The concept of Scaffolding revisited:

Theoretical and pedagogical issues for sustained learning and teaching of

English.

Kristina Love

The University of Melbourne

Overview

• Scaffolding as metaphor and theory

• Current research in scaffolding and English Language Learning and Teaching (ELLT)

• A model of scaffolding for practice

• Scaffolding and ELL&T strategies

Views of teaching & learning• Transmission/reception

(focus on teacher)• Progressive models,

including some communicative models (focus on learner)

• Socio-constructivist models (focus on scaffolded interaction between teacher and learner)

• What do you understand by the concept of Scaffolding?

Back to the beginning: Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

• A Russian psychologist, the father of socio-cultural theory. Some basic tenets of SCT:

• Learning precedes development. – Learning is only useful if it challenges learners to

think and act in advance of their actual level of development.

• Language is the main vehicle of thought.– All language, spoken and written is dialogical,

rather than monological ie the basic unit of language is conversational interaction, not sentence structure or grammatical pattern.

Stephen (4) and his mother

• S. Mummy, are you a girl?M. (busy) Yes.S. Are you a woman?M. Oh yes, I’m a woman; a woman is a big girl, a grown-up girl.

• (Clare Painter ‘Into the Mother Tongue’, 1989)

Mediation is central to learning• Tools (culturally produced) are

made available to learners in social interaction

• Language is the most powerful mediation tool, enabling sophisticated semiosis eg – linguistic reference to accompany

pointing, – description and comment on

immediate environment,– recounting of past experiences, – anticipating future ones,– describing and enacting

relationships etc

• from a social semiotic perspective, enacting ‘genres’.

Vygotsky, cont’d

• Social interaction and internalisation– Social interaction precedes the development of

knowledge and ability– Every function in a learner’s cultural development

appears twice, first on a social level between people (interpsychologically) and then inside the learner (intrapsychologically)

– The process of internalisation is a process of transformation, involving appropriation and reconstruction.

Stephen, six months later

• S. Snakes and worms, they don’t have legs …M. Ah no.S. But lizards do.

Vygotsky and the ZPD• “... the distance between the actual developmental level as

determined by independent problem solving, and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (1978: 86)

• Learners’ actual level of development (as measured in independent performance) is a ‘yesterday of development’, whereas the level of assisted performance is what can be achieved in the future, a ‘tomorrow of development’.

• It is only within the ZPD that true scaffolding can occur

Scaffolding

• The temporary, but essential nature of support by an ‘expert’ in the language development of young children (Wood, Bruner & Ross 1976).

• Along with the ZPD, is a fundamental concept in socio-cultural models of learning in general (Mercer, 1994), of first language learning (Halliday, 1973, 2004; Painter, 1989) and of second language learning (Gibbons, 2002; Hammond, 2001).

Scaffolding as structure and process

• Scaffolding as planned curriculum progression over time (‘designed-in’ scaffolding)

• Scaffolding as collaborative processes of interaction, jointly constructed from moment to moment (‘point-of-need’ scaffolding)

• (Walqui, 2006; Gibbons, 2002)

Scaffolding as process

• T. What distance do you have to measure?S. The distance.T. Which distance?S. The distance from the vertex.T. Which vertex?S. (pointing) That one.T. Can you be more precise?S. The top left vertex.T. OK. So what do we measure?S. The distance from the top left vertex.

• T. Good. To where?S. The outside of the other shape. T. I’m not sure what you mean. Where on the other shape?S. The bottom left hand corner.T. OK. And what do we call that shape?S. The object.T. OK. So the line’s going to …S. The bottom left vertex of the object.T. OK. Put that all together and tell me what you’re measuring, what distance?S. The distance from the top left vertex of the image to the bottom left vertex of the object.

• (Robert Veel, 1997)

Scaffolding mathematical reasoning

• Precision in use of language for locating and measuring.

• Confidence in use of abstract and technical concepts.

• Ability to use the written-like conventions of the language …

• ie language is not context-dependent.

Scaffolding in ELT

• LILT, focus on ESL Lesson, clips 4, 5 and 6

6 features of pedagogical scaffolding (Van Lier, 2004)

• Continuity – Tasks are repeated with variations and connected

to one another

• Contextual support– Access to resources and a wide range of

mediating tools

• Intersubjectivity– Encouragement and non-threatening participation

in a shared community of practice

6 features (cont’d)

• Contingency– Task procedures and talk are adjusted depending

on actions of learners

• Handover/takeover– As learners’ skill and confidence increase, the

teacher withdraws support for particular skills

• Flow– Skills and challenges are in balance ‘High support,

high challenge’ - Gibbons, 2002

Scaffolding as structure

• A ‘designed-in’ learning/teaching cycle of 5 stages– Engagement– Building Knowledge– Transformation– Presentation– Reflection

• Contingency or point of need scaffolding will be illustrated across each stage

Instructional scaffolds: Engagement

• Bridging the unknown and the known in terms of content– Eg Two column

anticipatory guides

• Establishing a personal link between student and subject matter– Eg share personal

experiences

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Building Knowledge: Text types• Provide models of target

written and spoken texts• Provide context for

academic reading eg using manipulatives, pictures, video

• Build schemata (eg preview text noting headings, illustrations etc)

• Provide advance organisers for mini-lectures, which reduce learners’ attentional load

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Building shared knowledge: content

• Semantic webs• Wallpapering• Word walls/banks• Group internet

searches• Interview experts• Jigsaw listening

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Transformation• Internalising or appropriating the knowledge

through rehearsal• More exploratory student/student talk (in pairs,

groups)• LILT, ESL techniques: Preparing for Task

onwards• The use of ICTs as mediating tools?• CLIL Science Experiment in English on Vimeo

http://vimeo.com/2584354• CLIL CLASS/LESSON: GEOMETRY (MATHS)

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fypVTa_yGGs>

Presentation

• Written– Formality– Mono/Multimodality– IT supported

• Oral– Formality– Mono/Multimodality – IT supported

• BUILT Unit 2B Screen 60, then 63

Reflection and metacognition

• Support learners to:• Consciously apply

learned strategies• Be aware of strategic

options and choose the appropriate one for the task

• Monitor, evaluate and adjust own performance

• Plan for future performance

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Metacognitive scaffolds

• Walqui’s (2006) two posters: one that lists the steps of the routine being practiced and the other an ever growing list of all routines mastered by group

• Reciprocal Teaching

• Both covered in workshop

Conclusion: Mariani, 1997

Challenge Demands too high: failure likely

Extension of learning and capability

Low motivation: boredom and behaviour problems

Comfortable/easy: little learning likely

------------------------->Support