Typology of scaffolding in teacher discourse: Large data‐based evidence from second language classrooms

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop a new typology of scaffolding grounded on a large classroom corpus of teacher talk. To this end, 45 hours of 15 language teachers' classroom instruction were recorded and transcribed. From the obtained data, a new typology is proposed with four major categories, namely meta‐scaffolding, linguistic scaffolding, affective scaffolding, and under‐scaffolding. These categories comprise a wide range of subcategories, including, inter alia, meta‐linguistic scaffolding, gestural scaffolding, resource providing, audiovisual organizers, reformulation, elicitation, echoing, and emotional scaffolding. Moreover, the data show that the classroom interactional pattern of Initiation/Response/Feedback (IRF) could be reframed as Initiation/Response/Feedback/Uptake (IRFU). These findings can assist teacher educators and teachers to utilize this new typology as a tool for evaluating and implementing scaffolding in language classrooms.