Sociocultural Theory and Reading Comprehension: Hard vs. Soft Scaffolding effect on Reading Comprehension

This study aimed at surveying two types of scaffolding impact on the reading skill performance of learners in the Iranian EFL context. For this purpose, 60 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were randomly selected out of 100 participants. and they were set into three groups (two experimental and one control group). Each group consisted of 20 learners. To check the homogeneity of the participant, a reading comprehension pre-test was administered and no significant difference was observed. The experimental groups received one of the designated treatments, hard or soft scaffolding, which lasted twenty sessions, but the control group got just the usual classroom reading teaching. Eventually, their reading skill was evaluated through the use of a post-test of reading comprehension performance. The results of one-way ANOVA disclosed that the hard scaffolding group outperformed the other groups, and the soft scaffolding group transcended the control group. The implications are discussed regarding the effectiveness of hard and soft scaffolding to indicate whether they can enhance EFL learners reading comprehension or not. This study could be useful for classroom teachers who wish to make a variation in their classrooms and for English learners as well. They can be better readers and help each other to work out the challenges of language learning.