The Application of Schema Theory in English Teachi.docx

The Application of Schema Theory in English Teachi.docx

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TheApplicationofSchemaTheoryinEnglishTeachi

图示理论在初中英语听力教学中的应用

TheApplicationofSchemaTheoryinEnglishTeachinginJuniorHighSchool

1.Introduction

ManylearnersarelearningEnglishinChinatoday.Englishisoneofthethreemajorsubjectsineverygrade.Ittakesupabigpartineveryentranceexamination.Englishisregardedasaworldwidelanguage.SomasteringenoughEnglishknowledgeisnecessaryforEnglishlearners.

Actually,Englishhasmainlyfourparts.Theyarelistening,speaking,readingandwriting.Theyconnectwitheachotherclosely.Sowecanseethatlisteningisthemostprimarypart.Ifwewanttoexpresssomething,wemustknowothers’wordsfirst.ThisrequiresEnglishlearnerstohavetheskilloflisteningfirst.Thus,listeningisthebasicskillthatEnglishlearnersneedtomasterfirst.

Inourcountry,mostEnglishlearnerslearnEnglishonlyfromjuniorhighschool.AndthenewJuniorHighSchoolCurriculumStandard（2001:

14）hasrequiredthatwhenstudentsgraduatefromjuniorhighschool,theyaresupposedtoachievethefifthdegreeoflisteningability.So,EnglishteachersshouldnoticetheimportanceoflisteningwhenteachingEnglish.

Butactually,mostEnglishteachersforgettheimportanceoflistening.Theyuselesstimetoteachstudentsthisskill.So,studentsdonothaveenoughtrainingaboutlistening.Butitneedsalongprocesstoimprovelisteningability.So,Englishteachersshouldteachstudentslisteninginjuniorhighschool.Inallkindsofexaminations,listeningoccupiesabigpartandmorescores.So,Englishteachersshouldpayattentiontolisteningteach.

Thispapermainlytalksabouttheapplicationofschematheoryinlisteningteaching.Students’schematacanbeactivatedandreinforcedwhenlistening.Thiscanhelpthemunderstandthematerialbetter.Actually,schemareferstostudents’allkindsofknowledge.Ifalloftheseareformed,activatedandused,theprocessoflisteningwillbeeasier.So,Englishteacherscanteachstudentstopracticelisteningundertheguidanceofschematheory.

Theframeworkofthispaperisclear.Inthefirstpart,itisageneraldescriptionofthepaper.Inparttwo,itprovidesthedefinitionoflisteningcomprehensionandsomerelatedfactorsoflistening.Nextpartintroducestherelatedschematheoryknowledge.Partfouristhebodypart.Itintroducesseveralstrategiesandactivitiestoteachers.Partfiveistheconclusionofthewholepaper.

2.ListeningandListeningComprehension

2.1Thedefinitionoflisteningandlisteningcomprehension

Listeningisoneofthemostfundamentalskillsforalanguagelearner.Wealwaystalkaboutlistening,butwhatislistening?

Manyscholarsdefineitasanactiveprocess.

Actually,theprocessoflisteninginvolvestwoparts.Thefirstpartisthespeaker’sinformation.Theotherpartisthelistener’scomprehension.Themostimportantpartisthesecondpart.Thispapermainlystudiestheprocessoflisteningcomprehension.

Inordertounderstandthespeaker’smeaning,wealwaysuseourlinguisticknowledgeandnon-linguisticknowledgewhenwedolisteningexercises.Therearemanydifferentdefinitionsoflistening.Sowecanregardlisteningcomprehensionasanactiveandpreviousprocess.Whenwelistentoothers,wewilluseourlinguisticknowledge,backgroundinformationandotherstrategiestounderstandthespeaker’swords.

2.2Influentialfactorsoflistening

Inordertohelpjuniorhighschoolstudentsimprovetheirlisteningcomprehensionability,findingandanalyzingtheinfluentialfactorsarenecessary.Thesefactorscanbeclassifiedasinternalonesandexternalones.

2.2.1Internalfactors

Internalfactorsinvolvethelistener’spersonality,languageknowledge,theabilityofmemoryandresponse,ageandotherphysicalfactors.

Somejuniorhighschoolstudentsarecalm.Sowhentheyfacedifficultiesintheprocessoflistening,theycancalmthemselvesdownanddealwiththequestions.However,othersarenotsocalm.Theywillbesonervousthattheycannotchoosetherightanswers.Somestudentshaveagoodmemory,whileothers’arepoor.Sotheywillforgetmanyusefulpoints.

Actually,languageknowledgeaccountsforalargepart.Itincludesone’slinguisticknowledge,backgroundknowledgeandsoon.Linguisticknowledgereferstovocabularyandgrammar.Backgroundknowledgereferstotheculture,lifestyleandothercustomsofforeigncountries.JuniorhighschoolstudentshavelearnedEnglishforsomeyears.Theymastermuchlanguageknowledge.Thiscanhelpthemtounderstandthelisteningmaterialsbetter.

Theseareinternalfactors.

2.2.2Externalfactors

Externalfactorsincludethesoundsandthespeedofthespeaker,thetimethatthematerialwillberepeatedandthenoise.

