| English reading ability is the basis for the development of other English skills of English learners.Reading plays an important role in students’ English learning.Reading not only develops students’ language sense of English,but also promotes vocabulary accumulation,improves writing skills,and greatly helps to develop students’ English comprehensive ability.The latest version of the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022),released by the Ministry of Education in April 2022,requires teachers to use thematic contexts as the basis for in-depth study of discourse and design layer-by-layer English learning activities to improve the formation of students’ core competences.Therefore,based on Constructivism Learning Theory and Zone of proximal development(ZPD),action research method,questionnaire,test method and interview method,this study selected39 students in a seventh grade class of a junior high school in Huaibei province as the research subjects to apply the scaffolding instruction to junior high school English reading and conducted an 18-week action research to explore the impact of scaffolding reading instruction on junior high school students’ reading ability.The action research aimed to address the following questions:(1)What was the current situation of middle school students’ English reading ability before the action research?(2)Can scaffolding instruction improve junior high school students’ English reading ability? If so,in what ways? The action research is divided into four stages:the pre-preparation stage,the first round of action research,the second round of action research and the post-summary stage.In the post-summary stage,the author will analyze the data collected and draw conclusions.The study shows that:(1)before the action research,the students in this class had weak English reading ability.The main aspects were as follows: the students had poor reading achievement in English(pass rate was only 46.15% in the pre-study);bad reading habits,which affected the students’ thinking skills;they didn’t understand reading strategies(only 7.7% of the students understood English reading strategies in the pre-study);couldn’t be able to deal with difficulties encountered in reading;and weren’t interested in reading,as the students in the class were afraid of reading in English.(2)Scaffolding instruction applied in junior high school English reading can improve junior high school students’ English reading ability.It was mainly reflected in the following aspects: their reading achievement improved,there was a significant difference between the pre-study and post-study scores(t=-6.72,df=38,p=0.000<0.05);they changed bad reading habits,there was a significant difference between students’ pre-study and post-study reading habits(-9.642,df=38,p=0.000<0.05);mastered reading strategies,there was a significant difference between students’ pre-study and post-study reading strategies(-15.084,df=38,p=0.000<0.05);and they were able to deal with the difficulties they encountered in reading appropriately.As a result of this action research,there was a significant difference between the difficulties encountered by students in pre-study and post-study(-14.181,df=38,p=0.000 <0.05);reading interest increased and there was a significant difference between students’ interest in pre-study and post-study(-9.456,df=38,p=0.000 <0.05).Based on the action research and the analysis of the data,the author proposes corresponding teaching inspirations: on the one hand,for teachers,in the process of scaffolding reading course,teachers should pay attention to the change of teacher-student roles,accurately grasp the students’ “ ZPD”,and finally,they should use the scaffolds reasonably to avoid the misuse,which may cause trouble to students.On the other hand,students should take the initiative to participate in the reading course,be good at communicating with others classmates and listening to others’ opinions,and finally,have a sense of objectivity and fairness.Since this study is affected by the sample size,practice period and the author’s personal factors,there are some limitations in this study.In order to promote the application of scaffolding instruction in English courses in China,the author puts forward expectations for future research in terms of research scope and experimental period. |
