An Empirical Study On The Effectiveness Of Scaffolding Instruction In Senior High School English Reading Classes

Reading plays an important role in foreign language teaching and learning,for it is one of the most essential ways to obtain information and communicate with the outside world.For most students,especially for senior high school students,reading is by far the most important one among the four skills in English learning.In fact,the National Curriculum Standard for Senior High School English Teaching(The Ministry of Education,2017)clearly states that the objectives of reading teaching are to stimulate students’ interest in reading,to help them form good habits in reading and develop effective reading strategies,and thus lead them towards autonomy.Unfortunately,the current reading teaching in senior high school classes is far from satisfaction.The traditional teacher-centered model results in learners’ lack of reading strategies and lack of interest and autonomous learning in English reading.Therefore,how to improve students’ reading proficiency effectively becomes the focus in English reading teaching in senior high schools.To solve these problems,the teachers should provide sufficient and timely support to guide students in English reading and lead them towards autonomy.In recent years,Scaffolding Instruction is highly advocated for its theoretic value and its wide application in language learning at home and abroad.Actually,it is claimed to be effective.Whereas,very few researches about scaffolding instruction in senior high school English reading classes were conducted in China.Therefore,it is of great theoretical and pedagogical importance to understand how scaffolding instruction in senior high school English reading classes influences learners’ reading proficiency in China.The present study is an experimental one,aiming to test whether Scaffolding Instruction can help students form effective reading strategies,improve their reading proficiency and thus lead them towards autonomy.Based on Scaffolding Theory,a4-month empirical study is conducted in Tongcheng No.6 Senior High School,Anhui Province.The subjects involved in the experiment are two intact classes randomly selected from six classes of Grade one,with Class 1 as the experimental class,and Class 2 as the control class.Scaffolding Instruction is adopted in the experimentalclass while the traditional teaching method is used in the control class.Deductive and analytical approach are employed,and quantitative and qualitative data are gathered and processed by SPSS 20.0.The results of the study show that,(1)In comparison to the traditional teacher-centered teaching model,the students-centered scaffolding instruction contributes more to the students’ reading proficiency.Scaffolding Instruction is effective to raise students’ reading proficiency;(2)Scaffolding Instruction is more helpful to arouse students’ interest,develop effective reading strategies and facilitate their learning autonomy in English reading;(3)Scaffolding Instruction is acceptable to students;From their point of view,Scaffolding Instruction is meaningful and helpful.However,nothing is perfect in the world,so is Scaffolding Instruction.Compared with the traditional teaching method,Scaffolding Instruction is time-consuming and sometimes it is a little difficult for the teachers to judge the students’ ZDP.Moreover,the samples in the present research are not sufficient.All in all,one flaw cannot obscure the splendor of the jade.The findings of this study may encourage more adoption of Scaffolding Instruction in the future English reading teaching.