Using Scaffolding Strategies in Teaching Writing For Improving Student Literacy in Primary School

摘要

Writing skill in English is considered to be a difficult skill for most students especially for elementary school students. The results of observations on 10 elementary schools in Bali confirmed the phenomenon that writing is a difficult skill for the students. For that reason a strategy is needed in order to solve the problem. The purpose of the study was to analyze the implementation of scaffolding activities in teaching writing for improving the English literacy of elementary school students. The study was conducted at North Bali Bilingual School Singaraja. The Design of the study was using embedded mixed method which was mainly in the form of qualitative study but supported with quantitative data analysis. The subjects were three teachers and involving 21 students of grade 5. The data were analyzed qualitatively as well as quantitatively. To maintain the trustworthiness of the results, the data were triangulated in terms of several aspects such as in terms of time, persons and also in terms of the techniques of data collection. The results of the study showed that the teachers used several scaffolding strategies which included process based writing techniques, sight word exercises, and problem solving based learning instructions provided with reading response journal. The use of scaffolding strategies reveals clear improvements not only in terms of the writing quality but also students' attitude and interests. The results implied that the quality of the scaffolding has beneficial contribution to students' writing competency.