Effects of scaffolding strategies on english reading comprehension skill for non english major students masters thesis in education

i NGUYỄN THỊ HIỀN LƯƠNG EFFECTS OFSCAFFOLDING STATEGIES ON ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION SKILLFOR NON – ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language TES

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NGUYỄN THỊ HIỀN LƯƠNG

EFFECTS OFSCAFFOLDING STATEGIES ON ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION SKILLFOR NON – ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL)

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ABSTRACT

The study attempted to examine effects of scaffolding strategies on reading comprehension skills for non English major students It aims to find out students‘ difficulties in learning this comprehensive skill, their expectations of teachers‘ methodology as well as their attitudes towards scaffolding strategies experimented

Both qualitative and quantitative research methodology were utilized in this study The data was collected through the reading proficiency pretest and posttest, questionnaires, interviews and six experimental scaffolding strategies The participants of the research who were divided into two groups, the control and experimental groups, included 100 non English major students at Vinh university

The results from the study revealed that most students encountered difficulties in all five aspects of languages namely vocabulary, background knowledge, grammar, discourse structures and reading skills and reading strategies Most of the students expressed their expectations in term of teachers‘ methodology such as pre-teaching vocabulary, providing background knowledge and using appropriate reading strategies The finding also showed that the reading proficiency level of non English major students were quite low However, this was significantly improved after three months experimental teaching using scaffolding strategies in reading class Additionally, all of the students expressed their positive attitudes and good appreciations for six scaffolding strategies experimented which helped them to deal with their reading problems

On the basics of the findings, some pedagogical implications were drawn out not only for students to become effective readers but also for language teachers and the educational administrators to enhance students‘ reading proficiency Limitations

of the study were pointed out and further research was suggested

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I also wish to send my sincere thanks to the students of the classes I taught in order to experiment scaffolding strategies and gather information for my survey questionnaire and interview Without their enthusiastic contribution, this study could not have been successful

I am indebted to my friends, my classmates, as well as my colleagues for their invaluable comments and criticism and also for their continued interest and encouragement

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family members who are always beside me, creating favorable conditions and supporting

me both spiritually and materially to complete this thesis

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION i

1.1 Rationale i

1.2 Aims of the study ii

1.3 Scope of the study iii

1.4 Research questions iii

1.5 Significance of the study iii

1.6 The organization of the study iii

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND v

2.1 Introduction v

2.2 Literature review v

2.3 Theoretical Background viii

2.3.1 Communicative Language Teaching viii

2.3.2 The teaching of reading x

2.3.2.1 The nature of reading x

2.3.2.2 The process of teaching and learning reading comprehension skillsxi 2.3.2.2.1 The bottom –up reading process xi

2.3.2.2.2 The top- down reading process xii

2.3.3 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Scaffolding xiii

2.3.3.1 Zone of Proximal Development xiii

2.3.3.2 Scaffolding strategies xv

2.3.3.2.1 Prior knowledge activation xvii

2.3.3.2.2 Pre-teaching vocabulary xx

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY xxxiii

3.1 Introduction xxxiii

3.2 Research methods xxxiii

3.3 Participants xxxiv

3.4 Research Instruments xxxv

3.4.1 Reading Comprehension Pretest xxxv

3.4.2 Interviews xxxv

3.4.3 Questionnaires xxxvi

3.4.4 Reading Comprehension Posttest xxxvii

3.4.5 Instructional material xxxviii

3.4.6 Lesson Plans xxxviii

3.5 Data Analysis xxxviii

3.6 Data Collection Procedures xxxviii

3.7 Summary xxxix

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS xl

4.1 Introduction xl 4.2 English reading proficiency of non-English major students at Vinh University xl 4.3 Difficulties encountered by non-English major students in learning reading skills xlii 4.3.1 Students‘ difficulties with Vocabulary xlii 4.3.2 Students‘ difficulties with Grammar xliii 4.3.3 Students‘ difficulties with Discourse Structure xlv 4.3.4 Students‘ difficulties related to Background Knowledge xlvi 4.3.5 Students‘ difficulties related to Reading Strategies and Reading Skills xlvii

4.3.6 Students‘ expectations in term of teachers‘ methodology xlix 4.4 Effects of scaffolding on students‘ reading skills li 4.4.1 Effects on reading comprehension proficiency lii 4.4.2 Effects on students‘ motivation lviii 4.5 Pedagogical Implications lxiii 4.5.1 For teachers lxiv 4.5.2 For students lxvi 4.5.3 For school administrators lxvii 4.6 Summary lxviii

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION lxix

5.1 Summary of the key findings lxix 5.2 Limitations of the study lxxi 5.3 Suggestions for further research lxxii

REFERENCES lxxiii APPENDIX I

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CEFR: The common European Framework of Reference for Languages

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

DRTA: Directed Reading Thinking Activity

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESL: English as Second Language

P: Percentage

ZPD: Zone of Proximal Development

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 4.1: Students‘ difficulties with Vocabulary xlii

Table 4.2: Students‘ difficulties with Grammar xliv

Table 4.3: Students‘ difficulties with Discourse Structure xlv

Table 4.4: Students‘ difficulties related to Background Knowledge xlvi

Table 4.5: Students‘ difficulties with Reading Strategies and Reading Skillsxlviii

Table 4.6: Students‘ expectations in terms of teachers‘ methodology xlix

Table 4.7: The control and experimental groups‘ pretest and posttest results lii

Figure 4.1: Reading pretest results by band scores 40

Figure 4.2A: Pretest and Posttest results by band scores of control group lvi

Figure 4.2B: Pretest and Posttest results by band scores of experimental group lvi

