论文总字数：35162字

摘 要

长期以来，阅读都是英语学习中的一项重要技能。如何提高学生的阅读能力是高中英语教学中重要的问题。然而当前的教学模式却不尽人意。实际上，老师主导课堂而学习者却较少的参与其中。面对该问题，作者试图寻找一种有效的教学方法。支架式教学以学生为主体，通过进入情境、搭建支架、自主探索、合作学习、有效评价五步来帮助学生构建新知识。这种教学法对教与学的关系提出了创新性概念。本文以支架理论为指导，探讨支架式教学法在高中英语阅读教学中的构建及其意义。

关键词：支架式教学；英语阅读教学；教学方法；英语阅读能力

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Brief Introduction to Scaffolding Instruction 3

3.1 Definition and theoretical basis of Scaffolding Instruction 3

3.2 Procedures of Scaffolding Instruction 4

4. Necessity of the Application of Scaffolding Instruction 6

4.1 Current situation of English reading teaching 6

4.2 Existing problems of English reading teaching 7

5. How to Provide Appropriate Scaffolding 7

5.1 Providing question scaffolds 7

5.2 Providing situation scaffolds 8

5.3 Providing cultural scaffolds 9

6. A Case Analysis on the Application of Scaffolding Instruction 9

6.1 Pre-reading 10

6.2 While-reading 10

6.3 After-reading 11

7. Significance of the Application of Scaffolding Instruction 12

8. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 15

1. Introduction

Traditionally, most English teachers in high school use grammar-translation method in reading class, in which case the students are passive interpreters of the information. Scaffolding Instruction, as a teaching strategy, changes the traditional mode of teaching. It holds that teaching should be focused on students and teachers work as instructors.

The basic idea of Scaffolding Instruction is to construct some learning scaffolds between the students’ current knowledge level and learning objectives, provide students with guidance and ultimately help them to complete teaching tasks that are difficult to complete independently. In the process, students are involved in various collaborative work and are encouraged to think and explore independently thinking. The scaffolding teaching mode can fully stimulate the enthusiasm of students for reading. Thus the students can play their initiative and potential in the learning process.

This thesis endeavors to help the teachers and students recognize the significance of Scaffolding Instruction in reading class. It mainly focuses on five parts. Firstly, it gives a brief introduction to Scaffolding Instruction, including its definition, theoretical basis and procedures. Then, given the current situation of high school reading teaching, it talks about the necessity of applying Scaffolding Instruction in high school. Next, the author introduces three types of scaffolds which are commonly used when applying Scaffolding Instruction. Afterwards, a case is analyzed to illustrate the application of Scaffolding Instruction. Finally, it summarizes the advantages and effectiveness of Scaffolding Instruction.

1. Literature Review

Scaffolding Instruction was a relatively new pedagogical system which had gained considerable currency after 1990s. The scaffolding teaching mode has been extensively studied in both theory and practice. Some empirical researches on scaffold structure have certain application value in improving students" language ability.

In the opinion of Cazden(1983), Scaffolding Instruction can be widely used in daily teaching activities and can contribute to the development of ZPD learners. Besides, with the help of competent adults, Scaffolding Instruction could also help the children improve their ability of internalizing knowledge based on their current knowledge

Richards and Rodgers(1986) insisted that Scaffolding Instruction made a good supplement between learners" activity levels and latent activity levels. The former was without help while the latter was with the help of more knowledgeable others.

Gibbons (1993, 2002) discussed how teachers can apply Scaffolding Instruction in class to enhance students" language skills. In his book Scaffolding Learning: Teaching Second Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom (1993) and Study a Second Language (2002), he discussed a lot of scaffolding activities in second language classrooms to develop students" reading skills.

According to the assumption of Wood et a1.(1976), the general mechanism of scaffolding contained recognizing and imitating the solution models of others’. Geamp;Land (2003) argued that interaction process among the peers needed to be supported by the teacher through expert modeling only to benefit from discussion.

Hobsbaum(1996) published the article Scaffolding in Reading Recovery, conducted a study on Scaffolding Instruction which was applied to English reading, and he had done quite comprehensive researches on scaffolding. Apart from that, Hobsbaum also admitted that Scaffolding Instruction could be applied in a variety of education field.

Banaszynski(2000) regarded that scaffolding was one of the important strategies of effective teaching that enabled teachers to satisfy each students" needs, which aimed to assist the students in reading and thinking on their own.

Hammond(2001) held that the goal of modern education was not only passing on knowledge, but cultivating students to be a person who could solve a problem by themselves. Moreover, he claimed that Scaffolding Instruction fulfilled in this need well.

