Abstract of

An Exhibition and Analysis of Verbal Tapestries: Understanding How Scaffolding Is Woven Into the Fabric of Instructional Conversations

Joyce E. Many

This 7-month naturalistic study examined conversations between teachers and students and between peers to describe the nature of the instructional scaffolding that occurred as students constructed meaning of literary and nonfiction texts. Participants were teachers and students in multiage, third-fourth and fifth-sixth grade classrooms. Data included field notes, interviews, and student artifacts. Constant-comparative analysis indicated scaffolding served two broad purposes: (a) to aid students in the development of more complex conceptual understandings and (b) to support students' development of a repertoire of strategies for learning or for sharing what they had learned. Scaffolding related to conceptual understanding focused on constructing meaning from texts, through personal cognitive analyses, and through consideration of symbolic representations of concepts via the arts. Scaffolding related to strategy use included attention to students' abilities to learn independently and to participate in social contexts that supported understanding. Teachers and peers used specific scaffolding processes to provide varying levels of support. Findings are presented as a series of verbal tapestries that provide a descriptive picture of the ways in which scaffolding was woven in and out of the fabric of the conversations. Examination of patterns within instructional conversations across the year indicated scaffolding was shaped by broad frames for instruction, was evident within responsive instruction as dictated by the needs of those participating, and was woven in and out of the background of instruction in light of the values and beliefs of the teachers and the philosophical orientation of the school.

Abstract from Many, J.E. (2002). An Exhibition and Analysis of Verbal Tapestries: Understanding How Scaffolding Is Woven Into the Fabric of Instructional Conversations. Reading Research Quarterly, 37(4), 376–407. doi: 10.1598/RRQ.37.4.3