英语论文The Application of Schema Theory to English Reading Teaching in Senior High School.docx

英语论文The Application of Schema Theory to English Reading Teaching in Senior High School.docx

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英语论文TheApplicationofSchemaTheorytoEnglishReadingTeachinginSeniorHighSchool

TheApplicationofSchemaTheorytoEnglishReadingTeachinginSeniorHighSchool

Introduction1

1.TheoriesaboutEnglishReading3

1.1Theunderstandingofreadingprocess3

1.2Schemataandthereadingprocess4

2.Atheoreticalframework-schemaandschematheory4

2.1Thedefinitionofschema5

2.2Typesofschemata6

2.2.1Languageschemata6

2.2.2Formalschemata7

2.2.3Contentschemata8

2.3Thefunctionsofschema9

2.3.1Helpingreaderspredictthecontentoftexts9

2.3.2Helpingreadersselecttheinformation10

3.ThepresentstateofreadingteachinginSeniorHighSchool11

4.FactorsaffectingSeniorHighSchoolstudents’readingcomprehension12

5.Theapplicationofschematheory14

5.1Toenrichstudents’schemata15

5.2Toactivatestudents’schemata16

5.3Tobuildupstudents’schemata18

5.4Anexampleofapplyingschematheoryinthecourseofreadingteaching19

Conclusion22

References23

Introduction

Readingplaysanimportantroleinforeignlanguageteachingandlearning,foritisoneofthemostessentialwaystoacquireforeignlanguageknowledgeandskills.Formoststudents,especiallyforSeniorHighSchoolstudents,readingisbyfarthemostimportantoneofthefourskillsinEnglishlanguagelearning.Ineveryyear’sCollegeEntranceExamination,readingcomprehensioncoversalargeproportionofthetestpaper,therequirementforreadingabilityincreaseandthepositionofreadingcomprehensionismoreoutstanding.Therefore,howtoimprovestudents’readingcomprehensionabilityeffectivelybecomesthefocusinEnglishreadingteachinginHighSchool.However,agreatdealhasbeendoneinthisaspect,yetweareawarethatmanystudents,afterlearningEnglishforyears,oftenendinfailureabouttheircomprehensionwhenaskedtoreadapassage（TangAilian,2001:

4）.Becausethetraditionalreadingteachingstressedstudents’linguisticknowledgeexcessively,neglectingbackgroundknowledgeandthestructureofthetext.TraditionalviewofEnglishreadingteachingregardsreadingcomprehensionasaBottom-upprocess.Englishteachingfocusoninterpretingwords,sentencesandgrammar.Thus,thetextisdividedintopartstoreadratherthantoreadasawhole,whichhaslittleeffectonimprovingreaders’readingability.Betweenourstudents’actualreadingabilityandtherequirementoftheHighSchoolEnglishSyllabus,thereisawidegap.Therefore,itishightimethatwereevaluatedourreadingteaching.TheauthorappliestheschematheorytoguideEnglishreadingteaching.Sincethistheoryholdsthatthereadingprocessisnotonlyaprocessofpolishinglanguageandconcepts,butalsomakinguseoftheoriginalbackgroundknowledge.Thus,inreadingclassesteachersshouldhelpstudentsactivatetheschematastoredintheirmindstoimprovestudents’readingability.

1.TheoriesaboutEnglishReading

1.1Theunderstandingofreadingprocess

Inalongperiod,manyresearcheshavebeencarriedonthenatureofreadingprocess.Untilnow,itisnoteasytodefinethenatureofreading.Readinghasdifferentmeanings.Itistraditionallybelievedthatreadingcomprehensionisabottom-upprocessinwhichthereadersdecodeprintedpagesfromletters,words,andsemanticgraphicunits.Ithasshortcomingswhichoveremphasizesthemeaninginthereadingprocess,neglectingthebackgroundknowledgeofthetext.Later,withthedevelopmentofpsychologicallinguistics,appliedlinguistics,anddiscoursetheory,moreandmoretheoriesaboutreadingcomprehensionwereputforwardbysomeforeignlinguists.ThemostimportantoneisGoodman’s（1967:

170）Investigationsoffirstlanguagecomprehension,whichcharacterizedreadingasa“psychologicalguessinggame,”emphasizingtheimportanceoftop-downprocessing.However,thepastdecadehaveseenaveryconsiderablegrowthofinterestinreadingcomprehensionandschematheory.Coady（1979:

59）thoughtthatreadingisaninteractivecomplexofabilitiesorskillsandknowledge.Thatis,readingisalsoregardedasacomplicatedprocessinwhichreadersworkoutthemeaningofthewrittentextwiththeprocessofinteractionbetweenunderstandinglinguisticfeaturesoftextandpriorbackgroundknowledgeofreaders.TheinteractiveprocessingalsocallSchemaTheoryModel.