Leanne, Jan amp;Tindal (2003) published a study that they used "conceptual scaffold" to improve students" reading ability. The subjects involved in the research were junior middle school students. The results of the research turned out that the application of "conceptual scaffold" could improve students" reading ability.

Cooter and Flynt (2005) devised a reading comprehension scaffold called "Memphis" and tried to test whether this kind of scaffold would enhance students" reading ability. The experiment subjects were the 4th grade to 6th grade children. They proved their assumption that "Memphis" can help the students cultivate their reading ability efficiently.

In a word, all these scholars have given a framework and made some progress for the development of Scaffolding Instruction. They believed that Scaffolding Instruction is an effective teaching strategy and talked about its significance in specific language learning. There is no doubt that these studies will benefit our present study.

1. Brief Introduction to Scaffolding Instruction

3.1 Definition and theoretical basis of Scaffolding Instruction

Scaffolding Instruction helps students plan, implement and complete their studies by setting up scaffolding and specific situations. The basic idea is to construct some learning scaffolds, provide students with guidance and ultimately help them to complete teaching tasks that are difficult to complete independently.

In the reading process, "scaffolding" usually refers to a student’s previously existing knowledge such as background or experience, which can make it easier for learners to understand the article. In class, teachers usually set up an effective scaffold for students in their ZPD. Under the guidance of Scaffolding Instruction, the teacher acts as a scaffold, providing minimal support when necessary for students to success. The challenge for teachers is to find the best balance between supporting students and allowing students to act independently. In high school English reading teaching, when students forget words or do not know how to express their thoughts, teachers can provide words or remind sentence structures to adapt to the situation at that time; when students make mistakes, teachers should not blame them, but immediately correct mistakes or leave more room for self-correction.

Constructivism is one of the main theoretical origins of Scaffolding Instruction. Constructivism argues that learning is an active process in which students construct new cognitive structures based on prior knowledge and experience. Besides, the learner explores and communicates actively in the process. They construct knowledge using what they had already known rather than what taught by others. Therefore, learning is not a transmit from outside to inside, but get acquired by autonomic activities and independent construction. Constructivism contributed a lot to Scaffolding Instruction. Constructivism lay great emphasis on hands-on problems solving. For example, when faced with new information, teachers will strive to make connections between facts and the new ones for students. Instead of straightly telling them the solutions, they may encourage the students to analyze the problems by themselves and achieve their own prediction.

The other theoretical basis is Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), put forward by Soviet psychologist Vygotsky"s. It is the most important and the most direct origin of Scaffolding Instruction. ZPD theory holds that there are two levels of students" development: one is the existing level of students and the other is the level of students" possible development. The gap between them is the zone of proximal development. Teachers should focus on the ZPD of the students, providing students with more difficult content to arouse their enthusiasm and exert their potential. Thus the students can transcend their potential and reach to the next level of development. It formed a positive interactive between teaching and learning. In other words, the zone of proximal development refers to the distance between children’s actual development level and the potential development level. This theory has a great significance in understanding the relationship between education and development. Besides, it has affected many education psychology researches and has a far-reaching influence.

3.2 Procedures of Scaffolding Instruction

Scaffolding Instruction requires teachers to conduct teaching and learning through cooperation, conversation and exploration. The procedures can be simplified as follows: entering the situation, providing scaffolds, exploring independently, cooperative learning and effect evaluation.

The first step of Scaffolding Instruction is to lead students to a certain question situation. The constructivism theory believes that the context must help the learner to learn the meaning of the content. A successful foreign language class needs to create more situations where students have the opportunity to use their knowledge of language materials. Therefore, teachers must be good at putting problems in situations and guiding students to find, analyze and solve problems. At the same time, teachers are supposed to instruct students to master the methods of thinking and exploring. By the way, two points deserves attention. For one thing, the questions of creating situations should conform with the scaffold and be relevant to students" experience. For another thing, the problem raised should be rich in hierarchy.

After entering the situation, the teachers are supposed to provide students with appropriate scaffolding. Building scaffold means establishing conceptual framework about the topic within the area of students’ ZPD. The teacher disassembles the complex learning activities so that students can accomplish the task independently. In English reading class, the teacher can set up different types of scaffolds such as questions, suggestions, examples, charts and guidelines. For instance, pre-reading questions can be set to arouse the students" interests and motivation. In the process of while-reading, the teacher can build emotional scaffolds to enable the students to catch the meaning of the reading material better. In the stage of post-reading, the teacher can provide scaffolds for learners to help them carry out language output. Providing scaffolds is the core part in the five procedures.

