Adjusting the support offered during a teaching session to fit the child's current level of performance?

• A. Differentiation
• B. Modeling
• C. Scaffolding
• D. Scolding

Answer: (C)

Scaffolding is the support provided during instruction that is tailored to a learner’s current level of performance. The idea is to give just enough help for the student to perform a task they can’t yet do alone, then gradually reduce that help as they gain skill. This keeps the learner in the zone where they can learn with guidance and moves toward independent performance. In a Spanish lesson, the teacher might offer sentence frames, model pronunciation, ask targeted questions, or break a task into smaller steps, and then gradually fade these supports as the student becomes more proficient. This approach differs from differentiation, which focuses on tailoring instruction for different students or task types across a lesson, rather than adjusting the same activity in real time; modeling merely shows how to do something, not the ongoing adjustment of support; scolding is punitive and does not facilitate learning.