illustrate processes; organizational charts to illustrate hierarchies; outlines that
represent content; mnemonics to assist recall; statements to situate the task or
content; rubrics that provide task expectations.
Cue Cards Prepared cards given to individual or
groups of students to assist in their discussion about a particular topic or
content area: Vocabulary words to prepare for exams; content-specific stem
sentences to complete; formulae to associate with a problem; concepts to
define.
Concept and mind maps Maps that show relationships: Partially
or completed maps for students to complete; students create their own maps
based on their current knowledge of the task or concept.
Examples Samples, specimens, illustrations,
problems: Real objects; illustrative problems used to represent something.
Explanations More detailed information to move
students along on a task or in their thinking of a concept: Written
instructions for a task; verbal explanation of how a process works.
Handouts Prepared handouts that contain task- and
content-related information, but with less detail and room for student note taking.
Hints Suggestions and clues to move students
along: ―place your foot in front of the
other, ‖ ―use the escape key,‖ ―find
the subject of the verb, ‖ ―add the water
first and then the acid. ‖
Prompts A physical or verbal cue to remind
—to aid in recall of prior or assumed
knowledge. Physical: Body movements such as pointing, nodding the head, eye
blinking, foot tapping. Verbal: Words,
statements and questions such as ―Go,‖ ―Stop,‖ ―It‟s right there,‖ ―Tell me
now, ‖ ―What toolbar menu item would
you press to insert an image? ‖ , ―Tell
me why the character acted that way. ‖
Question Cards Prepared cards with content- and task-
specific questions given to individuals or groups of students to ask each other
pertinent questions about a particular topic or content area.
D. Previous Related Studies
Scaffolding instruction is defined as the “role of teachers and others in supporting the learner‟s development and providing support structures to get to
that next stage or level”.
22
Even the term of scaffolding seems out of date because it has been exist since 1970 but many researchers still do researchs about it.
Because of the function which is for giving prior knowledge, scaffolding can be used in many kinds of learning. Scaffolding can be used in learning Mathematic,
Science, and also Language. Scaffolding in learning writing has been already popular. One of the researchers who did the scaffolding research was Judith
Rollin Burch. She did a research entitled “A Study Examining the Impact of
Scaffolding Young Children‟s Acquisition of Literacy in Primary Grades.” In her dissertation, she used case study method to gain the data. Her result showed that
the school improvement scores was 23.7 from the previous year‟s scores.
Next researchers were Muhammad Ridhuan Tony Lim Abdullah, Zaharah Hussin, and Asra. They are Malaysian researchers. Different with two researchers
before, they used scaffolding through a mobile. The urgence of mobile usage attracted them to do a research. They did 5 stages adopted from Gilly Salmon.
The five stages are
23
: 1.
Stage 1, the aim is to encourage and guide students to participate in the online conference. Technical support is
given to the students as the main focus task of the instructor.
Stage 1 ends with students‟ first posting of
message.
22
Wang Yuanying, College English Writing on Scaffolding Theory, Studies in Literature and Language, 3, 2011, p.46.
23
Ridhuan, Muhammad, Zaharah Hussin, et all., Mlearning Scaffolding Model for Undergraduate English Language Learning: Bridging Formal and Informal Learning, The Turkish
Online Journal of Educational Technology, 12, 2, 2013, p. 221.
2. Stage 2 aims to get students to establish their identities and initiate
interaction and familiarize with it. 3.
Stage 3 is where interaction heightens with the use of learning management software for networkings.
4. In Stage 4, participants develop group discussions and collaboration
among themselves in negotiation of knowledge andsolutions to individual needs of learning.
5. Finally, Stage 5 promotes individual reflection of what they have
learned and achieved as well as critical thinking to advance to next learning goals.
The sample was undergraduate English people. The finding revealed that students‟ performance in the persuasive presentation component using this
scaffolding mLearning model averagely scored higher grades than other course components.
Then, Sylvia Read tried to make a new model in scaffolding named IMSCI. The IMSCI are the acronym of Inquiry, Modelling, Shared, Collaborative
and Independent. As the result, she found that students will be more successful writing independently if they have become familiar with the features of the genre
during those steps.
24
Differently with others, Patrick with his friends did a research entitled “Scaffolding English Language Learners and Struggling Readers in a Universal
Literacy Enviroment With Embedded Strategy Instruction and Vocabulary Support
”. They used scaffolding technique toward literacy in general, especially in vocabulary. The participants were 30 fourth-grade students in two classrooms
in a school district serving 33,000 students in southern California. They used electronic in their research. Then the result is they find it encouraging that the
students in this study chose to take advantage of the vocabulary and strategy
24
Read, S, A Model for Scaffolding Writing Instruction: IMSCI, The Reading Teacher, 64 1, p.48.
supports and in fact accessed supports at a higher level than previously reported in the literature, especially for struggling learners.
25
From all those previous researchers, it seems a scaffolding gives significance improvement. Most of the samples were university students. So, I
want to know further about scaffolding, especially for elementary students. The writer would do a research entit
le “The Study of the Effect of Scaffolding on the Writing Descriptive Text in Eight Grade of SMP Al-
Zahra Indonesia Pamulang”.
E. Theoretical Framework
This study was conducted to find out the significant effect of using scaffolding in writing descriptive text for eight grade of Junior High School.
There are so many theories explained above; definition, kinds and advantages of using scaffolding. Those theories could concluded that scaffolding is facilitating
the climb from one complex phase to the next slightly more complex phase of a project. Because of this view, some expert call scaffolding as a tool in gaining
formative feedback or assessment. By using scaffolding in teaching means to help students to finish their task. The help could be through hint, question or some
stages in reaching their tasks. Many experts tried to make some ways in applying scaffolding, especially
in writing. In this study, the writer conduct a scaffolding technique in teaching writing descriptive text. She adopted a scaffolding model of Sylvia Read. At least,
there are five steps: Inquiry, Modelling, Shared, Collaborative and Independent. In inqury phase, the writer asked students to find out some information about their
idol who will be described in their descriptive writings. After they found out the information Then, the teacher do modelling how to writer a proper writing and
make a point that they should pass some stages in writing. after know what they are going to do first, then , they share the idea with the writer. They ask how to
describe their idol. They make an outline and construct a rough draft from the ouline.
25
C. Patrick Proctor, Bridget Dalton, and Dana L. GrishamPatrick, “Scaffolding English Language Learners and Struggling Readers in a Universal Literacy Enviroment With Embedded
Strategy Instruction and Vocabulary Support”, Journal of Literacy Research, 39, 1, 2007, p.16.
