A Study On Teaching English Writing Based On The Scaffolding Theory

Writing takes up20points in the high school entrance examination,and students’ writing ability is demanded higher and higher. The realaim of studying a kind of language is mainly for expressing oneself,which is the aim of English teaching. However, in a usual writing class,the method of writing teaching is mainly teacher-centered. That’s tosay,“the teacher dominates, the teacher lectures and students listen.”This way of teaching does no good to improve students’ real languageability and teaching quality as well. The Teaching Program of English forMiddle School stipulates that “composition shows the capability toexpress oneself and to communicate in the form of writing. One of thegoals in English teaching is to help students develop elementary writingcapability”. The present research takes the Scaffolding TeachingApproach in the Construction Theory as its guiding principle. It exploresfor an ideal general design for English composition and for a scaffoldthat organizes with effectives elements in the teaching of English writing.The theory is intended to provide secondary school’s English teacherswith a better guideline in their teaching of English composition. Theauthor is convinced that the research will contribute to theimprovement of the teaching of English writing.This thesis has five chapters. They are designed for exploring forthe effective elements in the teaching of English writing. The authorbelieves that the research may contribute to the improvement of thewriting ability of secondary students.The first chapter is analyzing the current real situation of students’writing and teachers’ teaching according to the Teaching program ofEnglish. As to the students, they show little interest in English compositionand pay no attention to it. They haven’t got enough writing abilities.They produce too much Chinese English with the influence of their mother language. Also, their compositions are logically unclear. Theirthought is very narrow and limited. They haven’t enough vocabulary toexpress themselves clearly. The major problems in teaching are thatthey value grammar teaching a lot but not the students’ writing ability.And most of the teachers don’t help to develop students’ real writingability and their attitude in writing. What’s more, they are lack ofefficient evaluation systems. The second chapter begins with anunderstanding of the construction theory. This chapter endeavors toanalyze the Scaffold teaching approach which is applied to theteaching of English composition. The third chapter describes how toapply the Scaffold theory to the teaching of English composition indetail. And it introduces how to afford scaffolds to students, such ascultivating a proactive mentality in writing, developing mutual helpamong students, and using assessment appropriately. The fourthchapter combines the theory and real teaching to prove theeffectiveness of the application of the writing scaffold according to thecomparison between the two classes and the feedback of the students.The fifth chapter is mainly about the advantages and disadvantages.At the same time the author suggests some ways to improve them andshows the bright future and confidence as well.The research shows that the theory contributes to cooperativelearning, and students can learn from each other. It also helps thestudents have a clear understanding of the strategy in writing, thusmaking great progress in the structure and content of the writing, whichpromotes their writing skills and contributes to their interest in writing aswell. Meanwhile, it contributes to the improvement of teachingassessment. What’s more, the effectiveness of the experiment can alsobe proved from the feedback and the sample articles from thestudents.