tasks, and this gap makes it difficult for learners to construct their own knowledge, that is to say, learners by virtue of their own ability is difficult or unable to solve such problems.At this time, if the teacher provides the necessary help or support for the learner in this process, but does not directly provide results for them, so that they can use their existing knowledge to understand, internalize and construct new knowledge to bring its original level to another height, then this kind of help is a bracket for learners.

1.3.2 Steps of scaffold teaching

The steps of scaffold teaching generally follow five steps: "create a scenario-build a scaffold-independent -exploration-group- cooperation-effect -evaluation". Creating a scenario, that is, before the teaching task begins, the teacher introduces students into the teaching background through certain teaching methods and inspires thinking about related issues. Building a bracket is the core of scaffold teaching, mainly referring to the conceptual framework set by teachers according to the students' recent development areas and closely following the teaching tasks.

Independent exploration is to allow students to learn independently. Students can first think according to the guidance of teachers. With the improvement of students' learning ability, teachers can gradually withdraw help and let students construct knowledge along the "conceptual framework".Effectiveness evaluation is the evaluation of the content learned, here including not only the evaluation of teachers on students, but also the self-assessment of students and mutual evaluation between student groups.

1.3.3 Classification of brackets

Based on the summary of the brackets given by the predecessors and the actual situation of teaching, the brackets for reading teaching can be divided into eight categories:

1. Question bracket: The question bracket is the most used bracket mode. Teachers can ask different questions according to different situations and different reading stages. Guide students to explore their own answers based on the questions.
2. Example bracket: Teachers can provide teaching examples for students in English reading teaching, allowing students to imitate learning.
3. Suggested bracket: When students encounter problems in the learning process, teachers provide appropriate suggestions.^[2]
4. Schema support: Teachers can make full use of the background, culture, and language involved in reading materials to make it easier for students to understand.
5. Scenario support: In the face of situations that students are not interested in, teachers can set an interesting and specific situation for students, let students in the situation Learning.
6. Strategic support: Teachers can develop reading strategies for students based on teaching goals
7. Tool support: Teachers can concretize abstract knowledge through multimedia technology, intuitive teaching aids and other forms to ensure that students can master the knowledge.
8. Icon bracket: Icons can display complex information in a visual way, and they can directly express the relationship between things.

1.3.4 Characteristics of scaffold teaching

According to Maybin, Mercer amp; Steire (1992) and other researchers, this kind of "scaffold" is regarded as "temporary but substantive help provided by the tutor" to support the learner to successfully perform the task. So there are the following five characteristics:

1. Temporary: The scaffold teaching’s purpose is to cultivate students' independent learning ability. Therefore, whether it is a teacher or a companion's "bracket" should be only temporary, as the students' own abilities increase, the teacher should withdraw the bracket and let the students learn independently.
2. Timeliness: Teachers should see the current level of students, and then teachers should build a "bracket" for students in time according to the actual situation of students, so as to help improve students' learning ability.
3. Prospective: The scaffold teaching is actually the teaching in the recent development zone. Therefore, in the teaching process, teachers should formulate students 'tasks according to the students' recent development zones. The difficulty of learning tasks should be moderate.
4. Difference: The scaffold teaching respects the difference of learners' knowledge, ability and cultural background,so teachers teach should according to their aptitude.
5. Cooperation: The scaffold teaching emphasizes the interaction between teachers and students or peers.

These five characteristics of scaffold teaching are very important.Teachers should consider these characteristics as much as possible in the application process.

1.3.5 Research on domestic scaffolding teaching

Most of the researchers in the reading teaching of the scaffold teaching model in China are front-line teachers. They apply the scaffold teaching model to the English reading class and sum up their experience in the teaching process, which has a high reference value. ^[3]Professor He Kekang (1997) systematically introduced several teaching modes under the guidance of constructivism, including scaffolding teaching, constructivist teaching mode, teaching methods and teaching design. His research greatly promoted the application of the constructivist teaching model in the classroom. Jiao Wei (2010) studied the application of scaffolding teaching in English reading teaching. ^[4]According to the application of scaffolding, he analyzed some key points and pointed out the issues that teachers should focus on at all stages of teaching. Zhou Zhen (2011) introduced the application of scaffolding teaching in college English reading in a multimedia environment. In recent years, researches on vocabulary, speaking and writing have been increasing. Ding Xiaoming and Ge Chunyan studied the application of scaffolding in private college English listening. Li Xiaojin (2017) explored the application of scaffolding in the college English chunking model.^[5] Zhang Liping (2018) studied the use of scaffolding in college English writing Application, but less research on reading.

