The Nature of Students' Participation and the Use of Strategies for English Reading

The Nature of Students' Participation and the Use of Strategies for English Reading

This paper argues that scores of the multiple choice test TOEFL cannot predict how students perform on the task of thorough understanding of an English text. What should be noted instead are the degree of participation and the use of socioaffective strategies by students while cooperating to complete the task. The paper suggests that when students participate more actively and ask strategic questions more frequently, they can get more useful scaffolding from each other. However, if the level of the difficulty reaches too far beyond their current proficiency level, students can not provide scaffolding for one another. The paper argues that even though collective scaffolding does not always guarantee successful results, it is significant to emphasize the importance of teaching socioaffective strategies and creating an environment in which students can feel comfortable raising questions.