图示理论在初中英语听力教学中的应用.doc

图示理论在初中英语听力教学中的应用The Application of Schema Theory in English Teaching in Junior High School1. IntroductionMany learners are learning English in China today. English is one of the three major subjects in every grade. It takes up a big part in every entrance examination. English is regarded as a worldwide language. So mastering enough English knowledge is necessary for English learners.Actually, English has mainly four parts. They are listening, speaking, reading and writing. They connect with each other closely. So we can see that listening is the most primary part. If we want to express something, we must know others words first. This requires English learners to have the skill of listening first. Thus, listening is the basic skill that English learners need to master first.In our country, most English learners learn English only from junior high school. And the new Junior High School Curriculum Standard (2001:14) has required that when students graduate from junior high school, they are supposed to achieve the fifth degree of listening ability. So, English teachers should notice the importance of listening when teaching English.But actually, most English teachers forget the importance of listening. They use less time to teach students this skill. So, students do not have enough training about listening. But it needs a long process to improve listening ability. So, English teachers should teach students listening in junior high school. In all kinds of examinations, listening occupies a big part and more scores. So, English teachers should pay attention to listening teach. This paper mainly talks about the application of schema theory in listening teaching. Students schemata can be activated and reinforced when listening. This can help them understand the material better. Actually, schema refers to students all kinds of knowledge. If all of these are formed, activated and used, the process of listening will be easier. So, English teachers can teach students to practice listening under the guidance of schema theory. The framework of this paper is clear. In the first part, it is a general description of the paper. In part two, it provides the definition of listening comprehension and some related factors of listening. Next part introduces the related schema theory knowledge. Part four is the body part. It introduces several strategies and activities to teachers. Part five is the conclusion of the whole paper. 2. Listening and Listening Comprehension2.1 The definition of listening and listening comprehensionListening is one of the most fundamental skills for a language learner. We always talk about listening, but what is listening? Many scholars define it as an active process. Actually, the process of listening involves two parts. The first part is the speakers information. The other part is the listeners comprehension. The most important part is the second part. This paper mainly studies the process of listening comprehension. In order to understand the speakers meaning, we always use our linguistic knowledge and non-linguistic knowledge when we do listening exercises. There are many different definitions of listening. So we can regard listening comprehension as an active and previous process. When we listen to others, we will use our linguistic knowledge, background information and other strategies to understand the speakers words.2.2 Influential factors of listeningIn order to help junior high school students improve their listening comprehension ability, finding and analyzing the influential factors are necessary. These factors can be classified as internal ones and external ones.2.2.1 Internal factorsInternal factors involve the listeners personality, language knowledge, the ability of memory and response, age and other physical factors.Some junior high school students are calm. So when they face difficulties in the process of listening, they can calm themselves down and deal with the questions. However, others are not so calm. They will be so nervous that they cannot choose the right answers. Some students have a good memory, while others are poor. So they will forget many useful points.Actually, language knowledge accounts for a large part. It includes ones linguistic knowledge, background knowledge and so on. Linguistic knowledge refers to vocabulary and grammar. Background knowledge refers to the culture, lifestyle and other customs of foreign countries. Junior high school students have learned English for some years. They master much language knowledge. This can help them to understand the listening materials better. These are internal factors.2.2.2 External factorsExternal factors include the sounds and the speed of the speaker, the time that the material will be repeated and the noise.Some speakers speak English with an American accent, while others speak English with an English accent. This will lead listeners misunderstand some words and some meanings. Almost every listening test in junior high school is repeated twice. It is a little difficult for students to understand the material. And almost every English grade test is read only once. This is more difficult. Some speakers speak very fast. So, students do not have enough time to do the meanings. In this way, some important points will be neglected and missed. When the listeners listen to the materials, if there be some noise, the listeners will be affected. This is unavoidable. For example, a student is sitting besides the windows and he is listening to the radio. At the moment, a car is passing outside the windows. It will cause noise. This will affect the students listening. These are external factors.These two mainly factors will affect listeners listening comprehension. Knowing these factors can help listeners find some useful strategies to overcome them, so they can increase their listening comprehension. 