1.2Schemataandthereadingprocess

Nomatterthereadingprocessis“Bottom-up,”“Top-Down”or“Interactive”process,readerscan’tarriveatcomprehensionwithouttheirschematicknowledge.Intheprocessofreading,“comprehensionofamessageentailsdrawinginformationfromboththemessageandtheinternalschemataunitsetsarereconciledasasingleschemaormessage”（Anderson,1982:

53）.Readingcomprehensionisacomplexprocess,whichalsohasbeendescribedasaconstructiveprocess（Bartlett1932,Spiro1980）.Inordertounderstandthetext,thereadermustuseinformation,whichisexplicitandimplicittoformaschema.Readersinterpretatextaccordingtotheirschemata.Schematheorybelievesthatknowledgeissystematicallyorganized（Rumelhart,1980）.Aschemacanbedefinedashavingelementsorcomponentswhichcanbedelineatedandwhichareorderedinspecificways.Readersuseschematatoanticipatetextcontentandstructures.Thewayweinterpretdependontheschemataactivatedbythetext;andwhetherweinterpretsuccessfullydependsonwhetherourschemataaresufficientlysimilartothewriter’sschemata.

2.Atheoreticalframework-schemaandschematheory

Theimportanceofschematicknowledgeisnowwidelyacknowledgedinlanguageteachingtheoryandmanyresearchesintheschema-orientedrealmofEFLreadinghavebeendone.Theresultsoftheseresearcheshaveshownthatreadingcomprehensioncanbesignificantlyfacilitatedbyutilizingschematheoryinreadingprocess.Therefore,inthefollowingparts,sometheoreticalframeworksarediscussed.

2.1Thedefinitionofschema

Theterm“schema”wasfirstevolvedoutoftheGestaltpsychologyandBartlett’stheoryconcerninghumanmemory.Manyyearslater,itwasintroducedintoreadingbyRumelhart,CarrellandEisterhold.Schemaisconsideredasdatastructuresorworldknowledgeinthemindandthelinkbetweenourknowledgeoflinguisticformandourknowledgeoftheworldisextremelyclose.Themorepredictableasequenceoflinguisticelementsis,themoreeasilythetextwillbeprocessed.OnedefinitionisRumelhart’s:

“Aschematheoryisbasicallyatheoryaboutknowledge.Itisatheoryabouthowknowledgeisrepresentedandabouthowthatrepresentationfacilitatestheuseoftheknowledgeinparticularways.Accordingtoschematheory,allknowledgeispackagedintounits.Theseunitsaretheschemata.Embeddedinthesepacketsofknowledgeis,inadditiontotheknowledgeitself,informationabouthowthisknowledgeistobeused.”

CarrellandEisterholdfurtherdevelopedschematheory.“Theroleofbackgroundknowledgeinlanguagecomprehensionhasbeenformalizedasschematheory,whichhasasoneofitsfundamentaltenetsthattext,eitherspokenorwritten,doesnotbyitselfcarryingmeaning.”Thatis,accordingtoschematatheory,atextonlyprovidesdirectionsforreaderstoconstructmeaningfromtheirownpreviouslyacquiredknowledge.Schematheoryisbasedontheconceptthat“everyactofcomprehensioninvolvesone’sknowledgeofworldaswell”（CarrelandEisterhold1983:

73）.Theunderstandingofthearticledependsonthedegreeoftherelatedschemaknowledgebeingactivated.Therefore,teachersshouldmakethemostuseoftheschematheorymodelinteachingreadingcomprehensioninhighschoolandtrainthestudents’abilityinordertoactivatetheirrelatedbackgroundknowledgetoassisttheminunderstandingthewholetext.

2.2Typesofschemata

Researchonthetheoryofschemahashadagreatimpactonourunderstandingofreadingcomprehension.Researchershaveidentifiedseveraltypesofschemata.Generallyspeaking,therearethreetypesofschemataaccordingtodifferentpartstheyaccountforintextcomprehension.Theyarelanguageschemata,formalschemataandcontentschemata,whicharecloselyrelatedtoreadingcomprehension.

2.2.1Languageschemata

Languageschematainreadingcomprehensionrefertosentencestructure,grammaticalinflections,spellingandpunctuation,vocabulary,andcohesivestructure.Languageschemataincludethedecodingfeaturesneededtorecognizewordsandhowtheyfittogetherinasentence,thatis,thebasicknowledgeoflanguage.Anyreadingstrategyorskillwouldbeuselessforreaderswholackbasicvocabularyandgrammarknowledge.Therefore,themorelanguageschematathereadershaveintheirminds,thefasterandnicertheyacquireinformation,andthebetterunderstandingtheymightachieve.Ontheotherhand,itisimpossibleforthemtodecodethelanguageinformation.Asaresult,theycouldnotactivatethestoredknowledgethroughthecluesfromthetext,letalongunderstandthemeaningofthetextquicklyandexactly.However,inthereadingprocess,weshouldavoidoveremphasizingtheisolatedwordsandneglectingthewholetext.Forexample

1.Herearesometipsforhelpingtobuildupone’sschema.

2.Someguideshavethehabitofaskingforeigntouristsfortips.

3.Finallywereachedthenortherntipoftheisland.

Inthefirstsentence,“tip”meanssuggestionsandadvices.Inthesecondsentence,“tip”meansasmallamountofextramoney.Inthethirdsentence,“tip”meansthethinpointedendofsomething.Ifreadersdonotunderstandthemeaningsoftiporknowtheisolatedmeaningsoftipandneglectingthewholesentences,theycannotcomprehendthesesentencescorrectly.Thatis:

readers’lackofenoughlanguageschemaw