Table 4.8: Students‘ attitudes towards Scaffolding Strategies lviii

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Being able to understand what one reads is important for learning in school and for life in general In higher education, reading in English as a foreign language (EFL) requires teachers to explore strategies that can improve students' reading comprehension At Vinh University, non-English major students tend to have low levels of English, which makes reading comprehension challenging Often, instructional approaches promote reading as a product rather than as a process The former focuses on the text, while the latter explores the readers, their background knowledge and experience, predictions, and interaction with the text Additionally, reading comprehension skills are usually taught in school in one of two ways One method is to have students read a text and then read comments or answer questions about the text This method stresses important components of reading comprehension, but treats them purely as products (i.e., interpretations) rather than

as processes (i.e., constructing interpretations) In particular, it does not teach students what to do when they have difficulty comprehending parts of the text; nor does it teach them how to construct and revise hypotheses about what is likely to occur in the text based on what they have already read Both of these aspects are important in constructing an interpretation of the text In an effort to find an effective method of teaching reading skills, recent researches emphasize learning by engaging learners in knowledge construction (Reiser, 2004) The conditions of meaningful learning require appropriate strategies, where students need to elaborate, or generate activities, such as self- questioning, semantic mapping, and summary writing, monitor learning, and construct meaning from a reading text Such strategies can be considered effective in reading comprehension (McGriff, 1996) If provided with appropriate assistance, students can attain a goal or engage in a practice task that is beyond their reach Reiser (2004) points that with scaffolding strategies, learners receive support and assistance to successfully perform certain tasks and move to more complex ones

Similarly, Vacca (2008) suggests that when guided, supported and provided with the necessary attributes, students become more responsible for their learning, more motivated, and more successful Scaffolding strategies are, therefore, effective for teaching reading , and such strategies influence the development of higher functions and skills beyond the confines of learner

With more than 3 years of experience in teaching English at Vinh University,

I found that EFL learners face serious problems in comprehending facts stated or implied in an English context; they are unable to realize the main ideas of given text

as well as reflect on the author‘s purpose of writing Moreover, they find themselves confronted with a vast variety of information, vocabulary, grammatical structures, culture aspects, and resources that make it extremely hard for them to pick their ways through Consequently, if the teachers do not teach scaffolding strategies, the better students will develop them on their own, and the worse ones will find reading very frustrating

All the aforementioned reasons urge the author to carry out the study entitled

―Effects of scaffolding strategies on English reading comprehension skills for non- English major students‖ Hopefully, the results could serve as a useful source of reference for those who are concerned about the subject matter

1.2 Aims of the study

With the presented rationale, the specific aims of the study, accordingly, are: 1) to investigate the difficulties faced by non English major students in learning reading skill?

2) to evaluate the effectiveness of the application of scaffolding strategies to improve reading comprehension for non- English major students

3) to propose some suggestions and recommendations to reading comprehension teaching and learning

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1.3 Scope of the study

This research focuses on investigating how scaffolding strategies affect reading comprehension skills at Vinh University Due to the limitation of time, the author only fulfilled the study among one hundred non English major students at Vinh University We also choose to focus on some scaffolding strategies namely background knowledge activation, pre-teaching vocabulary, using mind maps, information transfer, using visual aids¸ and previewing the text

1.5 Significance of the study

The study is expected to be a good reference for teachers and students to improve students‘ reading comprehension skills In addition, it is also hoped that the findings of this study will contribute to further understandings of scaffolding strategies in improving this receptive skill Moreover, through this study, teachers, along with their students, will become more aware of the crucial role of scaffolding strategies, and be able to use those strategies appropriately to their learning requirements

1.6 The organization of the study

The study includes five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 – Introduction – provides the rationale, the aims of the study, the scope of the study, the research questions, the significance of the study, and the organization of the study

Chapter 2 – Literature Review and Theoretical Background – presents the review of previous studies related to the thesis and some concepts as theoretical basis for the study

Chapter 3 – Research Design and Methodology – describes the research design, instruments for data collection, data collection, data analysis, and research procedures, which gives details of the research method and describes how the hypothesis of the thesis is interpreted and explained

Chapter 4 – Findings and Discussions – presents the results and discussions developed after the linguistics figures are analyzed

Chapter 5 – Conclusion and Implications – summarizes the main issues touched upon in the research, the limitations of the research and some suggestions for further studies Following the chapters are the references and appendices

2.2 Literature review

In the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language, reading is considered as an important component because it provides input language Assuming its importance, in past years, many educators and scholars have given greater attention to reading comprehension (e.g Ben Davis, 2002; Bowman, 1998; Hendricks, et al., 1996; Stauffer, 1957) Some of the ideas put place on the factors that affect reading comprehension and proposed possible solutions to improve learner‘s reading comprehension Stauffer (1976) listed some techniques that teachers should use to teach reading as a thinking process He also proposed Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) to involve reading for a purpose determined by the students DRTA helps students develop skills in reading and thinking It encourages risk-taking via prediction Allan Collins and Edward E Smith (1980) indicate that current methods for teaching reading comprehension tend to emphasize the products of comprehension, and neglect the process of comprehension They also suggest two sets of processing skills to teach are comprehension monitoring skills and hypothesis formation and evaluation

