| The implementation of the new curriculum reform has provided new education concepts and educational models for primary school English teaching.The traditional English teaching model,which is mainly "teaching" by teachers,has been unable to meet the requirements for students’ development in the new era.Nowadays,the interaction between peers in groups has received widespread attention.Group interaction can improve students’ second language level.Peer scaffolding in group interaction has a significant impact on learners’ language development which has played a crucial role.However,from the perspective of domestic research,the research on peer scaffolds has not yet attracted enough attention,especially in the compulsory education of English.Therefore,this research is dedicated to investigating peer scaffolding in group interactions in English class teaching of primary school,meanwhile analyze the types of peer scaffolding and the factors that affect the support of peer scaffolding.This study is based on the theory of social constructivism and the theory of interaction hypothesis,and uses quantitative and qualitative research as the research method.It surveys90 sixth-graders in 2 classes.Each class is divided into 8 groups,each group is 5-6 people.This study mainly explores the peer scaffolding in group interactions through the analysis of dialogue recordings of group interactions and the results of after-class interviews.Through the analysis of the transcription of the classroom group interaction and the content of the after-class interviews,the results show that:(1)Peer Scaffolding exist in the group interactions of primary school students in oral English classes,but they are not good enough,and the provision of brackets between peers needs strengthening.2)The role of peer support is reflected in two aspects: language development and emotional support.Language development includes increasing participation,providing vocabulary,providing perspectives,correcting wrong expressions,simplifying tasks and maintaining established goals;emotional support includes reducing anxiety and enhancing self-confidence and control frustration.Among them,increasing participation,providing vocabulary,reducing anxiety,and improving self-confidence Peer scaffolding are used much more,while correcting errors,providing perspectives and simplifying tasks are used less.There aremany factors influencing the result.The internal factors include the tendency of students’ learning styles,the language level and personality characteristics of group members,and personal language strategies,etc.;external factors are teacher’s teaching methods,group grouping methods,group topic tasks,etc.Therefore,strategies to improve the use of peer scaffolding in primary English classrooms have been proposed,which are from the perspectives of teacher organization,teacher-student interaction,peer interaction,learner self-improvement and how to better promote the basic rules and specific strategies in group interaction,hoping to further improve the efficiency of teachers’ teaching and improve the development of students’ language. |