Then, independent exploration is to make students find out new concepts on their own. Constructivism emphasizes that learning is a process of constructing knowledge by students themselves rather than merely receiving. Students build up new knowledge with the aid of their prior knowledge and previous experiences. They code them in the brain and then they construct their own understanding about the new information. As for independent exploration, what’s the most important is to leave enough time and give more opportunities for students. The teachers are advised to guide the students to explore and seek the truth on their own. For instance, in the teaching of reading classes, the teachers can give hints to guide the students to guess the meaning of the new words.

Collaborative learning is a key part of Scaffolding Instruction. This is an effective way of learning. The English reading class divides the students into groups and students work with others to complete tasks in pairs or groups. The teacher designs various activities related to the teaching contents or students" past experiences, such as discussion and role play. In team work, they are free to express their opinions and share different perspectives. In the group, each member not only should be responsible for his own part, but also unceasingly contribute to the success of the entire task. In the process, they involve in the activities and help each other to accomplish the task. Hence, students" motivation for learning can be stimulated and they can gradually enjoy their English reading lessons.

The last step of Scaffolding Instruction is evaluation, which is the main means to test the effectiveness of learning. Compared with the traditional teaching evaluation mainly measuring the reading level through the examination, the evaluation of Scaffolding Instruction is targeted at three subjects. They are autonomous learning capacity, the performances in cooperative learning and the construction of the new language knowledge. Besides, the evaluation includes self-evaluation, peer evaluation and teacher evaluation. The teacher assessment, as a critical way of evaluation, requires teachers to hold objective attitudes towards students" achievement and timely correct their mistakes, in which case students can realize the deficiency and get further development. As for this procedure, students have to get a clear self-cognition and teachers should make positive commons on students and promote the all-round development of each student.

1. Necessity of the Application of Scaffolding Instruction

4.1 Current situation of English reading teaching

It is of great importance to improve students" English reading comprehension ability under the challenge of new curriculum reform and English socialization test. The education department has been promoting innovative education, but they meet many difficulties in the implementation process. As a matter of fact, the English reading teaching is still dominated by traditional "cramming" teaching, which is entirely teacher-centered. At classes, the teacher teaches the new words and phrases of the text, and then translates the text sentence by sentence. In the process, students do not play the cognitive initiative and do not think independently. In order to change the traditional mode of education, teaching mode based on Scaffolding Instruction should be given priority. It requires teachers to selectively provide background information and expansion according to students’ existing knowledge. The English reading abilities of students can be effectively enhanced under the instruction of this teaching mode.

4.2 Existing problems of English reading teaching

The new curriculum standard has already made clear provisions that the cultivation of students" reading ability is the primary task of English teaching, and the reading ability is the key to the improvement of English level. However, the traditional "cramming" method in English reading teaching obviously does not meet the requirements of the new curriculum standards. The discrepancies between English reading and teaching are becoming more and more serious.

The problems can be listed as the follows: Firstly, the students cannot grasp the general meaning of the article in the process of reading because of their limited vocabulary. Coupled with improper reading methods, it results in low reading efficiency and unsatisfactory results. Secondly, at reading classes, most teachers choose to translate the reading materials sentence by sentence or word by word without extra expansion. As a result, students’ interest towards reading classes declines and they consider that reading classes are translation lessons and grammar lessons which are boring. It would absolutely influence the reading performance of students. Thirdly, some teachers ignored the backgrounds and provenances of the reading materials and simply explain the knowledge points. They don’t attach importance to introducing the background or broadening the knowledge. Consequently, the students cannot understand the profound meaning of the article and the deep feeling the writer wants to express.

5. How to Provide Appropriate Scaffolding

Providing scaffold is a critical component in teaching new tasks among the multiple steps. Providing appropriate scaffolds will effectively solve the problems existing in English reading teaching. Therefore, it is necessary to construct the scaffolds effectively from the following aspects and apply it reasonably in English reading teaching.

