A Study On The Application Of Scaffolding Theory To Teaching English Low-achievers In Junior High School

In recent years, most English teachers always show close concern with Low-achievers’ situation, because they except to improve the low-achievers’ English performance in school. The new curriculum standards set a big challenge to English Low-achievers. Therefore, the causes for English Low-achievers and ways of their improvement attract more and more attention of education experts and frontline educators. Up to now, most studies of English Low-achievers mainly focus on the causes of them and the methods of improvement, and few studies view the problem from the perspective of scaffolding theory. This study aims to apply the scaffolding theory to teaching English Low-achievers.The theoretical basis of this study is scaffolding theory, a derivative theory from constructivism. It bases in the Zone of Proximal Development proposed by Vygotsky. The scaffold refers to the support given by the teacher during the learning process. It is tailored to the needs of the students with the intention of helping them to achieve their learning goals. The scaffolding theory teaching contains the five steps:setting up situations, independent exploration, cooperative learning, setting up a Scaffold and assessment of learning effects. This pattern of teaching requires all the participants to have strong sense and good skills of cooperative learning. However, most of English Low-achievers lack such sense and skills. They are short of necessary knowledge and weak in ability of using English. In this study, the author works out a relevant plan of experiment of the scaffolding theory to testify the effectiveness of scaffolding theory in transforming English Low-achievers in the process of English teaching. By analyzing the experimental data, this thesis illustrates how scaffolding theory can effectively promote English Low-achievers. This study adopted quantitative research methods to analyze the research results. Moreover, questionnaire is used to investigate effects of students’ non-intelligence factors. Interviews and classroom observations are introduced to the research.Based on pre-test and post-test results, this research concludes that scaffolding theory plays an effective role in teaching English Low-achievers which can achieve great progress, in promoting English Low-achievers. Firstly, student’s confidence has been fostered; secondly, student’s interest in learning English has been enhanced; thirdly, achievements have been improved. However, because of the limitations of the researcher, there are some shortcomings in the study. The author hopes this research can provide help in promoting English Low-achievers.