In term of scaffolding reading comprehension skills, a great number of studies have been conducted in order to find out an effective model in teaching and learning this comprehensible skill Arthur N, Langer and Judith A (2003) discussed

a model for teaching reading and writing in which skilled language users provide support for new language activities in context They also gave examples of typical classroom activities that provide too little or too much support for natural language growth and of activities with balanced instructional "scaffolding." Graves, Michael; Graves, Bonnie in the book entitled ―Scaffolding Reading Experiences: Designs for Student Success‖ offered practical examples, updated listings of quality children's literature, and new activities to promote successful reading experiences for K-8 learners The book contains practical information on pre reading, during reading, and post reading activities, along with ideas for incorporating scaffolding reading experiences into the classroom Margaret M William (2013) found that learning to read and comprehend fiction and non-fiction text in a foreign language is a complicated task Teachers, therefore, can scaffold, i.e., providing needed support or accommodation for the comprehension skills that will help English language learners to reach a better understanding of what they are reading He also suggested some of scaffolding strategies such as: activating students‘ prior knowledge; using read aloud to support reading comprehension; making comprehension learning tangible…

A more specific study of scaffolding is presented by Donovan and Smolkin (2002) They take a critical look at the issue of scaffolding in children's writing They research the role of different levels of scaffolding in children's understanding and demonstration of their knowledge of genre Tasks range from those that provide minimal or low level support to those that provide middle or high levels of support (contextual and visual support) Interestingly, the highest level in their range of scaffolding is described as a "direct instruction with revision" (Donovan & Smolkin, 2002, p 435) Their research revealed, however, that while scaffolding can assist children it may also, at times, hinder children in demonstrating their full range of genre knowledge (Donovan & Smolkin, 2002, p 428) This finding confirms our concern that scaffolding, when understood as direct instruction, might

The most recent work on scaffolding and its relationship with students‘ performance in reading comprehension is that of Pishghadam and Ghardiri (2011) They compared the effects of Symmetrical (S) and Asymmetrical (AS) scaffolding

on reading comprehension of adult learners of English as a foreign la nguage The study was conducted on 52 participants, who were learners in one of the English language institutes in Mashhad, Iran The results of the study revealed that the groups‘ performance varied on reading comprehension and results indicated that better performance of students who received instructions through the AS scaffolding strategy, whereas the students of the S group had the lower mean on the post-test The interviews revealed that most of the respondents highly preferred to have a partner and read in pair for psychological reasons In addition, most respondents were believed that their presence would enhance their However, some respondents took a more moderate view, stating that it is ok to work with a less capable peer to share information and experience with him

In can be seen that most researchers mentioned focused on studying how scaffolding strategies are effectively used in teaching reading comprehension skills

In sum, it can be concluded that scaffolding literacy enhances students‘ confidence, self-regulation, improves critical thinking and higher order skills and has an impact on the students‘ progress and teaching practices

self-In the context of Vietnam, many studies have put emphasis on the teaching and learning reading skill Huynh Thi Mong Thuong (2009) conducted a study on

the impacts of pre-reading strategies instruction on Hung Vuong High School student‘s reading skill The author pointed out that pre-reading strategy such as semantic mapping, skimming for the main ideas, scanning for details… have a positive effect on reading comprehension skills Nguyen Thi Trinh Huyen (2009) investigated reading strategies of non-major English students at An Giang University In her study, the findings showed that non major English students tend

to pay a little attention to strategies used during reading comprehension process This author also suggested some reading strategies to improve reading comprehension skill

In summary, the above researchers have considerably contributed to improving the teaching and learning reading skills in some aspects However, since the term ―scaffolding‖ was introduced in teaching methodology, there still have been no studies on the effects of scaffolding strategies in reading comprehension skills Therefore, the researcher of this thesis finds it essential to conduct the study

2.3 Theoretical Background 2.3.1 Communicative Language Teaching

Also called Communicative Approach, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages, emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language Historically, CLT has been seen as a response to the Audio- Lingual Method and the Situational Language Teaching method which were questioned by prominent linguistics like Chomsky (1957) during the 1960s This linguist rejected the structuralist view of language and demonstrated that there is a distinction between performance and competence For Chomsky the focus of linguistics was to describe the linguistic competence that enables speakers to produce grammatically correct sentences Dell Hymes held, however, that such a view of linguistic theory was sterile and that it failed to picture all the aspects of language He advocated the need

of a theory that incorporates communication competence It must be a definition of what a speaker needs to know in order to be communicatively competent in a

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speech community Later, Canale and Swain (1980) described four dimensions of communicative competence as follow:

• Grammatical competence: refers to what Chomsky calls linguistic competence,

in other words, the speaker is able to use a structured comprehensible utterance (including grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling)

• Sociolinguistic competence: refers to an understanding of the social context in which communication takes place (role relationships, shared beliefs and information between participants …)

• Discourse competence: refers to the interpretation of individual messsage elements in terms of their interconnectedness and how meaning is represented in relationship to the entire discourse or text

• Strategic competence: refers to the coping strategies that participants use to initiate terminate, maintain, repair and redirect communication

At the level of language theory, CLT has a rich theoretical base Some of the characteristics of this communicative view of language can be outlined as follows:

1 Language is a system for the expression of meaning

2 The primary function of language is to allow interactions and communication

3 The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses

4 The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse

Nunan (1991) gave a list of most recognized five features of CLT:

