SCAFFOLDING READING
EXPERIENCES FOR MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOMS (SRE)
by
Michael F. Graves and Jill Fitzgerald
Chapter 5
The article starts by stating that thousands of
teachers in the US and other countries teach in classes where students have
different language background, language skills, and different reading
proficiency. We find this diversity even more when we teach a multilingual
class. The approach described in the
article addresses only to one aspect of reading instruction. What is important
is for children to have a successful reading experience. According to Graves
and Fitzgerald “it is important that children understand what they read, enjoy
the experience of reading, learn from what they read” (2002:96)*.
In this particular chapter, it is discussed one
approach to assisting students in multilingual classrooms to read, understand,
learn from and enjoy, that is, the scaffolding experience. This term was first
used by Wood, Bruner, and Ros (1976) to characterise mothers’ verbal
interaction when reading to their young children. It basically consists of a process that
enables the child to solve a problem or task, or even achieve a goal, which
could be beyond his/her capability. Of course, it is a temporary support which
enables the accomplishment of a task.
There are 3 attributes which are highly related
to the scaffolding technique:
- The scaffold itself: the temporary and supportive structure.
- Vygotsky’s term (1978): Zone of Proximal Development.
- Teachers must gradually dismantle their support and transfer the responsibility to complete tasks to the student. It is through this gradual process that students become more competent and independent learners.
In the SRE framework we find 4 main factors to bear
in mind: the characteristics of the learner, the nature of the materials, the
learning activities, and the criterial tasks. We also find two different phases
– the planning and the implementation –. The planning phase consists of the
creation of a particular situation with a particular reading experience. It must
take into account the students, the reading selection, and the reading purpose.
The implementation phase compiles a set
of pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading activities. The pre-reading
tasks serve to get students interested in the topic, to remind them of
things they already know, or basically pre-teaching new content, such as
vocabulary or expressions. These activities are really important, especially
for those whose L1 is not English and might not be familiar with certain
topics. The during-activities serve to make them focus on particular
pieces of information. And finally, the post-activities they provide opportunities
for students to synthesize and organize information learned from reading a text
and to recall and understand important details.
Here we find a list with possible activities
for each group:
As a conclusion, scaffolding is a kind of
lesson plan that relies heavily on the concept of scaffolding –having a temporary,
supportive figure in the learning process –. The reading experience must be
successful and rewarding. The goal of scaffolding is for students to become
independent and lifelong readers.
*Graves, M. F., & Fitzgerald, J. (2002). Scaffolding Reading
Experiences for Multilingual Classrooms. In Garcia, G. G. (Ed.), English Learners: Reaching the Highest Level
of English Literacy (pp. 96-104). Newark: International Reading Association.