SomespeakersspeakEnglishwithanAmericanaccent,whileothersspeakEnglishwithanEnglishaccent.Thiswillleadlistenersmisunderstandsomewordsandsomemeanings.

Almosteverylisteningtestinjuniorhighschoolisrepeatedtwice.Itisalittledifficultforstudentstounderstandthematerial.AndalmosteveryEnglishgradetestisreadonlyonce.Thisismoredifficult.Somespeakersspeakveryfast.So,studentsdonothaveenoughtimetodothemeanings.Inthisway,someimportantpointswillbeneglectedandmissed.

Whenthelistenerslistentothematerials,iftherebesomenoise,thelistenerswillbeaffected.Thisisunavoidable.Forexample,astudentissittingbesidesthewindowsandheislisteningtotheradio.Atthemoment,acarispassingoutsidethewindows.Itwillcausenoise.Thiswillaffectthestudent’slistening.

Theseareexternalfactors.

Thesetwomainlyfactorswillaffectlistener’slisteningcomprehension.Knowingthesefactorscanhelplistenersfindsomeusefulstrategiestoovercomethem,sotheycanincreasetheirlisteningcomprehension.

3SchemaTheories

3.1Thedefinitionofschematheory

Inordertocomprehendthespeakersbetter,thelistenersalwaysusetheirlanguageknowledgewhentheyarelisteningsomething.Backgroundknowledgeisoneofthisknowledge.In1781,ImmanuelKantwasthefirstonetoproposethenotionofschema.Hethoughtthatourbackgroundknowledgeplayedanimportantroleintheprocessofcomprehension.

Actually,schemajustlikesframe,referenceorbackgroundknowledge.Whenwehavetocomprehendnewinformation,weusuallyneedtoactivatetherelevantschemainourminds.Forexample,ourpastexperience,cultureknowledge,societyknowledge,customs,linguisticknowledgeandotherbackgroundknowledge.

3.2Theclassificationsofschema

Schemaplaysanecessaryroleintheprocessofcomprehension.Therearemanyvariousclassificationsaboutit.AccordingtoJames（1892）,schemamainlyhasthreetypes:

thatis,linguisticschema,formalschema,contentschema.

3.2.1Linguisticschema

Linguisticschemacanalsobecalledlanguageschema.Itreferstoourlinguisticknowledge.Forexample,theknowledgeofphoneme,word,phrase,clause,sentence,grammarandotherknowledgearethesethings.Thesearebasicpartsoflinguisticschema.Whenthelistenersbegintostudyaforeignlanguage,theymustmasterthisknowledge.Iftheymasterthembetter,thisknowledgewillhelpthemalot.Forexample,iftheyencountersomenewwordswhentheylistentosomething,theycanusetheirlinguisticschematohaveaguess.Maybetheywillhaveabetterunderstanding.

3.2.2Formalschema

Formalschemacanalsobecalledtextualschema.Itreferstoourrhetoricknowledge.Inaword,itmeansthetypeandgenreofatext.Therearedifferenttypesofthetext.Forinstance,fables,news,stories,poetryandsoon.Ifthelistenerknowsbetteraboutthesetypes,hecanhaveaformalschemainhisownmind.Thiscanhelphimunderstandthematerialbetter.Forexample,whenalistenerhearsanarrativestory,hewillhaveastory-schemainhismind.Maybeheshouldnoticethetime,place,person,developmentandresultofthisevent.Soformalschemacanhelplistenersunderstandbetter,facilitatelisteningandpromotecomprehension.

3.2.3Contentschema

Contentschemaisthetopicknowledge.Itreferstothelistener’srelatedbackgroundknowledge.Wallace（1992）callsitastopicschema.Soithasacloserelationshipwiththetopic.Listenerscanhaveaguessaccordingtothetopic.Contentschemaincludesalargerangeofone’sknowledge.Itrelatestoone’sexistingknowledge.Forexample,politics,economy,culture,society,personalexperiences,customsandsoon.

Ifalistenerhasthiskindofschema,itwillhelphimmost.Forinstance,thetitleofalisteningmaterialisHalloween.Thelistenercanknowthatthispassageisaboutthisfestival.Sohecanpredictthatmaybethispassagewillintroducesomecustomsaboutit.ThetimeofthisfestivalisOctober31standitstartedinBritain.PeopleliketoplaygamesatHalloweenparties,suchasapple-bobbing.Manypeopleliketowearaswitches.Soifthelistenerknowsthesethings,hecanformacontentschemainhismindandmakeamorepreciseprediction.Ifhemissessomeimportantdetailswhilelistening,hiscontentschemamayhelphim.

Contentschemaisimportantintheprocessoflisteningcomprehension.Sothispapermainlyfocusesonthiskindofschema.Contentschemahasacloserelationshipwithlisteningcomprehension.

4ListeningComprehensionandSchemaTheory

4.1Characteristicsandfunctionsofschema

4.1.1Characteristicsofschema

Weknowthattherearemainlythreetypesofschema,andtheyarelinguisticschema,contentschemaandformalschema.Thatistosay,itisaboutthelistener’sknowledgeandthelisteningmaterial.Thelistener’sknowledgereferstohisorherschemaknowledge.Sowhatarethecharacteristicsofschema?

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