By Alayne T., Anastasia K., and Koko T.
What is Cognitive Scaffolding?
Cognitive scaffolding is a teaching and tutoring method in which the tutor controls elements of a task that are beyond the student’s initial abilities. This strategy is employed so that a student can focus on completing the parts of the task that they have the required knowledge and skills to finish. A key element of cognitive scaffolding is the idea of the Zone of Proximal Development which was defined by Lev Vygotsky, or ZPD, which refers to the range between the lowest and highest point of what a student can accomplish with the help of a tutor.
A tutor can take a student’s ZPD into account by controlling the elements of a task that fall outside of the student’s ZPD. These elements are controlled by the tutor providing direct instruction on how the student can make the necessary corrections until the student has the ability to make these corrections on their own. The ultimate goal of cognitive scaffolding is for the student’s ZPD to grow so that eventually, they can complete the entire task without the tutor.
Cognitive scaffolding serves as one of the three instructional techniques that tutors can implement in the Writing Center, with the other two being direct instruction and motivational scaffolding. Direct instruction refers to when the tutor tells the writer what they should do and then explains why they should do so, which contrasts the more open-ended approach of cognitive scaffolding. Motivational scaffolding, on the other hand, focuses on maintaining the student’s engagement with the writing task through building rapport and positive encouragement. Using these techniques in conjunction with cognitive scaffolding allows the tutor to effectively engage with the student to improve their writing.
Implementing Methods of Scaffolding in Appointments
Establishing rapport with the writer is the first step in implementing motivational scaffolding. Introducing yourself and taking the time to ask the writer about their project and what feedback they are looking for shows that you are considering the writer’s needs. This step in building rapport establishes trust and a comfortable setting to push the writer and tutor along in the appointment process. A trusting relationship between the tutor and writer can help in collaboratively setting an agenda to help guide the appointment.
One thing to avoid, although it might be tempting, when trying to build rapport is making jokes. Humor can often be misinterpreted and difficult to understand for speakers in cross-cultural interactions. In making a joke that might not be mutually understood you may accidentally provoke an awkward or misunderstood moment which could prevent further rapport from being built, or from the work environment feeling friendly overall. As such, it is best to avoid jokes and maintain a sense of friendliness and optimism during the appointment to push the appointment along.
Asking open-ended questions to encourage personal agency in a writer is a step taken in cognitive scaffolding. Using guiding questions to get the writer thinking about their topic can help generate ideas in the brainstorming phase of writing. Direct instruction can be used when the writer seems to lack the knowledge to answer certain questions. Using a combination of both can help achieve a peer relationship between the writer and the tutor.
Using the writer’s written ideas as examples is an effective strategy in providing positive encouragement. It is important for tutors to encourage the writer’s voice to achieve agency and ownership over their ideas in writing, and this can be done through using written examples from the writer’s work to show that they are capable of doing so.