SCAFFOLDING TECHNIQUES 1

Scaffolding Techniques: A Study on Learning Enhancement

Dami O. Aluko

Rollins College
SCAFFOLDING TECHNIQUES 2

Scaffolding Techniques: A Study on Learning Enhancement

Educating the young minds of the world can be an endearing task. Learning to read is a

process that can be easy for some and difficult for others. This study discussed the methods that

teachers and learning instructors use to educate young children and teach them how to read. The

research question is as follows. What are the most frequently used scaffolding techniques to

support young children’s early literacy (pre-reading) skills? This is important because it is good

to know what techniques may be more efficient in teaching. According to Pentimonti & Justice

(2010), scaffolding describes the process through which technique enables support to early

learners to help them to complete tasks that are above their independent capabilities. The

scaffolding techniques that were evaluated in this study are identification questions,

comprehension questions, expansion, cloze, definition and affirmatory feedback. Identification

questions are when the reader asks the child to name an object, person, place, letter, or word in

the pictures or text in the book. Comprehension questions are when the reader asks questions to

measure the understanding of the book. Expansion is an elaboration on what a child or the reader

says. The cloze technique is when the reader starts a sentence and then trails off letting the child

finish. Definition is when the reader classifies or describes an object, person, or place. Finally,

the last scaffolding technique being observed, affirmatory feedback, is when the reader includes

verbal praise and repetition of what the child says. This study looked at each individual

scaffolding technique and determine which technique is most frequently used by teachers

Scaffolding techniques have low to high support strategies (Pentimonti & Justice, 2010). Low

levels of support (Pentimonti & Justice 2010) feature minimal levels of assistance whereas high

levels of support are strategies that feature more adult assistance. Scaffolding techniques have

also been used upon children with language deficiency (Liboiron & Soto 2006). According to
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Clay and Cazden (1990) a new reader uses the four types of cues to learn. These cues are

semantic, syntactic, visual, and phonological. These reading cues along with scaffolding

techniques ease the process of learning how to read. Scaffolding techniques have also been used

to improve problem-solving performance. “Externalized support or scaffolding is necessary to

facilitate both cognitive and metacognitive processes” (Ge and Land, 2004, p. 5). Children with

autism spectrum disorder have also been studied in relations to scaffolding techniques and which

technique is best in dealing with the disability. Individuals with ASD are known to have

communication and social skill impairments. Social skills impairment can interfere with

developing complex reading and play skills (Pierucci, 2016). This study will further elaborate

upon the most frequently used scaffolding technique in teaching children with various abilities

on how to read and comprehend literature. I hypothesize that the identification question

technique will be the most used technique because the technique allows the child to be more

engaged and responsive to the reading.

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Method

Participant

The participants of this study are a middle-aged female teacher. In the video the teacher is

reading to a child.

Materials

Materials used were a taxonomy table, (see Table 1), videos for training and data

collection, the length of the first video is two min. and 32 s and the length of the second video is

four min. and 46 s, a PC, the Microsoft Excel software, a video player software, headphones, an

expert code sheet, a kappa code sheet and a confusion matrix.

Procedure

To complete this study first headphones were plugged into the PC. Then the video player

software was opened and the document containing the different taxonomies was at hand. The

excel sheet is also then opened upon the PC and there are three sections titled behavior, start

time, and end time. Then the video was played, and the actions of the teacher were recorded unto

the excel sheet. Each second was accounted for. Simple percentage agreement was then

calculated. Simple percentage agreement is calculated by dividing the sum of agreed and

disagreed results from the professional coding by the number of agreed results. My percentage

was 40.91%. Cohen’s Kappa was also calculated and the result being was .35 which according to

Fleiss (1981, as cited in Bakeman and Gottman, 1997) is a fair agreement between the two

observations.
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Results

According to my research the most used taxonomy is identification. Identification had the

highest relative frequency (see Figure 1), highest relative duration (see Figure 2), and the highest

mean duration (see Figure 3). This means that the taxonomy identification, was the most

frequently used taxonomy and was used for the longest amount of time. The relative frequency

for the identification question taxonomy was .54, the relative duration for the taxonomy was .79

and the mean duration was seven s.