3 Schema Theories3.1 The definition of schema theoryIn order to comprehend the speakers better, the listeners always use their language knowledge when they are listening something. Background knowledge is one of this knowledge. In 1781, Immanuel Kant was the first one to propose the notion of schema. He thought that our background knowledge played an important role in the process of comprehension. Actually, schema just likes frame, reference or background knowledge. When we have to comprehend new information, we usually need to activate the relevant schema in our minds. For example, our past experience, culture knowledge, society knowledge, customs, linguistic knowledge and other background knowledge. 3.2 The classifications of schema Schema plays a necessary role in the process of comprehension. There are many various classifications about it. According to James (1892), schema mainly has three types: that is, linguistic schema, formal schema, content schema.3.2.1 Linguistic schemaLinguistic schema can also be called language schema. It refers to our linguistic knowledge. For example, the knowledge of phoneme, word, phrase, clause, sentence, grammar and other knowledge are these things. These are basic parts of linguistic schema. When the listeners begin to study a foreign language, they must master this knowledge. If they master them better, this knowledge will help them a lot. For example, if they encounter some new words when they listen to something, they can use their linguistic schema to have a guess. Maybe they will have a better understanding.3.2.2 Formal schemaFormal schema can also be called textual schema. It refers to our rhetoric knowledge. In a word, it means the type and genre of a text. There are different types of the text. For instance, fables, news, stories, poetry and so on. If the listener knows better about these types, he can have a formal schema in his own mind. This can help him understand the material better. For example, when a listener hears a narrative story, he will have a story-schema in his mind. Maybe he should notice the time, place, person, development and result of this event. So formal schema can help listeners understand better, facilitate listening and promote comprehension.3.2.3 Content schemaContent schema is the topic knowledge. It refers to the listeners related background knowledge. Wallace (1992) calls it as topic schema. So it has a close relationship with the topic. Listeners can have a guess according to the topic. Content schema includes a large range of ones knowledge. It relates to ones existing knowledge. For example, politics, economy, culture, society, personal experiences, customs and so on. If a listener has this kind of schema, it will help him most. For instance, the title of a listening material is Halloween. The listener can know that this passage is about this festival. So he can predict that maybe this passage will introduce some customs about it. The time of this festival is October 31st and it started in Britain. People like to play games at Halloween parties, such as apple-bobbing. Many people like to wear as witches. So if the listener knows these things, he can form a content schema in his mind and make a more precise prediction. If he misses some important details while listening, his content schema may help him.Content schema is important in the process of listening comprehension. So this paper mainly focuses on this kind of schema. Content schema has a close relationship with listening comprehension.4 Listening Comprehension and Schema Theory4.1 Characteristics and functions of schema4.1.1 Characteristics of schemaWe know that there are mainly three types of schema, and they are linguistic schema, content schema and formal schema. That is to say, it is about the listeners knowledge and the listening material. The listeners knowledge refers to his or her schema knowledge. So what are the characteristics of schema? This is a necessary question that needs to be solved.According to Anderson (1977) and Howard (1987), there are mainly two major features of schema.(1) Schema is a contracture. This kind of structure includes our linguistic knowledge and background knowledge. They are the abstractions that are stored in our mind. They are orderly and have many parts.(2) Schema is moving and alterable. Because we will experience different things and learn various knowledge everyday, the schema stored in our mind is always changing along the time. It is not changeless. So if we accumulate all kinds of knowledge, our schema will become more sufficient. These are the characteristics of schema. 4.1.2 FunctionsThis stage is the most primary stage in the process of listening teaching. In our daily life, before dealing with something, we usually do some necessary preparations. For example, if we go camping tomorrow, we will pack our knapsacks, prepare some food, water and medicine. This is pre-going stage. So in the pre-listening stage, teachers should also guide students do preparation. The aim of this stage not only tells students to listen and do the listening exercises.These are the functions of schema. If the listeners understand them better, they will have a useful influence on their listening. Also, if English teachers know these functions, they can let teachers to teach students more efficiently.4.1.3 Schema activationWe have known the definitions, functions, characteristics about schema. It has a close relationship with our knowledge and listening. It includes linguistic schema, content schema and formal schema. This paper mainly focuses on the application of schema in listening. So when listeners listen to some materials, they need to use their schema stored in their mind. Sometimes, the listening material will provide some schema. That needs the listeners to observe them. But the listeners often need to look for the schema by themselves. That is to say, the schema stored in mind needs to be activated. Schema activation is extremely necessary in the process of listening. Cook said (1989:69), “The mind stimulated by key words or phrases in the text or by the context activates a knowledge schema.” So according to him, there are mainly two ways of schema activation.