1 An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language

2 The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

3 The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also

on the learning process itself

4 An enhancement of the learner‘s own experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning

5 An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside classroom

In summary, CLT has gained widespread acceptance in the world of language study CLT can succeed, providing that teachers don‘t completely reject the need for the structure provided by grammar In other words, CLT, in the hands

of a balanced teacher, can bring new life and joy to the classroom Its vitality makes

it an important contributor to language learning approaches

2.3.2 The teaching of reading

2.3.2.1 The nature of reading

Being considered a receptive language skill, reading, according to Goodman (1971, p 135), is ―a psycholinguistic process by which the reader - a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display‖ The traditional method considered reading as a passive process and neglected the role of readers as well as their background knowledge and strategies Current views, however, states that reading is an active process in which readers relate information in the text to what they already know The comprehension of a written text is the result of the interaction between knowledge

of the world and various types of the language knowledge Reading comprehension, therefore, is the ability to retain information of a written text to the fullest of the readers Grellet defines that ―reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible‖ (Grellet, 1981, p 34) From this point of view, Grellet focuses on readers‘ ability of understanding the meaning of a written text based on the individual‘s background knowledge Having the same point of view with Grellet, Swan states that ―A student

is good at comprehension we mean that he can read accurately and efficiently, so as

to get the maximum information of a text with the minimum of understanding‖

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(Swan, 1975, p 1) This means that the student can show his understanding by expressing the content of the text in many ways such as summarizing the text, answering questions, etc

re-2.3.2.2 The process of teaching and learning reading comprehension skills

2.3.2.2.1 The bottom –up reading process

Bottom-up theories hypothesize that learning to read progresses from children learning the parts of language (letters) to understanding whole text (meaning) Much like solving a jigsaw puzzle, bottom-up models of the reading process say that the reading puzzle is solved by beginning with an examination of each piece of the puzzle and then putting pieces together to make a picture Two bottom-up theories of the reading process remain popular even today: One Second

of Reading by Gough (1972) and A Theory of Automatic Information Processing by LaBerge and Samuels (1974) Gough‘s (1972) One Second of Reading model described reading as a sequential or serial mental process Readers, according to Gough, begin by translating the parts of written language (letters) into speech sounds, and then piece the sounds together to form individual words, then piece the words together to arrive at an understanding of the author‘s written message Teachers who believe that bottom-up theories fully explain how children become readers often teach subskills first: they begin instruction by introducing letter names and letter sounds, progress to pronouncing whole words, then show students ways

of connecting word meanings to comprehend texts Although bottom-up theories of the reading process explain the decoding part of the reading process rather well, there is certainly more to reading than decoding To become readers, students must compare their knowledge and background experiences to the text in order to understand the author‘s message Also called date- driven reading process, this method obviously requires a sophisticated knowledge of the language itself From among all the perceived data, the reader selects the signals that make some sense, that cohere, that ―mean‖ Stanovich (1980) states that an important shortcoming of this model is the fact that it is difficult to account for sentence-context effects and

the role of prior knowledge of text topic as facilitating variables in word recognition and comprehension (because of lack of feedback) According to Swan (1973), the decoding model is inadequate because it underestimates the contribution of the reader who makes predictions and processes information It fails to recognize that students utilize their expectations about the text, based on their knowledge of language and how it works Goodman (1970) claims that all reading involve a risk-

a guessing game- because readers must, through a puzzle- solving process, infer meanings, decide what to retain and what not to retain and move on This is where a complementary method of processing written text is imperative: top-down, or conceptually- driven, processing in which we draw on our own intelligence and experience to understand a text

2.3.2.2.2 The top- down reading process

Top-down reading models teach students to read by introducing them to literature as a whole Instead of teaching students to read by sounding out each word

in a sentence, teachers read whole passages of a text Students begin to use context clues to decipher unfamiliar words The National Capital Language Research Center reports top-down reading models are helpful to those learning a second language because they help students concentrate on the whole meaning of a passage The theory also works with those just learning to read, as readers rely on their previous knowledge to decipher text or unfamiliar words This reading process begins with the reader‘s hypothesis or predictions about the text he or she is going to read The reader, afterwards, reads and checks whether or not his or her predictions are correct This method is, therefore, a process of constructing interpretations rather than decoding forms and the reader only turns to decoding if necessary, that is, if other means fail The advantage of top- down reading process is it considers the reader an active participant in the reading process From earlier views of SL reading

as a passive linguistic decoding process (bottom-up) to more contemporary views of

SL reading as an active predictive process However, one of shortcomings of this method, according to Stanovich (1980) is for many texts, the reader has little

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knowledge of the topic and cannot generate predictions Even if a skilled reader can generate predictions, this would take much longer than it would to recognize the words Strang (1984), therefore, claims that a top-down model of reading is essentially a model of the fluent reader and does not account for all the needs of students who are acquiring reading skills These limitations of top-down model make reading specialists find out a compensatory approach which is called interactive reading (Stanovich)- a combination of top- down and bottom- up processing The interactive reading is almost a primary ingredient in successful teaching methodology because both processes are important ―In practice, a reader continually shifts from one focus to another, now adopting a top- down approach to predict probable meaning, then moving to the bottom- up approach to check whether that is really the writer says‖ (Nuttall, 1996, p 17)

2.3.3 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Scaffolding

2.3.3.1 Zone of Proximal Development

The zone of proximal or potential development perhaps is the best known concept of Vygotskian socio-cultural psychology Vygotsky defines Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as ―the distance between the actual development 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 peer‖ (1978, p 86) Initially, it was elaborated for psychological testing in schools (Vygotsky, 1962) Vygotsky stated that testing should be based not only on the current level of a child's achievements but also (and mainly) on the child's potential development The actual level of development (level

of independent performance) does not sufficiently describe development Rather, it indicates what is already developed or achieved; it is a ―yesterday of development‖ The level of assisted performance indicates what a person can achieve in the near future, what is developing (potential level, ―tomorrow of development‖, what a person ―can be‖) (Vygotsky, 1978) Thus, the zone of proximal development is the distance between what a person can do with and without help The term proximal

(nearby) indicates that the assistance provided goes just slightly beyond the learner‘s current competence complementing and building on their existing abilities (Cole & Cole, 2001)