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the identification question

technique would be the most used scaffolding technique since it allows for the young mind to

stay engaged. The methods of the study that have occurred supports my hypothesis since

according to our data the identification question technique is the most frequently occurring

technique. Figure 1 shows that identification question had the highest relative frequency, figure 2

shows that the identification question technique had the highest relative duration meaning that it

was used for the longest, and finally figure 3 shows that the identification question technique had

the highest mean duration. Research mentioned in the introduction also arrived at this result

further strengthening my claim. In the study Mothers’ Scaffolding Techniques Used During Play

in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Pierucci determines that the identification technique

was the most efficient technique for helping children with autism learn how to read. A study

completed by Ge and Land also concluded that identification questions was the most used
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scaffolding technique. Peer interactions was also deemed to be effective in learning

enhancement. Results and conclusions of this study are consistent with the research conducted by

these professional psychologists and there are little to no differences in the results. A strength of

this study is that it shows the best method for teaching children how to read since most teachers

and tutors use a variety of methods and techniques, determining the most frequently used and

efficient technique is useful. Limitations of this study do outweigh the strengths though. Two

limitations are the fact there is only one observed teacher in the experiment so she can not be

used as an efficient representative sample. Her teaching method was also observed only once

leaving room for the possibility of misinterpretations of the exact technique being used at that

time. Future research should include at least ten teachers and different children with various

levels of reading ability should be observed more than once with different books. Each teacher

should read each student at least two books with one book more difficult than the other to

measure understanding. More research would be beneficial in understanding which scaffolding

technique is most beneficial and effective.

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References
Bakeman, R., & Gottman, J. M. (1997). Observing interaction: An introduction to sequential

analysis (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1017/CBO9780511527685

Clay, M. M., & Cazden, C. B. (1990). A Vygotskian interpretation of reading recovery. In L. C.

Moll (Ed.), Vygotsky and education: Instructional implications and applications of

sociohistorical psychology (pp. 206-222). Cambridge University Press.

https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139173674

Ge, X., & Land, S. M. (2004). A conceptual framework for scaffolding ill-structured problem-

solving processes using question prompts and peer interactions. Educational

Technology Research and Development, 52(2), 5–22

Liboiron, N., & Soto, G. (2006). Child language teaching and therapy. Shared storybook reading

with a student who uses alternative and augmentative communication: A description of

scaffolding practices, 22 (1), 69-95.

Pentimonti, J. M. & Justice, L. M. (2010). Early childhood education. Teachers’ use of

scaffolding strategies during read alouds in the preschool classroom, 37, 241-248

DOI 10.1007/s10643-009-0348-6

Pierucci, J. M., (2016). Children at play. Mothers’ scaffolding techniques used during play in

toddlers with autism spectrum disorder, 20 (3), 77-100.

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Table 1

Taxonomies and Their Meanings

Taxonomies Definitions

Identification Question The reader asks the child to name an object,

person, place, letter, or word in the pictures

or text in the book.

Comprehension Question Asked to measure the child’s understanding

of the book.

Expansion An elaboration on what a child or the reader

says. An expansion allows for a correction in

what the child said, or to just provide more

detailed information.

Cloze The reader starts a sentence and then trails

off letting the child finish.

Definition When the reader labels, classifies, and

describes an object, person, or place

Affirmatory Feedback When the reader labels, classifies, and

describes an object, person, or place.

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Figure 1
Relative Frequency Graph

0.6

0.5
Relative Frequency

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
AFIRM CLOZE COMPQ DEFIN EXPAN IDENT

Behavior
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Figure 2
Relative Duration Graph
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Figure 3
Mean Duration Graph

0:00:08

0:00:06
Mean Duration

0:00:05

0:00:03

0:00:01

0:00:00
AFIRM CLOZE COMPQ DEFIN EXPAN IDENT

Behavior