图式理论在高中英语阅读教学中的应用.docx

1、图式理论在高中英语阅读教学中的应用The Application of Schema Theory in English Reading Teaching in Senior High Schools ByChen ShumiaoA thesissubmitted to the Foreign Language and Literature Department ofBaoji University of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillmentofthe requirement for the degree ofBACHELOR OF ARTSinEN

2、GLISH LANGUAGBaoji, Shaanxi May, 2015The Application of Schema Theory in English Reading Teaching in Senior High Schools Chen ShumiaoAbstract: Schema theory was proposed by Bartlett in the middle of 1870s. A schema refers to the knowledge structure stored in brain. Schema theory has put the emphasis

3、 on the importance of background knowledge which people previously acquired. It is a trend that schema theory is applied in English reading teaching. It is also necessary for English reading teaching to enrich itself by adopting the schema theory. The development of students reading ability has alwa

4、ys been one of the primary objectives in English teaching. However, English reading teaching has been influenced by the traditional teaching method, taking the words and grammar as the main teaching goal, neglecting the training of reading skills and the using of “schemata” knowledge. This paper dis

5、cusses the types and functions of the schema knowledge on English reading, and points out how schema theory is to be applied to English reading classes. Teachers should guide the students to make the best of the schema knowledge, so as to improve their English reading abilities and arouse their Engl

6、ish reading interests. Schema can be used in the understanding of the language, readers use schema to fill in information that isnt mentioned explicitly. When reading a new text, readers need the ability to relate the textual materials to their own prior knowledge stored in their minds, because unde

7、rstanding and explanation of new knowledge depend upon schemata stored in ones mind. So it is very important for teachers and students to understand the function of schemata and put them into effective use to improve students reading ability.Key words: schema theory。 senior English。 reading。 reading

8、 ability图式理论在高中英语阅读教案中地应用陈树苗【内容提要】：图式理论是Bartlett在19世纪70年代提出来地，图式指地是储存在大脑中地知识结构，图式理论将重点放在人们先前获得地背景知识中.现在有将图式理论应用于英语阅读教案地趋势，英语阅读教案有必要通过采用图式理论来丰富自己.发展学生地英语阅读能力在英语教案中已经成为基本目标.然而，英语阅读教案受传统教案法地影响把单词和语法作为主要地教案目标.忽视了阅读能力地训练和图式地应用.本文探讨了图式知识在阅读中地作用，提出了图式理论在英语阅读教案中地具体设想，教师应该引导学生充分发挥自己已有图式地作用，来提高学生地英语阅读理解能力，提高学

9、生英语学习地兴趣.因为图式是头脑中地“先存知识”或“背景知识”，它可用于语言理解中，读者借助记忆中激活地知识结构来填补文本中未表达出地细节内容，从而达到阅读理解地目地.读者地每一次理解都需要已有知识地参与，根据已有地知识来重新获取或构建文本意义，达到阅读理解地目地.因此，学习者应该在阅读过程中充分利用这些图式知识来提高阅读理解能力.【关键词】: 图式理论；高中英语；英语阅读；阅读能力CONTENTS 2.2The function of schema 4Acknowledgments 13The Application of Schema Theory in English Reading T

10、eaching in Senior High SchoolsI. IntroductionNowadays, reading plays a dominant role in the four skills of the foreign language learning. It is the foundation and an important way to improve students listening, speaking, writing and abilities of translating something. It is obvious that mastering an

11、 effective reading skills and forming a good reading habit can not only broaden the students horizon but also improve the comprehensive quality to a certain extent. In traditional English reading teaching in senior high schools, teachers always adopt the traditional grammar-translation method to tea

12、ch reading, which hasnt emphasized the use of content schemata(background knowledge), nor formal schemata，that is to say, they often ignore the rhetorical organization of the texts. That is, the grammartranslation approach only pays attention to words，grammar, the translation of texts only puts emph

13、asis on lots of writing exercises. As a result, students only learn to word by word, and the grammar-translation approach teaching gradually bacame more and more important. This grammar-translation approach supposes that reading is a rather passive decoding process which puts emphasis on the importa

14、nce of bottom-up model. This results in many students dont have a good reading abilities. The purpose of my research is to make the schema theory be familiar to students and English teachers in senior high school and applied it to English reading and teaching effectively. Teachers through the proces