5.1 Providing question scaffolds

"Question scaffolds", as the name implies, is to set a few questions for students before talking about a certain part of the text. The questions should be characterized by divergence and openness which can help cultivate students’ divergent thinking. Leading in the class by this kind of questions can arouse students" curiosity and stimulate students" interest in reading. This enables students to understand the texts in the course of thinking and discussing problems and subtly grasp the target knowledge. For example, when learning the text about Christmas Day, the teacher can design some open questions just like "What is the custom of Christmas Day?" "What things do people usually do that day?" "What’s the origin of Christmas Day?" Afterwards, ask students to discuss in groups and find out the answers to the questions. When they explore the answers, they will experience the Christmas on their own and it will create an intuitive feeling for Christmas about its customs and origin. Having had the free talk, the students will not feel strange or unfamiliar when reading the text. Instead, they will be able to react quickly. So when reading the material, they won’t be confined to the literal meaning, but are able to explore the implications. In addition, during the whole process, students’ interest in learning is relatively high, actively participating in discussions and solving problems. Therefore, in a word, the construction of "question scaffolds" helps students develop interest in reading.

5.2 Providing situation scaffolds

The construction of "situation scaffolds" is mainly reflected in the process of classroom teaching. Teachers are required to set certain scenarios according to the specific content of the article, so that students can well integrate into the environment of reading articles and perceive the content of articles. Take the reading material of high school English textbook, Nelson Mandela--A Modern Hero, as an example. The text mainly tells the story of him and Mandela from the perspective of Elias. Under this circumstance, the teacher can apply the situation scaffold when leaning the text. Divide the students in pairs, selecting one as Elias and the other the reporter. Then arrange the content as an interview telling the story of Mandela. For example, the reporter asks: "Elias, How did Mandela help you?" Then Elias answered: “He told me how to get the correct papers, so I could stay in Johannesburg."

In the process of role-play, there must be some typical vocabulary which can be extended to a certain situation. Teachers can display these vocabularies or parts by playing the corresponding movie fragments, in which way the students can understand more vividly. The construction of this " situation scaffolding” mode will help students to have strong enthusiasm for reading after watching the movie. In addition, the restoration of the movie plot in the process of reading is beneficial to for students to master the words, and it will also raise the students" reading level to a new stage. In the process of English reading teaching, the teacher can take the form of group activities, role play and situation setting so that students can not only enjoy themselves in the situation, but also understand the teaching content in the activities.

5.3 Providing cultural scaffolds

The main purpose of constructing "cultural scaffolds" is to build cultural bridges for students, such as through film and television programs, newspapers and periodicals, and the developed network environments. For example, there being several nouns ended with "Wales" in the high school text "England", students will feel confused in the process of learning, and they cannot match the country with the corresponding word. Then, to take in the content of the text better, it’s crucial to know about the geography knowledge in advance. So, the teacher needs to introduce some relevant information as the United Kingdom contains the four part of Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. The knowledge about the background can help students to make a foundation, rendering it easier for students to master the knowledge of the text. That’s what the value of cultural scaffolding lies in. For example, when teaching the text about Mandela, taking account of the limited knowledge of high school students, the teacher needs to build cultural scaffolds. It’s advisable for the teacher to introduce the unfair treatment the black and white people encountered at that time. The teacher can also present the life of Mandela in the form of a short video so that they can have a more profound understanding of the content when reading.

6. A Case Analysis on the Application of Scaffolding Instruction

Taking Module 3 "My First Ride on a Train" in Book 1 (compulsory 1) (edited by Chen Lin et al., Foreign language Teaching and Research Press, 2006. 7) as an example, this paper discusses how the five steps of Scaffolding Instruction are applied in the three stages of English reading teaching.

6.1 Pre-reading

The teacher uses multimedia to broadcast several videos of travel by different means of transport. The video contains the content of “A Train Ride to Harbin". During the process of watching, students are reminded to pay particular attention to the vehicles involved in the video. Then ask the students to pick out the vehicles they know. The students may speak out the simple words such as car and bus. Afterwards, ask students to have a discussion and describe their first trip. The four questions are provided as clues: 1. How old were you? 2. Where did you go? 3. Who did you go with? 4. How did you travel?

At this stage, the teacher leads the students to enter the situation by the means of watching related videos. Before learning the new words, students are guided to review the vehicle names they have already known. Besides, the teacher provides a question to ask the students to describe their experience. The description of their trips may trigger off their original knowledge, which can also arouse students’ desire to explore new knowledge, such as ferry, tram and other vehicle names. The teaching design reflects the principle of ZPD, which emphasizes that teachers should build up new knowledge based on their prior knowledge. At the same time, the discussion arouses the interest of students in learning the text.

In my opinion, this section is aimed at stimulating students" learning motivation in the theme of the text. The best motivation for learning is that students are interested in learning materials themselves (Bruner, 1999). Therefore, teachers are supposed to provide students with background information through visual means such as video, pictures and audio in pre-reading.

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