The concept of the ZPD can be fully understood only in the context and as part of Vygotskian theory on the whole "In fact, failure to see the connections between the zone and the theory as a whole means that it is difficult to differentiate Vygotsky's concept from any instructional technique that systematically leads children, with the help of an adult, through a number of steps in the process of learning some set of skills" (Cole & Cole, 2001)

There is a consensus that Vygotskian socio-cultural psychology and the notion of the zone of proximal development are at the heart of the concept of scaffolding (Berk, 2001; Daniels, 2001; Wells, 2001; McDevitt & Ormrod, 2002) However, the interpretations and explanations of the exact ways that scaffolding relates to it have been different These range from understanding scaffolding as a direct application and operationalization of Vygotsky's concept of teaching in the zone of proximal development (Wells, 1999), to the view that the notion of scaffolding only partially reflects the richness of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development ( Daniels, 2001)

Mercer and Fisher (1993, in Wells, 1999) view the ZPD characteristic of transfer of responsibility for the task to the student as the major goal of scaffolding

in teaching In order to qualify as scaffolding, they propose, a teaching and learning event should: a) enable the learners to carry out the task which they would not have been able to manage on their own; b) be intended to bring the learner to a state of competence which will enable them eventually to complete such a task on their own; and c) be followed by evidence of the learners having achieved some greater level of independent competence as a result of the scaffolding experience (Wells,

1999, p 221) The emphasis of their definition is on the collaboration between the teacher and the learner in constructing knowledge and skill in the former

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Field (2004) describes the relationship between scaffolding and ZPD as follow: An adult provides help to a developing child by way of prompting his attention in a task, guiding him toward appropriate goals, marking prominent features of a task and showing related strategies Scaffolding has a significant role

in supporting a child to progress into his ZPD ZPD provides educational experts a clear and a simple guideline about how to support learners at each learning stage

2.3.3.2 Scaffolding strategies

In education, scaffolding refers to a variety of instructional techniques used

to move students progressively toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in the learning process The term itself offers the relevant descriptive metaphor: teachers provide successive levels of temporary support help students reach higher levels of comprehension and skill acquisition that they would not be able to achieve without assistance Like physical scaffolding, the supportive strategies are incrementally removed when they are no longer needed, and the teacher gradually shifts more responsibility over the learning process to the student

Scaffolding is widely considered to be an essential element of effective teaching, and all teachers—to a greater or lesser extent—almost certainly use various forms of instructional scaffolding in their teaching In addition, scaffolding

is often used to bridge learning gaps—i.e., the difference between what students have learned and what they are expected to know and be able to do at a certain point

in their education For example, if students are not at the reading level required to understand a text being taught in a course, the teacher might use instructional scaffolding to incrementally improve their reading ability until they can read the required text independently and without assistance One of the main goals of scaffolding is to reduce the negative emotions and self-perceptions that students may experience when they get frustrated, intimidated, or discouraged when attempting a difficult task without the assistance, direction, or understanding they need to complete it

Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976, p 90) define scaffolding as ―A process that enables a child or a novice to solve problem, carry out a task, or achieve a goal which would be beyond his unassisted efforts‖ They coin the term scaffolding as a metaphor to describe the effective process by which an adult, a peer, or a competent person assists a child to perform a task beyond his or her current capability Since then, a great number of educational specialists and experts have used the concept to describe and explain the role of adults or more knowledgeable peers in guiding children‘s learning and development (Stone, 1998; Wells, 1999; Hammond, 2002) Scaffolding, however, can be traced to Vygotsky‘s (1978) concept of ―the zone of proximal development (ZPD)‖, which is the actual developmental level of the learner compared with the level of potential development that can take place with guidance or collaboration with a more competent person It directs attention to the need for support in the learning process, and does so in a way that emphasizes that excellence in teaching is necessarily responsive to the state of understanding achieved by particular learners In computer mediated technologies, a human tutor, peer students or intelligent agents can provide scaffolding so that learners could attain new skills, concepts and knowledge (Mc Loughlin, 2004)

One of the most common questions that a responsible teacher may pose to himself is ―What are the most beneficial strategies for my struggling readers?‖ In fact, by scaffolding reading instruction with various strategies, you will improve the reading abilities of most students The key is to apply reading strategies persistently and imaginatively As with any new skill, these reading strategies should be taught through a scaffolding method, which includes modeling the strategy, providing students with opportunities for guided practice with strategy, and then having students independently apply the strategy Because students have different reading styles, they are not likely to find all reading strategies equally useful While a particular strategy may reinforce strength that one student has or may provide the key to overcoming a reading difficulty, the same strategy may prove to be tedious or useless to another student For this reason, the explicit teaching of reading

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strategies should also include opportunities for students to reflect on the effectiveness of the strategy By considering questions such as:

- How does this strategy help me to understand the text?

- How does this strategy relate to something I already do or don't do as a reader?

