Sociocultural Theory in Practice: The Effect of Teacher, Class, and Peer Scaffolding on the Writing Development of EFL Learners

Majid Amerian, Moussa Ahmadian, Ehsan Mehri

Abstract


One of the influential concepts of sociocultural theory in language acquisition research is the zone of proximal development, which is an opportunity for language learners to develop their capacities. It is believed that the learner’s language development happens through scaffolding in language learning (Bruner, 1983). This study relies on the scaffolding technique to investigate the effect of three forms of scaffolding process, namely teacher, class, and peer scaffolding, on the writing development of EFL learners. To do this, an intact group sample of 30 participants was selected. The participants were doing their essay writing course in which 19 of them were in one class, assumed as the experimental group in the study, and 11 were in another, assumed as the control group. To maintain possible homogeneity of the participants, an Oxford Placement Test was administered to both groups. The experimental group practiced the techniques of teacher, class, and peer scaffolding in three consecutive sessions respectively, while the control group practiced three individual techniques. After analyzing the mean of the total scores in addition to inter-rater reliability, the multivariate tests, on the quantitative analysis, showed that the control group outperformed the experimental group. For further understanding of the reasons, on the qualitative analysis, the talks in the experimental group were analyzed. Finally, the findings of both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis are discussed.

 


Keywords


Writing development, teacher scaffolding, class scaffolding, peer scaffolding, sociocultural theory

Full Text:

PDF

References


Allahyar, N., and Nazari, A. (2012). Potentiality of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory in exploring the role of teacher perceptions, expectations and interaction strategies. WoPaLP, 6, 79-92.

Bodrova, E. and Leong, D. J. (1998). Scaffolding emergent writing in the zone of proximal development. Literacy teaching and learning, 3(2), 1-18.

Bruner, J. (1983). Child's talk. New York: Norton.

Byrd, D. (2003). Practical tips for implementing peer editing tasks in the foreign language classroom. Foreign Language Annals, 36(3), 434-441.

Cazden, C. B. (1988). Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Clark, K. F., and Graves, M. F. (2005). Scaffolding students' comprehension of text. Reading Teachers, 58(6), 570-580.

Cotteral, S., and Cohen, R. (2003). Scaffolding for second language writers: producing an academic essay. EFL Journal, 57(2), 158-166.

De Guerrero, M. C. M. and Villamil, O. (2000). Activating the ZPD: mutual scaffolding in L2 peer revision. The Modern Language Journal, 84(1), 51-68.

Donato, R. and McCormick, D. (1994). A sociocultural perspective on language learning strategies: the role of mediation. The Modern Language Journal, 78(4), 453-464.

Donovan, C. and Smolkin, L. (2002). Children's genre knowledge: an examination of K-5 students performance on multiple tasks providing differing levels of scaffolding. Reading Research Quarterly Newark, 37(4), 428-465.

Farhady, H., Ja'farpur, A. and Pirjandi, P. (1994). Testing language skills: from theory to practice. Iran: SAMT.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Seabury Press.

Gerstein, R. (1996). Literacy instruction for language-minority students: the transition years. The Elementary School Journal, 96(3), 237-244.

Gibbons, P. (2003). Mediating language learning: teacher interaction with ESL students in a content-based classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 37(2), 247-273.

Hartman, H. (2002). Scaffolding and cooperative learning. Human Learning and Instruction, (pp. 23-69). New York: City College of City University of New York.

Hartup, W. W. (2005). Peer interaction: what causes what?.Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33(3), 387- 394.

HoaiHuong, L. P. (2003). The meditational role of language teachers in sociocultural theory. English Teaching Forum, 41(3), 31-35.

Kao, P. (2010). Examining second language learning: taking a sociocultural stance. ARECLS, 7, 113-131.

Kepner, C. (1991). An experiment in the relationship of types of written feedback to the development of second language writing skills. The Modern Language Journal, 75, 305-313.