15、s can activate students background knowledge and build up formal schema, making the students have a good command in reading comprehension, improving the students reading comprehension abilities.My thesis structure will be divided into five parts. In the first part, the background and the significanc

16、e of the study are introduced and literature reviews are explored. In the second part, the types and functions of schema theory are introduced. In the third part, the reading models and current situation of reading are introduced. In the fourth part, schema theory is applied to English reading teach

17、ing. In the fifth part are the conclusions.II. The types and functions of schema theory The schema theory was first proposed by German psychologist Bartlett in 1932. He defines schema as “an active organization of past reactions, or past experience”. Rumelhart came up with this concept of schema and

18、 described schema theory basically as a theory of how knowledge is mentally represented in the mind and used, schemata are created through experience with the world, and the persons culture, which includes the interactions with people, objects and events within that culture (Dr Heather Winskel, 2006

19、).From the above definition, we can conclude that knowledge acquisition is based on the previous experience and concepts which are stored in brain. This stored knowledge along with its storage structure is called schema.2.1 The types of schemaSchema, according to the nature of the contents, can be c

20、lassified as linguistic schema, the readers preexisting linguistic knowledge, content schema, the readers prior knowledge of the content area of the text, and the formal schema, the knowledge of the rhetorical structure of the text (Carrell, 1983:172).2.1.1 Linguistic schema Linguistic schema refers

21、 to the readers preexisting linguistic knowledge: to be more specific, they refer to the knowledge of language about phonetics, grammar, vocabulary. The New Curriculum Standards requires that students should master the long and difficult sentences by analyzing the structure. Its aslo one of requirem

22、ents of linguistic schema. Language is the carrier of information. Vocabulary is the basic element of language. Facing an article which is full of new words, the reader will arise the feeling of being feared by it immediately. Linguistic schema is a necessary schema for students. For example: if the

23、 students dont know more about the ellipsis, he or she will cant understand the following sentence:“Had we used better irrigation methods, we would have saved half of water resources”. Its meaning is “if we used better irrigation methods, we would have saved half of our water resources”. Thus, in th

24、e initial stage of leaning, linguistic schema is a decord which be replaced by the speculation according to the experience. Reader who wants to improve his reading effects, he should have a good command of meaning and grammar.2.1.2 Content schema Content schema which refers to a readers background k

25、nowledge about the content area of a text. That is to say, students are supposed to have an ability to activate their preexisting knowledge and then interact them with the texture material. An effect way to learn English is to connect the new information with their prior knowledge. If the readers do

26、 not have the content schema that related to the text, they only can translate every word into chinese. Thus, it is difficult for them to master the whole textual material although they own rich linguistic schema. For example, A women without a man is like a fish without a bicycle. If students know

27、about the feminist movement knowledge of Anglo American countries, knowing about the background, the meaning is easy and it can be interpreted as “women dont need men at all. On the contrary, if the readers own more related content schema, they can comprehend the text easily. Thus, readers need to m

28、aster more knowledge about all kinds of topics, such as geography, history, economy, culture, psychology, philosophy and so on.2.1.3 Formal schema “Formal schema” or “textual schema” are “background knowledge of the formal, rhetorical organizational structures of different types of the texts” (Carre

29、ll and Eisterhold 1983). We can know that formal schemata are something about rhetorical structures differences in reading, such as differences in genre, and the structure of fables, advertisement and so on. Distinguishing the different rhetorical structures is a crucial skill as for high school stu

30、dents. A student whose language proficiency is too poor, and also dont familiar with the content of the article, he will face with big obstacles in the process of reading. However, if he owns the knowledge of formal schema, it will be conductive to understand the text according to different structur

31、es easily. Take an advertisement as an example: advertisement has its unique features. Using concise words and using phrases. For example, Learn a foreign language in six weeks or your money back. If a student owns a rich formal schema, the meaning can be interpreted as “we promise you can learn a f

32、oreign language in six weeks or your money will be turned back.2.2 The function of schema A schema theory refers to the knowledge structure stored in brain. As we all know, the linguistic schemata are the basic knowledge of the language. Only grasp the linguistic schema, can we have ability to master the other schemata. The content schema is very important and it is the basis of comprehending the real meaning of text. The formal schema is of great importance in mastering its organizational structure. The relationship between them is very close. Th