The effects of instructional scaffolding for writing skill of English majored students

Abstract

Introduction. Writing skill is one of the most important skills that English-majored students need to master to apply to their jobs after graduation. However, developing writing skill is not easy, especially for students who are not native speakers. To solve that problem, instructional scaffolding plays a very important role to help English-majored students improve their writing skills. Instructional scaffolding is an approach to teaching that involves providing students with temporary support and guidance as they learn new concepts and skills. The goal of scaffolding is to gradually remove this support as students become more proficient, so they can eventually work independently. This approach can be used in a variety of educational settings, from early childhood education to higher education. Scaffolding can take many forms, such as visual aids, graphic organizers, guided questions, or peer collaboration. The type of scaffolding used depends on the learning objectives and the needs of the individual student. In short, instructional scaffolding is a powerful tool for promoting student learning and success. By providing targeted support and guidance, educators can help students build their knowledge and skills in a structured and effective way. In this article, the author will focus on researching the role of scaffolding in writing skills for English majored students at The University of Khanh Hoa. Study participants and methods. The article uses the method of questionnaire survey and in-depth interview to study the status of the role of instructional scaffolding in writing skills of English-majored students at The University of Khanh Hoa. Besides the author also uses methods such as: analysis; synthetic; logic; history to write articles. To have an objective view of the role of academic support activities in writing skill of English-majored students at the University of Khanh Hoa, the author conducted a survey of 133 students studying “writing 1”, in the academic year 2022-2023 and selected 13 students to conduct in-depth interviews. The design is done on a five-step scale. The survey results were processed by SPSS software, with the question why instructional scaffolding are necessary in the English writing classes? The results obtained provide vocabulary and grammar that students agree with at a high level, reaching a level above 4.5, showing that learners appreciate scaffolding. Activities such as doing exercises are 3.47; students' cross feedback is 3.87; the lecturer provides sample text with the corresponding mean value of 3.8; Students reading specialized documents and articles is 3.76. From the data obtained, it is shown that the provision of vocabulary and grammar is the activity most appreciated by students in scaffolding. Meanwhile, doing the set of exercises only scored lower than the other activities. However, students giving each other feedback, lecturers providing sample texts, and students reading specialized papers and articles all achieved relatively high cumulative GPA (Grade Point Average) and are also valuable in instructional scaffolding. Results. Students believe that teachers need to help them develop skills such as: skills to develop ideas for articles; skills to build article structure; language skills; paragraph writing skills; Sentence linking skills. The lack of these skills explains why, while the self-assessments of children's progress were quite positive for each sub-skill, they were the lowest in the overall assessment of progress in writing and speaking. Practical significance. The role of scaffolding in the writing skills of English majors has been studied by many universities around the world so far. In Vietnam in general and the University of Khanh Hoa, this activity plays an important role in improving students' writing capacity to meet social needs.