The theory of education that begun in the 1960s that still aplies today and it is used widely.

1. The Scaffolding Theory
ANA JULIA EGAS
TOPICS IN LINGUISTICS

2. Vygotsky
Social Development Theory
 Social interaction in developing
cognition. (Beatty 2010 page 103)
Zone of Proximal Development
 Notional gap between a.) the
learner's current developmental level
as determined by independent
problem-solving ability and b.) the
learner's potential level of
development as determined by the
ability to solve problems under adult
guidance or in collaboration with
more capable peers. (esl.fis.edu)

3. Krashen: Theory of second language
acquisition (esl.fis.edu)
Comprehensible input is a sufficient condition for
language acquisition.
No language will be acquired in the
presence of the affective filter. This simply
means that a ESL student who is nervous
or bored in class will learn neither subject
content nor new language, even if the
input is comprehensible.

4. Bruner: Scaffolding (esl.fis.edu)
 Jerome Bruner, researcher in cognitive and educational psychology,
coined the term scaffolding as a description for the kind of assistance
given by the teacher or more knowledgeable peer in providing
comprehensible input and moving the learner into the zone of proximal
development.
 Scaffolding includes all the things that teachers do already when they
predict the kinds of difficulty that the class or individual students in it will
have with a given task. Typical examples are the activation of background
knowledge at the beginning of the lesson or a brief review of key
vocabulary at the end of it. The Writing Process is another prime example
of scaffolding.

5. What is it?
 Scaffolding is the language that an interlocutor uses to support the
communicative success of another speaker. It may include the provision of
missing vocabulary or the expansion of the speaker’s incomplete
sentence. (Lightbrown and Spada 2011 Glossary 204s)
 C. Chaudron “Scaffolding instruction is the provision through conversation
of linguistics structures that promote a learner’s recognition or production
or associated forms”.(Beatty 2010 Page 112)
 In the field of education, the term scaffolding refers to a process in which
teachers model or demonstrate the problem-solving process, then step
back and offer support as needed. Psychologist and instructional designer
Jerome Bruner first used the term 'scaffolding' back in the 1960s.
(education-portal.com: Mary Firestone)

6. Theory
 The theory is that when students are given the support they need early on when
they're learning something new, they stand a better chance of using that
material independently. Bruner recommends positive interaction and three
modes of representation during teaching: actions, images, and symbols
(language). (education-portal.com: Mary Firestone)
 According to Bruner’s scaffolding theory, children are somewhat dependent on
those who have more knowledge or competency than they do in certain
areas, such as reading or calculating square roots, when they begin learning.
As students gain more independence and confidence, the help from teachers
and parents decreases until the students are independent learners, much as
scaffolding used to support construction workers and their materials is removed
as a building project nears completion. (wisegeek.org)
 The paradigm or idea behind Bruner’s scaffolding theory can be used across all
age and grade levels and across all subject areas. (wisegeek.org)

7. General Process
(education-portal.com: Mary Firestone)
 First, a teacher begins teaching at the level at which students understand, and then she
builds on that understanding. She then presents the problem and thinks aloud as she
goes about solving it. In the process, she shows how it's done by combining actions,
images and language. She then does the following:
 She repeats this process two more times, asking questions of the students along the way.
 Each answer, right or wrong, receives a positive response from her, to encourage participation.
 More students are asked to respond to the questions each time it is repeated.
 Correction is provided as needed but reinforced positively.
 When understanding appears to be achieved, students join her in solving a new problem.
 Understanding is checked as they solve it. If more instruction is needed, more modeling is
provided.
 If students then demonstrate knowledge, she fades (steps away) and allows students to work
independently, offering support as needed.

8. Scaffolding in education

9. Collaboration and negotiation of
meaning (Beatty 2010 Page 112)
 Ellis (1998) “Acquisition is promoted when the input to which learners are
exposed is made comprehensible as a result of interactional modifications
that arise from a communication breakdown- a process known as the
negotiation of meaning” (Beatty 2010 page 86)
 Stevens (1992) Conversation between:
 Learners and peers
 Learner and teacher
 Learner and a computer
 All three present opportunities for negotiation of meaning and SLA as a
result of scaffolded instruction.

10. Ellis Six points to make scaffolded
instruction successful (Beatty 2010 Page112)
1. Recruiting interest in the task
2. Simplifying the task
3. Maintaining pursuit of the goal
4. Marking critical features and discrepancies between what has been
produced and the ideal solution
5. Controlling frustrations during problem solving
6. Demonstrating an idealized version of the act to be performed

11. Collaborative Scaffolding (Donato 1994)
 Collaborative work among language learners provides the same
opportunity for scaffolded help as in expert-novice relationships in the
everyday setting.
 During open-ended collaborative tasks, second language learners
mutually construct a scaffold out of the discursive process of negotiating
contexts of shared understanding, or what Rommetveit calls
intersubjectivity.
 Change of role of the teacher to a guide.

12. The importance of visual scaffolding
for ESL students (esl.fis.edu)
 ESL students are particularly dependent on scaffolding*, but often the
purely oral scaffolding undertaken by the teacher is not enough. ESL
students greatly benefit from the type of scaffolding that makes extensive
use of visual aids – hence the term visual scaffolding. When students can
see an image of what the teacher is describing or see the key words that
the teacher is explaining, this not only serves to make the input
considerably more comprehensible, but serves to remove the affective
filter which results from the fear or boredom that comes of understanding
very little in class.
 The Smartboard and its software are excellent tools for the production and
viewing of content that is both interesting and comprehensible.

13. Relevance for teachers

14. Relevance for teachers

15. Applications
Jack C. Richards
 USING TECHNOLOGY TO
FACILITATE PEER-SUPPORTED
LEARNING
• Using Voicethread (Pontese and
Shimamuzi) CPE Preparation
• E-mediated tándem learning
(Sasaki)
 COLLABORATING ON OUT-OF-CLASS
PROJECTS
• A video documentary
• Public service announcement
video

16. Bibliography
 Information
 “Teaching and Researching computing-assited Language Learning” Ken Beatty (2010)
 “How languages are learned” Lightbrown and Spada 3rd edition (2011)
 “Learning English Beyond the Classroom” Jack C Richards
 “Colective Scaffolding in Second Language Learnind” Donato, Richard (1994)
 http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/fis/scaffold/page1.htm
 http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/scaffolding-in-education-definition-theory-examples.html#lesson
 http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-bruners-scaffolding-theory.htm
 Images:
 http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/fis/scaffold/page1.htm
 Videos
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1ZXJExy9eE
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktXhlPUUPDs
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URpejW8E-kc
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmJoOjLQM3U