An Application Of Scaffolding Approach To College English Listening Teaching

Listening is of vital importance among English listening, speaking, reading and writing, for the main purpose of learning language is to communicate with others and thus listening is the basic element for communication. With the increasing international exchanges and cooperation, English listening and speaking have gained much more attention. It is pointed out by the New Curriculum Requirements issued by Ministry of Education in2004, that the major aim of college English is to make students have comprehensive abilities of the language, especially listening and speaking. However, it is found that under traditional teaching methods, college English listening teaching and learning have not achieved the expected teaching objectives, especially for those who are non-English majors. Thus, the author of this paper intends to apply a relatively new teaching method, the scaffolding approach, in her English listening teaching of non-English majors, in hoping to cultivate students’ learning interest, to help them develop positive attitudes towards English listening and master effective listening skills, and to improve the effectiveness of English listening teaching and learning.As a teaching method, scaffolding approach is derived from constructivism and Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development theory. The word "scaffolding" was originally used in architecture, referring to temporary poles and boards made of metal or wooden which are connected together to form a structure for workmen to stand on during the process of working high up on the outside wall of a building. Borrowed from the field of construction, scaffolding was then used as a metaphor within the domain of education, referring to prompt and necessary assistance and support from teachers or others. Using scaffolding approach, learners will gradually improve the ability to construct knowledge and internalize what they have learned with teacher’s guidance and help. In brief, the scaffolding approach is a process of transferring learning responsibility from teachers to learners gradually with the teachers’ support (scaffolding), and then removing the support (scaffolding) completely. The approach aims to provide learners with theoretical scaffolds and make use of learning settings to activate students’ learning interest, help them solve problems and cultivate their abilities of autonomous learning and knowledge construction. Designing three research questions, the author of this thesis conducted a16-week experiment to testify the hypotheses. Serving as an English listening teacher for six classes of non-English majors in Yili Normal University, the author chose two of the classes (108students) by random as subjects for the experiment according to their English scores of entrance examination. Then the two classes were assigned as control class and experiment class randomly. To assure the English listening level of students is at the same starting point, a pre-test and a pre-questionnaire were conducted before the experiment. In the teaching experiment, the two classes were given the same teaching content, the same teaching schedule, and the same facilities. The only one difference between them was that the experiment class was taught by the author using scaffolding approach, while the control class was taught by the same teacher using traditional teaching method. Sixteen weeks later, a post-test with the purpose of examining the effectiveness of scaffolding approach and a post-questionnaire aiming at exploring changes of students’ attitude on English listening, as well as interviews were conducted.The results of the experiment show that students in experiment class have made great progress in their English listening scores than those who were in the control class. What is more, the students in the experiment class were actively taking part in the class and their learning interests were improved. It was indicated by the results of questionnaires and interviews that the majority of the students supported scaffolding approach and believed that the new approach was helpful for their listening learning. Therefore, a conclusion can be drawn that the scaffolding approach is effective in improving English listening teaching and learning, changing students’ learning attitudes and helping students to overcome learning difficulties.