Kim, Y. (2010). Scaffolding through questions in upper elementary ELL learning. Literacy teaching and learning, 15(1-2), 109- 137.

Lalande, J. (1982). Reducing composition erros: an experiment. The Modern Language Journal, 66(2), 140-149.

Lantolf, J.P. (2000). Sociocultural theory and second language learning. China: Oxford University Press.

Lantolf, J. P. and Appel, G. (1994). Theoretical framework: an introduction to Vygotskian perspectives on second language research. In J. Lantolf and G. Appel (ed.), Vygotskian approaches to second language research(pp 1-31). Westport, CA: Albex Publishing.

Lantolf J. P. and Thorne S. L. (2006). Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second language development. Oxford: OUP.

Lee, H.L.(2004) cited in Ministry of Education, Singapore. (2005) Information booklet on Education. Retrieved from www.moe.gov.sg

Maftoon, P. and Nasser, Gh. (2009). A comparative study of the effect of homogeneous and heterogeneous collaborative interaction on the development of EFL learners' writing skill. The Journal of Applied Linguistic, 2(1), 127-158.

McDonough, K. (2004). Learner-learner interaction during pair and small group activities in a Thai EFL context. System 32(2), 207-224.

Mercer, N. (1995). The guided construction of knowledge. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.

Nassaji, H. and Tian, J. (2010). Collaborative and individual output tasks and their effect on learning English phrasal verb. Language Teaching Research, 14(4), 397-419.

Nelson-Legal, S. (1981). Help-seeking: an understudied problem solving skill in children. Developmental Review,1(3), 224-246.

Palincsar, A. S. (1986). The role of dialogue in providing scaffolded instruction. Educational Psychologist, 21(1-2), 73-98.

Paton, F. (2002). Approaches to productinve peer review. In D. Roen, Pantoja, V. Yena, L., Miller, S., and Waggoner, E., (Eds.), Strategies for teaching first year composition (pp. 290-300). Urbana: NCTE.

Rezaei, M. (2012). Mediated learning experience: Teacher vs. peer scaffolding modes in L2 writing classes. The Iranian EFL Journal, 8(1), 71-96.

Sam, C. (unkonwn). Purposeful scaffolding: beyond modeling and thinking aloud.

Storch, N. (1999). Are two heads better than one? Pair work and grammatical accuracy. System, 27(3), 363-374.

Storch, N. (2000). Is pair work conducive to language learning? The nature of assistance in adult ESL pair work and its effect on language development. Paper presented at the conference on Scaffolding and Language Learning in Educational Contexts: Socio-cultural approaches to Theory and Practice. Centre for Language and Literacy, University of Technology, Sydney.

Swain, M., Brooks, L. and TocalliBeller, A. (2002). Peer peer dialogue as a means of second language learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics,22(1), 171-185.

Swain, M., and Lapkin, S. (2002). Talking it through: Two French immersion learners' response to reformulation. International Journal of Educational Research, 37(3-4), 285-303.

Van Der Stuyf, R. R. (2002). Scaffolding as a teaching strategy.

Van Lier, L. (1996). Interaction in the language classroom. Essex: Longman Group.

Vedder, P. (1985). Cooperative learning : a study on processes and effects of cooperation between primary school children. Westerhaven Groningen. Netherlands: Rijkuniversiteit Groningen.

Vygotsky, L. (1986). Language and thought. USA: MIT. (English translation)

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (English translation)

Webb, N. M. (1989). Peer interaction and learning in small groups. International Journal of Educational Research, 13(1), 21-40.

Wells, G. (1999). Dialogic inquiry: toward a sociocultural practice and theory of education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Wood, D., Bruner, J. S., and Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 17(2),69-100.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.3n.5p.1

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2012-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. 

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature

To make sure that you can receive messages from us, please add the journal emails into your e-mail 'safe list'. If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox', check your 'bulk mail' or 'junk mail' folders.