A Study On The Application Of Peer Scaffolding In Senior High School English Writing Teaching

Writing plays an important role in high school English learning.However,the current English writing teaching in high school is not satisfactory.Teachers pay much attention to the final writing scores,but ignore students’ interaction during writing.This study attempts to apply peer scaffolding to English writing classes to explore the impacts on high school students’ English writing confidence,their writing achievements and strategies’ use.The term “scaffolding” originated from architecture,and it referred to a tool used to help workers construct buildings.Since the 1990 s,the term “scaffolding” has been used in pedagogy,and it was regarded as a metaphor for novices(such as beginners)to develop new skills,concepts or higher levels with the help of experts(such as teachers or parents)or other peers.Peer scaffolding is based on constructivism and Zone of Proximal Development,emphasizing that peers provide assistance to their classmates in the learning process.Peers solve the writing problems in time,simplifying complex learning tasks.It aims to enhance writing achievements eventually.The study tries to answer the following three research questions:(1)What is the impact of peer scaffolding in English writing on high school students’ writing confidence?(2)What is the impact of peer scaffolding in English writing on high school students’ writing achievements?(3)What is the impact of peer scaffolding in English writing on high school students’ writing strategies’ use?This study conducts a 16-week teaching experiment.100 students in two parallel classes in Grade 2 of a senior high school in Panjin City are involved in the experiment.51 students are in the control class and 49 students are in the experimental class.Before the experiment,the English proficiency of these two classes is ensured to be equal.The control class adopts the traditional English writing teaching method,while the experimental class adopts peer scaffolding in writing teaching.Research instruments include questionnaires,pre-test and post-tests,and interview.SPSS20.0 software is used to analyze the collected data,including independent sample T-test and paired sample T-test.The study shows that peer scaffolding has a positive impact on high school students’ English writing learning.There are significant differences in English writing confidence,their writing achievements and English writing strategies’ use after the experiment.The students in experimental class is better than those in control class in terms of writing confidence,achievements and the use of writing strategies.Therefore,the application of the peer scaffolding has a positive impact on the English writing learning of high school students.