Based upon sociocultural theory, this study investigates the dynamics of the teacher＇s roles and learner autonomy in the process of scaffolding in teacher-student negotiation of meaning in an EFL classroom, The participants were 25 undergraduate students and a Chinese teacher of English at a university in China. The teacher-student dialogue was the central mechanism mediating the construction of negotiation of meaning and form in language learning. The analysis of classroom discourse and the teacher＇s retrospection from an interview illustrated the teacher＇s different roles in interaction, where scaffolding acted as a structured pedagogical tool. The study revealed that the learners were afforded assistance to progress from other- regulation to self-regulation, and consequently, the teacher exploited opportunities to enhance learner autonomy in negotiation of spaces for autonomy in classroom teaching. The study has probed into the significance of the teacher＇s capacity of controlling scaffolding effectively and generated implications for teacher development and learner training.
This study draws on sociocultural theory to explore how adult EFL learners interact with each other in learning target form in collaborative task performance. It investigates the features of scaffolding in peer collaboration in which a group of four Chinese undergraduate students are engaged in a writing task in an English enhancement course at a university in Hong Kong. The study also examines how the scaffolding categories affect the learners＇ production of appropriate grammatical forms. The findings advocate the presence of the teacher （or tutor） to direct learners＇ attention to important form-meaning connections in L2 pedagogical group activities due to the limitations of peer interaction.
