The Role of Language Scaffolds in enhancing College Students' comprehension within Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Abstract

The following study tried to investigate the effect of Scaffolding activities on students 'comprehension skills within Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which leads to a process of brainstorming to reach the ultimate comprehension and understanding of the text. Therefore, the researcher tried to answer the following question: "Is there a significant difference at (α=.05) between the mean scores attained by the experimental group and those attained by the control group on students' comprehension that can be attributed to the effect of language scaffolds on students comprehension within Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)? To answer the research questions which were based on this hypothesis, the researcher selected two groups randomly to form the sample of the study. The experimental and the control groups with (15) male female 2nd stage college students in each. The two groups set for pre-test to ensure that the two groups were equal in their comprehension skills before starting the experiment after six weeks of teaching within ZPD both groups set for another post-test to investigate the change . The findings revealed that there were significant differences between the mean scores attained by the experimental group and those attained by the control group in favor of the experimental group due to applying the new scaffolding activities within Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development. .Therefore; the researcher rejected the null hypothesis and accepted the alternative one which indicated that there is a significant differences between the experimental and the control groups. After analyzing the collected data and discussing the results, the researcher introduced a group of suggestions and recommendations.Key words :1- Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)2- Scaffolding: is the teaching technique that involves providing students with the supports needed to complete a task or facilitate their learning of new concepts.