Page 29 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom
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The Constructivist Perspective


              Table 1.4 Scaffolding Techniques for Young Learners
               Verbal                 Instructional          Procedural
               Paraphrasing           Visuals                Working in pairs
               Asking questions       Graphic organisers     Working in groups
               Using synonyms and     Dictionaries           Personalising information
               antonyms               Pictographs            Role play
               Teaching familiar chunks  Word wall           Use of routines
               Eliciting answers      Non-verbal communication  Simulations
               Songs and jazz chants  (gestures, facial expressions,  Project work
                                      voice)                 Task based activities
              Notes  Adapted fromEchevarriaetal. (2004).



             iar with the excitement of the new’ and are intended for scaffolding pur-
             poses (2001 p. 10). Bruner’s most famous example of ‘formats and routines’
             was based on parents routinely reading to their children bedtime stories. The
             types of books change as the child gets older but the basic format remains
             always the same. What changes in time is also the interaction between the
             child and the parent as well as the scaffolding strategies of the parent whose
             verbal and non-verbal input is greater when the child is very young, but is
             gradually reduced as the child develops linguistically and becomes more in-
             dependent. For example, at a later stage the child may ask for explanations of
             words or give comments about the stories read. In an FL classroom context,
             similarformatsandroutinesmayprovidevaluableopportunitiesfordevelop-
             ing language competence. In addition, the routine practices and procedures
             need not be limited to the standard classroom routines but can be extended
             to include other activities and tasks which can be adjusted to fit a routine
             format.

                  Reflection Point
                   1. Which insights into language acquisition did each of the perspectives pre-
                     sented above (behaviourist, innatist, cognitivist, and constructivist) give?
                  2. Discuss the efficiency of using different scaffolding strategies with YLLs.
                   3. WatchavideoinwhichanEnglishteacherpresentsagrammarlessonusing
                     ‘the rainforest’ as the guiding theme and identify the scaffolding strategies
                     used by the teacher.

               However, Read (2006) argues that it is helpful to identify what counts as
             scaffolding since not all kind of help provided by the teacher can be defined
             as such. For example, it is important to establish what skills, concepts or level
             of understanding are meant to be developed. This does not mean that scaf-


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