(1) Through looking for the knowledge stored in mind, new information from the outer world can be got and related to what we already known information. In this way, new information can be mixed with the schema stored in mind. They have a close connection with each other.(2) New formal structure can represent new information. That is to say, without the old schemata, new information and knowledge can also become new schema. These are the two ways of activating schema. In order to comprehend the listening material well, listeners need to learn how to activate their schema. They need to activate not only the existing schema but also the new schema information. One important point is that listeners should activate the appropriate and proper schema. This can help them a lot and can make the process of listening more easily. So activating related schema is deeply necessary for listeners when they do their listening comprehension exercises. 4.2 Strategies of listeningListening in junior high school is relatively easy. The material is often repeated twice. So students can use the second time to check their answers or find the useful information that they missed. This paper mainly shows the application of schema theory about listening. So we focus on schema activation. Appropriate schema activation can make listening process more easily. But if students fail to activate a useful schema, the process will become difficult. So activating the existing schema is very necessary. In this part, there are some strategies that can help teacher when teaching listening.There are mainly three types of schema, and they are linguistic schema, content schema and formal schema. We have already known their meanings. So in a word, teachers should let their students to learn these three types of schema.4.2.1 Teaching linguistic schemaFrom this sentence, we can see the importance of vocabulary. It is the basic part of English, and it is an important part in linguistic knowledge. Actually, linguistic knowledge includes phoneme, word, phrase, clause, sentence, grammar and so on. But in junior high school students, vocabulary is in the first place of all. When students are in junior high school, many of them just start to learn English formally. So vocabulary is an essential part for them. We will learn many different kinds of words and the Teaching Syllabus requires students know most of them. Phrase, clause and sentence are also important. And they have learned some grammar knowledge. These are all their linguistic knowledge. In order to comprehend listening material better, firstly, they must master linguistic knowledge. English teachers should teach their students this basic knowledge first. This is the basic step. But in fact, some students have mastered much linguistic knowledge. But when listening, they can not figure them out. This is a formal problem in reality. After listening, teachers give their students the listening material. They can understand them easily. But when listening, the process becomes difficult. The reason why this thing happens is that students read less in their daily learning. And students can always not have the right sounds of the words or sentences well. Although they know the meaning of each word, when listening they become confused because they are not familiar to the pronunciation of this word. So English teachers can lead their students to read the words time and time again and read the sentences or paragraphs loudly everyday. This is a pretty good habit. It can help students form a word structure in their mind. After repeating a word many times, they will understand this word clearly. So when they do listening, they cannot know its meaning and fail. Furthermore, spoken English and written English are quiet different. Because speakers not always speak as the written text, so it is different from the written one. The written English is more normal. For example, speakers always use many incomplete sentences when talking with others. They dont speak normally. They speak casually. It is more convenient, accurate and dense. Spoken English has many interactive expressions. This makes the listening more authentic and true. So teachers should notice all of these. And students should also learn these things so that they can over come difficulties in the process of listening. In a word, English teachers should get their students learn more linguistics knowledge. In this way, students can form a better linguistic schema.This is the basic part.4.2.2 Teaching content schemaWe know content schema can also be called topic knowledge. It refers to the listeners background knowledge. It includes culture, politics, economy, society, ones own experience and so on. This paper mainly talks about this kind of schema. Content schema refers to a listeners existing knowledge. Junior high school students text books involve much background knowledge. They have learned something about foreign countrys culture, society since primary school. When they are in middle school, they will have more subjects, like geography, history, politics biology and so on. These are all comprehensive subjects. From learning these subjects, they can have a better understanding about our country and foreign country. For example, things are natural resources, people, festivals, history, society, culture and education. Listening materials sometimes relate to these parts. Junior high school students are teenagers. They have experienced something different. Maybe they have not seen a great deal of life, but they have their own experience and own ways to deal with these things. And they have their own values and judgments. These can all help them to