Essay On Scaffolding

Scaffolding is necessarily considered a salient part of EFL education for the development of different language skills especially for the purpose of better communication besides its inevitable impact on learners’ various psychological mechanisms. The present study primarily aims to investigate the impact of Piagetian symmetrical vs. Vygotskyan asymmetrical scaffolding on Iranian EFL learners’ pragmatic competence and willingness to communicate. To this end, the researcher chose approximately 77 intermediate EFL learners based on the results of piloted OPT. Then, the participants were randomly assigned to two groups of 35 and 42 EFL learners. In one group symmetrical scaffolding (Peers’ assistance) was employed and in the other asymmetrical scaffolding (teachers’ assistance). The data analyses revealed that participants’ pragmatic competence and willingness to communicate improved significantly through asymmetrical scaffolding. The findings of the present study include some pedagogical and theoretical implications for EFL practitioners, teachers, learners, and material developers.
Key words: Piaget, Vygostsky, Scaffolding, Intermediate EFL Learners, Pragmatic Competence, and Willingness to Communicate

Introduction
Teaching philosophy contains elements from a variety of methods, theories, and perspectives on effective

I witnessed a wide range of teaching philosophies and approaches in action especially those concerning EFL pragmatic or communicative improvement with frequent opportunities to communicate pragmatically with people abroad when I travelled to different countries like Japan, Finland, Australia, Romania, Estonia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, India, Turkey, Thailand, and Singapore to participate in different EFL conferences as a presenter. The expression "you cannot not communicate" means that communication is inseparable part of living in the process of