- How might I use this strategy with texts from other subject areas?

students will become increasingly aware of the strategies that help them to read more effective Strategies, in their turn, make students become active learners and therefore, their zone of proximal development can be maximized through the help

of their peers and teacher Scaffolding, however, should be temporarily provided and it is gradually removed bit by bit as the learners become more competent independently (Collins, 2004) From my own experience in teaching English, I have found some useful scaffolding strategies which can activate and stimulate students

in learning reading comprehension skills as follow:

2.3.3.2.1 Prior knowledge activation

Widely used as a before reading strategy, Prior Knowledge Activation was suggested in the literature by knowledgeable researchers According to Rumelhard (1994), activating background knowledge for learning involves helping English learners make ―connection between their own knowledge and experiences and the new information being taught‖ Cummins (2009) affirms that activating and building prior knowledge help ESL (English as Second Language) students learn content, and suggests strategies such as brainstorming or discussion, using both visuals and graphic organizers Similarly, Carrel (1988, p 245) suggests numerous ways in which relevant schemata may be constructed: visual aids, demonstrations, discussions, role-play, text-previewing, key vocabulary, key word/key concept association activities, questioning and brainstorming Research has shown that comprehension can be improved when a reader‘s relevant prior knowledge is activated before reading (Nunan, 1991) By assisting students to recall knowledge needed for a given text, the teacher helps them in building bridges from the new to

the known Prince (1987) found that comprehension was even improved by conducting certain enrichment activities before reading rather than afterward Comprehension is also enhanced by adding important background knowledge that students lack Carell (1988) affirms that "Activating prior knowledge is something that we do naturally as adult readers, as mature readers We always relate what we're reading to something we know As a matter of fact when we read we really have to think about those connections.‖ This author also suggests that teachers should choose texts that content familiar topic to help students activate their background knowledge Some following questions can be used to begin a reading assignment:

• What do I already know about?

• Have any of you ever experienced?

• What have you read before about?

Teachers can use Preview Guide based on the assignment to help students start to explore their opinions or knowledge on as topic Preview Guides are series

of key statements from the text that students are assigned to read Students read each statement and respond as to whether they agree or disagree The statements tap and share students‘ prior knowledge and help them to set purposes during reading Important tips for an effective Preview Guide are: only select the statements that represent the key concepts in the text; limit the number of total statement to eight or twelve which is arranged in the same order that they appear in the text Here is an example of Preview Guide for the reading ―The world‘s first megalopolis‖ – New Headway Pre-intermediate

A K-W-H-L Chart can help students organize their thoughts before they begin reading They should concentrate on completing the first three columns of the chart

What I know What I want to

• Introduce background knowledge as outlined in your reading program and actively engage students

• ―Front load‖ passage reading by teaching additional background knowledge needed to better understand the passage

• Prior to passage reading, select and read aloud a book that provides necessary background knowledge

Recognizing the importance of KWL chart in activating background knowledge, this author emphasizes that to increase student success, teachers should

―front load‖ before having students respond to KWL chart If this is done, students will ―know‖ something and will have a basic for formulating questions about what they want to find out

2.3.3.2.2 Pre-teaching vocabulary

The famous linguist David Wilkins sums up the importance of vocabulary by saying ―Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed‖ Similarly, many researchers agree that vocabulary is related to reading comprehension Osborn and Hiebert (2004) state that ―Indeed, one of the most enduring findings in reading research is the extent to which students‘ vocabulary knowledge relates to their reading comprehension‖ Similarly, Baker, Simmons, and Kame‘enui (1997) contend that ―Children who enter school with limited vocabulary knowledge grow more discrepant over time from their peers who have rich vocabulary knowledge‖ In fact, for a long time, reading specialists have though that simplifying syntax helps make text readable However, Strother and Ulijin (1987) compared reading comprehension scores of native and non-native subjects reading original texts and texts that had been simplified syntactically but not lexically The results did not reveal any difference and so they came to a conclusion that simplifying syntax does not necessarily make text more readable They suggested that a conceptual rather than a syntactic strategy should be used (in Alderson, 2000, p.73) This involves processing content words, and thus requires lexical and content knowledge Their findings concur with Berman (1984), who also found that syntax was not a significant factor Vocabulary knowledge is the basic of effective and high- speed bottom-up processing during reading The larger the vocabulary, the more swiftly the reader can make accurate associations with prior knowledge and comprehend a text (Beatrice S Mikulecky; A short course in teaching reading)

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For these reasons, it is crucial to pre- teach key words from a reading assignment, particularly when students are still at a quite low level Menzo et al contend that ―pre-teaching selected words from a reading selection before students read greatly improves their comprehension of the material‖ (2001, p.165) Research

by Laufer (1989), and Liu and Nation (1985) also shows that readers need to know about 95% of the words in text to achieve adequate comprehension, and to be able

to guess the unknown words from the context (in Alderson, ibid p 35) This activity helps to make the language input comprehensible (Krashen, 1982) and serves as a kind of scaffolding, which derives from Vygotsky‘s (1978) concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) – the area between what they can do independently and what they can do with assistance However, pre-teaching vocabulary doesn't mean pulling a dozen words from the reading text and having students look up definitions and write them out Instead, teachers should introduce the words to kids in photos, and in context to things they know and are interested in Using analogies, metaphors and inviting students to create a symbol or drawing for each word are also effective ways The dictionaries will be used only to compare with those definitions they've already discovered on their own

There are a number of methods to pre-teach key vocabulary The easiest way

is to give definitions One of the advantages of this technique is time-saving, but such dictionary explanation ―rarely generates excitement, enthusiasm, or emotion‖ (Manzo et al 2000, p 163) Willis also points out that ―there are sometimes problems with direct pre-teaching a list of useful words and phrases Students who don‘t know them will want to spend sometime writing them down and practicing them, while others who know them already will be bored and feel they are wasting time‖ (1996, p 43) It is therefore advisable to help students find the meaning themselves by doing vocabulary building activities, such as matching, multiple choice questions, gap-filling, words in context, or by ways of semantic maps or other word games, etc The following are some examples of pre-teaching vocabulary introduced by Beaumont (2002)

1 Guessing words’ meaning from context and gap filling

Instructions: Read the words and sentences containing the words and guess the meaning Then complete the sentences with one of the words

Color (noun)

• Red, orange, yellow, green are each a color

• A photo can be in color or in black and white Property (noun)