1.3.6 Research on foreign scaffold teaching

Many studies abroad have confirmed the effectiveness of scaffolding teaching. Cazden (1979) believes that the application of scaffolding teaching has a positive effect on the development of learners' ZPD. In 1981, Cardsden divided scaffolding into vertical scaffolding and sequential scaffolding.The former involves adults expanding their children ’s language by asking more questions, while the latter refers to the scaffolding found in games.Applebee and Langer (1983) put forward the concept of scaffolding teaching, absorbing their socially and culturally available conventions and regulations. However, not all "brackets" will produce positive effects, and there are studies abroad that can prove it.Schinke-Llano (1994) demonstrated through experiments that a major hidden danger that hinders students' language development is the excessive support of teachers in the classroom, which will lead to excessive adjustment of teachers by students and hinder the development of students, so the "support" "And the withdrawal of" bracket "should pay attention to grasp the timing, and some people proposed the concept of adaptive stent (Roger Azevedo 2005). The above is the author's review of foreign studies on scaffolding teaching and a review of them. These studies have great reference value for China's research.

1.4 Research Methodology

Through literature research, questionnaires, and interviews, the author completed the data collection of the investigation of the current situation of the application of scaffolding in college English reading classrooms. According to the conclusions of predecessors and the current status of college English reading teaching, we found the problems in the current scaffold teaching,analyze the cause of the problem and propose a solution strategy.

1.4.1 Research questions

1. Through the investigation of the current situation of the application of scaffold teaching in college English reading classrooms, I want to find the problems in the scaffold teaching of college English reading.
2. I want to analyze the cause of the problem.
3. I want to provide relevant strategies for existing problems, such as teaching is not oriented to the whole, teachers ignore the gradual withdrawal of the bracket and ignore the students’recent development area, use a single bracket and ignore positive feedback.

1.4.2 Research objectives

    The subjects of this research are teachers and students of Wuhan University of Technology.

Two questionnaires were issueed,one was filled out by a teacher collected a total of 108, and the other was filled out by a student collected a total of 63.

1.4.3 Research tools

1. Questionnaire

Two questionnaires were designed, one was sent to university teachers to fill out, and the other was sent to students to fill out. By sending the questionnaire to the participants and analyzing the results, the author understands the application of college English teachers to scaffolding teaching and students' attitude towards scaffolding teaching.

In order to ensure the authenticity of the data collected by the questionnaire, this questionnaire adopts an anonymous method.

1. Interview

The interview is to make up for the shortcomings of the questionnaire and investigate the current status of the application of scaffolding

2 Problems of using scaffold teaching in college English class

2.1 The scaffold teaching is not for all

   Through the questionnaire, it is found that most teachers prefer classroom interaction to the top students, while a few teachers prefer to let all students answer questions together. The brackets built by teachers did not face all students. The object of education is people. Due to differences in intelligence, family situation, growth background, and the basic level of students is not the same. The object of classroom teaching is all students, and every student should grow up with the help of teachers. But this does not mean that all students have to keep pace. Teachers should provide brackets for each student to make progress on their own basis, rather than compare with others.

2.2 Ignoring the students ’recent development areas and gradual withdrawal of the bracket

It can be seen from the questionnaire that 75% of teachers neglected the students' recent development interval.53% of students believe that teachers will not teach according to their aptitude.Teachers design scaffold teaching should consider the specific development of each student, so as to better stimulate the interest of each student in learning. Every student has differences in knowledge base, growth rate, interest preferences, and learning experience. But most teachers are not aware of this, so that the set of "bracket" is the same, and can not make students interested in English reading learning.^[6]