Diario - Tema 6 - Scaffolding in CLIL

Scaffolding is the idea of helping students to learn by giving them the support they need in order to understand, interpret or produce the target language or content. In the context of CLIL it is indispensable because not only are we expecting students to understand a foreign language, but also to learn new content in that language. Rosie Tanner and Liz Dale in their book CLIL Activities say that, “The idea of scaffolding is based on work by Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976) and Vygotsky (1978). Builders use temporary scaffolds to support a building during construction, and then – once the building can stand alone – the scaffold is removed.” The benefit of scaffolding is that students can focus on their content rather than phrasing it correctly.  By breaking the tasks into manageable steps the teacher helps the students to achieve a goal. The teacher begins with what the students know how to do and builds on it. David Marsh, in the foreword to 101 Scaffolding Techniques for Language Teaching and Learning says,  “the ‘tell me why’ generations of years gone by have been replaced by a ‘show me how’ generation.” 

Broadly speaking, scaffolding can be divided into three categories: reception, transformation and productions.

Reception Scaffolding

Examples of reception scaffolding include brainstorming activities, pre-teaching vocabulary, or predicting content.  These techniques activate previous knowledge and help students engage with the activities.  One useful technique is listening bingo, the teacher writes up a selection of words from a listening script on the board in two columns, 10 from the beginning and 10 from near the end.  Student, in pairs, discuss what the listening might be about based on the words.  They then choose 10 of the words, 5 from each column.  Students then listen to the CD and mark off when they hear their words.  This technique allows them to focus on smaller fragments of the listening rather than understanding everything in detail.  

Transformation Scaffolding

This kind of scaffolding requires students to recycle and re-use material.  This might be in the form of a quiz, or the students might make a diagram or a table.  It could also involve writing or discussing summaries or pros and cons of a text.  After a speaking activity, the teacher, rather than ask a students to tell the class what he/she said, might instead ask them to report back on what their partner said.  A favoured technique of language teachers is a dictogloss.  The teacher reads a short text at normal speed.  The first time around, students listen, the second time they can make notes.  Students then compare with their partner, then in small groups to reconstruct the text.  This has the added bonus that the scaffolding is done by the students, rather than the teacher.  

Production Scaffolding

This final type of scaffolding is especially useful as it covers the most daunting part of language learning - speaking and writing in the target language.  

Building on the David Marsh quote, the teacher should model a speaking activity or presentation to show students what exactly is expected of them.  Templates for speaking or writing can also be useful, for example, a guide on how to write an essay might include how to structure it, advice on the type of register, examples of common structures used in essays (eg. passive reporting structures), or common cohesive devices (Firstly, moreover, nonetheless)

At the production stage it’s also extremely important to give students time to think and plan.  Once students have planned what they want to say, the can practice with their partner then with a group before sharing with the class. This gives them a chance to prepare and repeat before the final product.  

The Role of the Teacher

The responsibility for scaffolding obviously lies with the teacher, however, it is important to stress that while repetition, paraphrasing and sandwiching can be useful to help the understanding of the students, it means that the TTT (teacher talking time) is far too high and students miss out on the opportunity to speak themselves.  Teachers, where possible, should use elicitation and ask questions that will encourage the students to explain the topic or content for themselves. Finally, praise and encouragement go a long way to creating an environment conducive to learning and producing language.  

To finish off, here’s a great presentation I found about scaffolding in the CLIL classroom from emaze.com.