• A property is a characteristic used to tell one substance from another

• Fluidity is a property, or attribute, of water Size (noun)

Jen is taller than I am, so her jeans are a larger size than mine Material (noun)

• Wood is a material, or substance, used to make pencils, furniture, and

houses

• Any kind of matter that is used to make something can be called a material Shape (noun)

• My favorite cookie cutter is in the shape of a heart

• It is hard to draw the shape, or form, of a perfect circle Matter (noun)

• A horse, a rock, and oxygen are each an example of matter

1 The……….of her clay pot is like a globe

2 Blowing more air into a balloon changes its………

3 All,………has mass, or substance

4 She used a different……….of paint for each strip of the rainbow

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5 Synonyms for……….include characteristic and attribute

6 Metal is a………used to make bodies of cars

2 Definitions and gap-filling

Instructions: Read the words and their definitions, and then complete each sentence with one of the words

Ability: A skill or talent; the power to do or act (noun) Habitat: the natural environment of a plant or animal (noun) Predator: an animal that hunts and eats other animals to survive (noun) Prey: an animal that is hunted and eaten by a predator (noun)

Rodent: a small mammal such as a mouse or rat that has large front chewing teeth (noun)

Field guide: a book that helps people identify things in nature (noun)

• An eagle is a ……… of mice

• Animal hunted by other animals are called………

• Sara is the star of her soccer team because of her…… to score goals

• A wetland………is home to many birds

• We looked in a ……….to identify different types of humming birds

• Almost every type of……….eats plant, especially seeds

3 Matching

Instructions: Match the verbs and the noun

Buy Spoil Wear Open Live in Inherit Make Arrest Invest Amputate

a bank account poverty

a thief

a will

a leg stocks and shares

a child ragged closes

a lot of money from someone

a lot of money in something

4 Student- Friendly- Explanation

As mentioned above, the easiest way to pre- teach vocabulary is giving dictionary definition This method, however, ―rarely generates excitement,

enthusiasm, or emotion‖ (Manzo et al 2000, p.163) In order to compensate this shortcoming, Beck, McKeown, & Kucan (2003) proposed Student- Friendly- Explanation which focuses on using known words to give an easy understanding definition Observe the table comparing dictionary definition and Student- Friendly- Explanation of some words below:

Word Dictionary Definition Student-Friendly-Explanation

Train (verb)

Teach a particular skill or type

of behavior through practice and instruction over a period of time

When you teach an animal to do something, you train the animal

Follow (verb)

Go or come after a person or thing proceeding ahead

If you are in line and you walk right after the person in front of you, you follow them

Migrate (verb)

Move from one region or habitat to another especially regularly according to the seasons

When birds or other animals move from one place to another at

a certain time each year, they migrate

Survive (verb)

Continue to live or exist, especially in spite of danger or hardship

When people or animal don‘t die when thing are very bad or very dangerous, they survive

Anita L Archer (2008) contends that Student- Friendly- Explanation is absolutely useful because it may compensate the disadvantage of dictionary definitions which are usually difficult to understand for students She also gave a four- step- instruction to introduce new words as follow

• Step 3: Illustrate the word with examples by giving concrete examples, or/ and visual representations and verbal examples: ―When the spelling test is over, you feel relieved‖

• Step 4: Check students‘ understanding by choosing one of four options below:

- Option 1: Ask deep processing questions: When Maria was told that the soccer game had been cancelled, she said, ―I am relieved‖ Why might Maria be relieved?

- Option 2: Have students discern between examples and non- examples: ―If you were nervous singing in front of others, would you feel relieved when the concert was over?‖

- Option 3: Have students generate their own examples : ―Tell your partner a time when you were relieved‖

- Option 4: Provide students with a ―sentence starter‖ Have them say the complete sentence: ―Sometimes your mother is relieved Tell your partner when your mother

is relieved Start your sentence by saying, ―My mother is relieved when………‖‖

2.3.3.3.3 Using mind maps

A mind map is a visual representation of hierarchical information that includes a central idea surrounded by connected branches of associated topics A mind mapping strategy is a strategy using a diagram to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other information connected to and arranged around a central key word or idea The Mind Mapping concept was popularized widely by Tony Buzan (Buzan & Buzan, 2004) It is based on the theory of Radiant Thinking- each bit of information

entering your brain (sensation, memory, thought) can be represented as central sphere which radiates tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of hooks, each of which represents an association and each association has its own infinite arrays of links and connections (Buzan & Buzan, 2004) Buzan & Buzan further argue that human‘s brain contains maps of information, which has an ability to make patterns using data it already processes and ability to process vast amount of information using radiant instead of linear structures Using mind map means employing or functioning our brain naturally in receiving, processing information, and enhancing memory, concentration, and creativity Now, it has been widely used as a learning technique in various disciplines to generate structure, visualize, and classify ideas It

is therefore, crucial to train students to take notes or learn to use a mind mapping strategy Through mind mapping, they will be able to take notes the important points, classify or summarize them, and link relationships among the points Sujana (2012), in her research ―Integrating a mind mapping technique and information gap activities in teaching academic reading in English‖ concludes that if mind mapping technique is practiced continually in teaching and learning reading, it can improve students‘ ability in comprehending text quickly and comprehensively She further contends that Mind Mapping avoids students from just copying the information from the text, improves their creativity in expressing ideas, make them get used to summarizing as needed in reading texts In fact, having just the keys words rather than sentences in the mind mapping notes will make learning more internalized, and more creative; therefore, the learning will be more effective, meaningful and well-organized

In order to make comprehensive and meaningful mind maps, students should

be trained continuously to do step by step procedures Here are the suggested steps

in using a Mind Mapping strategy:

