CRITICAL READING 1

REVIEW OF JOURNAL entitled “The Effect of Peer and Teacher Scaffolding on the Reading Comprehension of EFL Learners in Asymmetrical and Symmetrical Groups”  

 by L. Karimi and M. Jalilvand (2014), Islamic Azad University 

Reading comprehension is the cornerstone of reading skill. Many students have a lot of trouble and difficulties in understanding the information presented in the written form of English texts. In reading an English text in the shape of group activity, scaffolding that comes from the students' peers and also sometimes from the classroom's teacher is considered as the most important fact. In the Vygotskian social constructivism, students can profit from social interactions under guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers. This guidance or collaboration is called "scaffolding". Through  cooperative learning activities such as pair or group work in language learning in a learner-centered setting, learners can gain support from their peers or teacher.

The current study was based on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory that the benefits of applying various scaffolding in reading comprehension development of EFL learners through interactive language acquisition in symmetrical and asymmetrical groups.  Symmetrical group consist of a capable learner and a weaker learner, and asymmetrical group consist of some capable learners and some weaker learners.

In the small groups, symmetrical and asymmetrical group students, got scaffolding via interaction with their partners and teacher. It was more helpful in the reading comprehension development, the teachers would give scaffolding to the students who were working in group activities rather than peers just receiving some scaffolding from their partner in those group activities. The teacher and peer scaffolding can influence the amount of students' learning significantly, and reading comprehension of learners in those small groups can be developed positively. The teacher act as facilitator and provide more language to support the students in the groups, also they encourage motivation and self confidence of students.

The concept of scaffolding is recommended to shift from traditional setting of teacher-centered to more active setting with more collaborative activities in the class, since these activities can increase and accelerate the process of learning. The teacher should try to use a small group activities in their classroom while applying scaffolding procedures. In using the small group activities, it is better to use asymmetrical pair group rather than symmetrical ones to upgrade the reading comprehension of learners. It can be more desirable to include a more knowledgeable learner with a weaker learner in a group activity.