An Application Of Scaffolding Instruction To College English Reading Teaching

English reading is considered as the most important skill and a main source of information input,which occupies an important position in English teaching.The current situation of college students' English reading is not satisfied.The regular teaching method is still employed in China,which is teacher-centered,text-centered and grammar-centered.Under the influence of this teaching method,in many college English classrooms,students are passive learners,who learn some grammar knowledge,new words and phrases and translation of reading materials from teachers,which contributes to students' lower English reading ability and interest.Scaffolding instruction approach,a relatively mature teaching approach,based on constructivism learning theory,has been paid much attention to in recent years.Scaffolding instruction is gradually developed on its two theoretical bases,the theory of Zone of Proximal Development and Constructivism Theory.Scaffolding instruction is a process,in which teachers or partners with higher capabilities provide help and guidance,and then students can move through their ZPD to a higher level,and solve problems by themselves.In scaffolding instruction,teachers are not only organizers and instructors of class,but also designers,partners and helpers of classroom activities.Many scholars abroad and in China have done numerous studies to demonstrate that scaffolding instruction is effective and important in many fields,especially in the field of foreign language teaching.However,there are relatively fewer empirical or experimental studies on the application of scaffolding instruction in college English reading teaching.On the basis of the previous studies,the author will apply scaffolding instruction into college English reading teaching through an empirical study,in order to discuss whether it can improve college students' reading ability and interest or not.Therefore,the target of the study is to answer the following two questions: 1)Can the application of scaffolding instruction improve English reading achievement of college students? 2)Can the application of scaffolding instruction to English reading teaching arouse students' interest in reading?The experiment chooses freshmen of non-English major as research subjects,who are from two parallel classes of Northwest Minzu University.The two classes will be taught with same teaching materials,same teaching and by same teacher in the experiment.The experiment will last for 15 weeks in one semester.The difference between them is the teaching model.The control class uses regular 3P and grammar-translation teaching model,while scaffolding instruction will be applied in the experimental class.After the experiment,all the research data are collected from pre-questionnaire,post-questionnaire,four tests and an interview.Then the author inputs all data into the computer and analyzes them through SPSS.16.0.After 15-week teaching experiment,the results show that the experimental class(EC)has obviously higher English reading achievement than the control class(CC)does,which indicates reading ability of experiment class is improved.The questionnaires in the two classes and the interview in EC indicate that the application of scaffolding instruction can improve students' English reading achievement and reading interest.Compared with regular English reading teaching model,scaffolding instruction has achieved good effect.