What kind of scaffolding works best for literacy?
by Trish Weekes
What is scaffolding?
In every great classroom, there’s an invisible structure at work. It’s not made of timber or steel, but it’s just as powerful—it’s scaffolding. And when paired with knowledge about language and the Teaching and Learning Cycle (TLC), it becomes a game-changer for literacy development.
Where does the idea of scaffolding come from?
We all know how scaffolding works in construction – it supports the construction of a building by providing secure platforms and stability for workers to climb on and build. But what about in education?
The idea of scaffolding started with Lev Vygotsky’s (1978) concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)—the gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can do with support.
“What the child is able to do in collaboration today he will be able to do independently tomorrow.” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 87)
Building on this, Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976) coined the term scaffolding to describe the temporary, responsive support that a teacher offers during learning. They defined it as:
“Controlling those elements of the task that are initially beyond the learner’s capacity, thus permitting him to concentrate upon and complete only those elements that are within his range of competence.”
(Wood, Bruner & Ross, 1976, p. 90.)
Later, Bruner (1983) explained scaffolding as a process of “setting up” a learning situation to make success possible.
What is the best way of scaffolding literacy?
One way of scaffolding is the Teaching and Learning Cycle (TLC) for literacy, a practical, classroom-based approach for improving student reading, writing and literacy skills (Rothery 1994). It that works with any class or topic. It usually unfolds in four stages:
Building the Field – Developing knowledge of the topic and content.
Modelling the Genre – Reading and deconstructing a mentor or example text.
Joint Construction – Co-writing texts with strong teacher support.
Independent Construction – Students write unassisted and apply what they have learned.
The Teaching and Learning Cycle is scaffolding made visible. Support is strong and explicit at the start, then gradually withdrawn as students gain control over language and ideas.
What are the benefits?
If teachers use scaffolding strategies like the Teaching and Learning Cycle, they can create classrooms where:
Students are supported without being spoon-fed,
Language is taught in context, not in isolation,
All learners—especially EAL/D and disadvantaged students—can access and produce complex, powerful texts.
In short, scaffolding isn't just an abstract theory—it's a pedagogical lifeline.
What is NOT scaffolding?
Sometimes teachers use the term ‘scaffold’ to refer to a document that is given to students as a way of providing support, but that’s not what we mean by scaffolding.
Scaffolding is not:
A blank table for students to fill in without teachers support
A series of questions for students to answer or a list of instructions.
A text or example that students read and interpret on their own without teacher support
Teachers telling students how to write without any other support
Past student writing that has problems e.g. answers from past papers.
Instead, scaffolding involves three texts – a model text, a joint construction text to write together, and an independent text – and the teacher, guiding students to unpack and annotate the texts, write a shared text and then write independently.
In summary:
Scaffolding is a when teachers provide strong support for students then gradually reduce support as students become more confident and capable.
The Teaching and Learning Cycle is a way of scaffolding literacy.
It gradually shifts responsibility from teacher to student, starting with teacher modelling, followed by joint construction and guided practice, and ending with independent work.
To find out more:
To find out more about the Teaching and Learning Cycle, see the links (here). There also examples of teacher practice using the teaching and learning cycle in primary school and secondary school on our page (link)
References
Bruner, J. S. (1983). Child’s talk: Learning to use language. W. W. Norton & Company.
Rothery, J. (1994). Exploring literacy in school English. Sydney: Metropolitan East Disadvantaged School Program.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds. & Trans.). Harvard University Press.
Wood, D., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17(2), 89–100. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1976.tb00381.x
For more on the development of the Teaching and Learning Cycle, see:
Rose, D., & Martin, J. R. (2012). Learning to write, reading to learn. Genre, knowledge and pedagogy in the Sydney School. Sheffield & Bristol: Equinox Publishing Ltd.
To reference this blog, please cite:
Weekes, T. (2025, April 11). What kind of scaffolding works best for literacy? Language and Literacy in Education Network blog. URL.
About the author
Dr Trish Weekes is a literacy consultant and publisher at Literacy Works for SFL-based literacy resources in secondary schools. She works with teachers and provides resources that use the Teaching and Learning Cycle to teach literacy in secondary school subject areas.