1 In the center of the page, write the title of the passage/ article

2 On the first layer, write the key words of subdivision/ subheading which show parallel ideas

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3 On the next layer, write the key words on each subheading

4 Draw lines to see the relationships among the ideas

After completing the mind map, students should be trained again to express the content of the passage based on the result of the mind map They are not allowed to look back to the passage It is important for the teacher to check whether they understand what they take notes or not by asking the students to use their own words to re-express- this will make learning more challenging for them This practice will also train students‘ memory for retaining important information Here are an example ofusing mind map to teach a reading text- an article from Target Pet- a course book for target CEFR- B1 level for non English major

re-2.3.3.3.4 Information transfer Information transfer is defined as an activity involves getting students to put spoken or written texts into another form, such as a chart, grid, picture, table or diagram – or vice-versa With this strategy, the teacher can prevent the students from copying chunks without understanding them by requiring a different

organization to the text These tasks encourage deep processing of information The interpretation of text, diagram or tables is a skill that is very useful both in academic and everyday life According Aderson (1982), it can assist students in applying specific criteria in the evaluation of a text Information transfer is ideal for testing and helping comprehension of nonliterary discourse Other types of information transfer include ordering a sequence of pictures, comparing text and pictures, and completing documents Information transfer devices focus on the function of language in a given text and draw students' attention to the logical organization of the text, to the ways in which the writer has deployed information, and to how language reflects this organization These activities require students to concentrate

on what words, sentences, and other language units do in a given text One of the advantages of Information Transfer is that it involves only a few necessary words to get the idea across and students are required to recast the information in spoken form, and then in written forms Doing this kind of work, therefore, helps them gain confidence that they can be articulate on their own words, rather than just repeating

or copying the words of others Another benefit to Information Transfer is that it is open-ended This kind of data gives the students a topic and quite a bit of information, but it is always possible for the students to add their own idea and interpretation In fact, Information Transfer in a visual form is comprehensive whether a student is linguistically gifted or not In addition, students can work together to complete a task, thus encouraging an open and sharing atmosphere among students with a range of talents and personalities Tran Thi Diem Thi and Nguyen Thi Loan in their research paper entitled ―Information Transfer use in English teaching‖ content that there are three reasons why introducing Information Transfer strategy in teaching reading could be advantageous:1) it diversifies the techniques used; 2) it helps students read the whole; 3) and it helps with real life communication In daily life, for example, we can see most information is presented

in visual and symbolic form such as timetables, memos, plans, maps, immigration and application forms……So, if language teachers can apply this strategy in class,

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this will be a wonderful preparation for students‘ life later Students should be encouraged to practice and get acquainted with these types of reading text and by doing so, students can develop the ability to decode information from visual and diagrammatic texts at the same time with the ability to transfer information from linguistic forms into a kind of symbolic form The following are examples of using Information Transfer Strategy in teaching reading

1 Ask students to read the text describing a family and complete a family tree diagram

2 Ask students to read the text describing a form of government and complete a diagram

2.3.3.3.5 Using visual aids

There is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words When it comes to comprehension, this saying might be paraphrased ―a visual display helps readers understand, organize, and remember as much as a thousand words can help‖ Visual aids such as educational posters, graphic organizers, projectors, pictures, maps, power point presentations, and films…… are useful tools in teaching reading comprehension skills In fact, in our daily life, we learn 3 % through taste, 3 % through smell, 6% through touch, 13 % through hearing, and 75

% through seeing Though we use all our senses to learn, it seems that seeing is the sense where most of our learning comes from So this tells us that the most effective ways to clarify and bring understanding to what is being taught is to actually show the students In addition, visual makes learning more permanent because many scientific researches prove that typically in 3 days we will remember 10 % of all we hear, 35 % of all we see, and 65 % of all we hear and see at the same time This tells

us that if we want to effectively have the students remember the lesson taught, we need to show and tell them This conclusion is also supported by another research which contents that there are 83 % of people learn by seeing This means that 83 %

of our students are visual learners in comparison with 11 % auditory learners (learn

by hearing), and 6 % kinesthetic learners (learn by moving, doing and touching)

According to Berman (1984), consistent use of visual aids provides EFL students with a more memorable learning environment This is supported by the research entitled ―Using visual aids as a motivational tool in enhancing students‘ interest in reading literacy texts‖ in which the author agrees that the use of visual aids is relevant and enjoyable This author also explains that this was probably because the use of visual aids makes it easier for the students to understand the abstract ideas in the texts The following are example of using visual aids as a strategy in teaching reading comprehension skill

1 Using photographs in teaching a text from a travel guide: What to see in Montreal (Target Pet- students‘ book): The text presents a lot of monuments, beautiful sightseeing, places and famous statues in Montreal The teacher, therefore, can use photos in color to illustrate them and it is easier for the students to imagine and remember them It is also interesting if the teacher use a map to facilitate the location of Montreal city as well as to activate students‘ background knowledge

2 A film or movie about natural disasters is useful to teach the text ―Unless we act now…….‖ (Target Pet- students‘ book) After watching the film, the teacher can ask students to discuss about the causes, consequences as well as the solutions for the disaster

2.3.3.3.6 Previewing Strategy

Previewing, along with predicting are two reading strategies that involve tapping prior knowledge, thus activating mental networks of information that will help students to comprehend what they read Being considered a high-speed and powerful reading skill, previewing enable students to gain enough information from the text to begin hypothesizing about its contents and to engage many part of the brain in the cognitive process of matching new information with what is already known

We all preview in our daily lives For example, when students sign up for a new course, they are encouraged to read the syllabus to find out what to expect