摘要：Taking into account the three key features of scaffolding, namely, contingency,
fading and the transfer of responsibility, the present study investigated the role of
cognitive scaffolding in speaking and its components (i.e. grammar, vocabulary,
pronunciation, discourse management, interactive communication). Moreover, the
possible moderating effect of learners’ proficiency level was examined. Four
groups of 30 female Iranian learners of English in a language school participated in
this study, two of which were chosen from upper-intermediate learners, while the
other two groups included learners studying at pre-intermediate levels. The results
of the two-way ANCOVA tests indicated that cognitive scaffolding could foster
speaking skill and its components. Besides, it was found that learners’ level of
proficiency did not mediate the impact of scaffolding on the studied dependent
variables. Therefore, both upper-intermediate and pre-intermediate learners equally
benefited from cognitive scaffolds. The study offers a number of pedagogical
implications which are discussed.
关键词：cognitive scaffolding; speaking; grammar; vocabulary; pronunciation;
discourse management; interactive communication
