摘要
Literature has shown that prior studies of educational"scaffolding"(a metaphor for"making connections betweennew situations and familiar ones"for students)focus on either teacher scaffolding for child learners or peer scaffoldingfor older learners.This paper,drawing on the findings and categories of prior researchers,conducted a research onscaffolding in adult ESL classrooms,from teachers as well as from peers.Following a qualitative approach that includes observation,audio-taping,transcription,collection of artifacts(handouts),and analysis,this paper has revealed the systematic distribution and applicability of scaffolding in adult ESL classrooms.Major findings are as follows.(1)Seven forms of teacher scaffolding(namely,modeling,offering explanations,invitingparticipation/contributions,clarifying/verifying understanding,simplifying the task.repeating/revoicing/restating,feedingback)and two forms of peer scaffolding(providing a word and providing an idea)are identified.(2)Within each form,scaffolds may occur at different levels.And one scaffolding talk may be multifunctional,serving several purposessimultaneously.(3)Very often in the data,explicit evidence of the learner’s achievement can be found,showing thepositive effect of the scaffolding talks in enhancing the student’s learning.(4)Which scaffolding form to employ dependson the interactions of such factors as the nature of the learning task,the language proficiency of the student,the culturalbackground of the student,the motivation of the student,and the availability of audio-visual or text materials,etc.Cultural misunderstandings should be avoided because they are counterforce to scaffolding and could be disastrous.
Literature has shown that prior studies of educational'scaffolding'(a metaphor for'making connections between new situations and familiar ones'for students)focus on either teacher scaffolding for child learners or peer scaffolding for older learners.This paper,drawing on the findings and categories of prior researchers,conducted a research on scaffolding in adult ESL classrooms,from teachers as well as from peers. Following a qualitative approach that includes observation,audio-taping,transcription,collection of artifacts(handouts), and analysis,this paper has revealed the systematic distribution and applicability of scaffolding in adult ESL classrooms. Major findings are as follows.(1)Seven forms of teacher scaffolding(namely,modeling,offering explanations,inviting participation/contributions,clarifying/verifying understanding,simplifying the task.repeating/revoicing/restating,feeding back)and two forms of peer scaffolding(providing a word and providing an idea)are identified.(2)Within each form, scaffolds may occur at different levels.And one scaffolding talk may be multifunctional,serving several purposes simultaneously.(3)Very often in the data,explicit evidence of the learner's achievement can be found,showing the positive effect of the scaffolding talks in enhancing the student's learning.(4)Which scaffolding form to employ depends on the interactions of such factors as the nature of the learning task,the language proficiency of the student,the cultural background of the student,the motivation of the student,and the availability of audio-visual or text materials,etc. Cultural misunderstandings should be avoided because they are counterforce to scaffolding and could be disastrous.
出处
《中国外语》
2005年第6期24-30,共7页
Foreign Languages in China
