The Application of Schema Theory in English Listening Teaching

Si Yanan

Abstract： Listening is very important in English learning. This paper will explore the specific application of schema theory in the three-stage English listening teaching mode. It aims to provide teachers with reference on listening teaching strategies and improve listeners listening comprehension ability.

Keywords： Schema theory； English listening； teaching

【中圖分類號】G434

1. Introduction

Listening is the most important and difficult skill among the four basic language

skills—listening， speaking， reading and writing. It is an active process， in order to understand the content expressed by the speaker， listeners have to use their prior knowledge and many listening cognitive strategies. It is a positive mental process in which linguistic knowledge interacts with background knowledge. Schema theory lies strong theoretical foundation for this concept. The specific application of schema theory in the three-stage English listening teaching mode can not only help teachers enrich their teaching strategies but also help students improve their listening comprehension ability.

2. Top-down and Bottom-up Processing

Two views of listening has dominated language pedagogy over the last thirty years. These are the “bottom-up” processing view and the “top-down” processing interpretation view. The bottom-up processing model assumes that listening is a process of decoding the sounds that one hears in a linear fashion， from the smallest meaning units to complete texts. In other words， the process is a linear one in which meaning itself is derived as the last step in the process. The alternative， top-down view， suggests that the listener actively constructs the original meaning of the speaker using incoming sounds as clues. In this reconstruction process， the listener uses prior knowledge of the context and situation within which the listening takes place to makes sense of what he or she hears.

3. The Notion of Schema Theory

3.1 The Definition of Schema Theory

The term schema was first used by the psychologist Bartlett （1932）， and has had an important influence on researchers in the areas of speech processing and language comprehension ever since. Bartlett argued that the knowledge we carried around our heads is organized into interrelated patterns. Therefore， our memory for discourse was not based on the straight reproduction， but was constructive. Scheme theory is based on the notion that past experience lead to the creation of mental frameworks that help us make sense of new experiences.According to schema theory， “comprehending a text is an interactive process between the learners background knowledge and the text. Efficient comprehension involves more than just relying on ones knowledge， it requires the ability to relate the textual material to ones own comprehending words， sentences and entire texts.

3.2 The Types of Schema

According to Carrell and Eisterllold （1983） schematic knowledge is generally thought to be three types： linguistic schema， formal schema and content schema.

Linguistic schema contains language information in the materials. It is the basis for the other two categories. In listening teaching， it includes the knowledge of phoneme， grammar and vocabulary， which controls the basis of listening comprehension. A non-native listeners problems with a material may be largely due to the deficiencies in this kind of schema.

Formal schema means “background knowledge of the formal， rhetorical organizational structures of different types of texts” （Carrell， 1987）. Each of these types represents a different abstract schema of ways listener understand topics.

Content schema is the most vital aspect to schema theory and it will be the main interference in comprehension. It contains the background knowledge of the topic and relevant social-cultural knowledge.

4.1 Pre-listening Stage

The most important function of schema theory in listening teaching process are it not only help students to establish a new schema but also activate the existing schemata in their mind. And those two benefits are mainly lies in the stage of pre-listening.

1） Activating the existing schemata in students mind

Firstly， teachers give the students questions relating to the topic of the story before listening. Ask students to discuss in pairs and talk more about the topic related information. It can help them to predict the main idea of the material and easily get the understanding of the listening comprehension. Secondly， teachers can introduce topic sentences or key words of the story and let students to predict the general idea of the listening material. This also could be done in pairs or groups. In this way key words or topic sentences can be related and build a picture in students mind. Thirdly， teachers may ask students to write down several things they would like to know concerning the title or the theme of the story they are going to listen and then listen to the story to see if they can find what they want to know. Fourthly， looking through the exercises in this article can help students realize what they should pay special attention to. If the problems are set in an organized way， students can build up the related intellectual structure and framework in their mind which will enhance the efficiency of listening training. Thus， students may have their own expectation about the coming materials and their prior knowledge on the topic can also be activated.

2） Help the students to establish new schemata

Schema theory mainly strengthen the important role of background knowledge in the process of listening comprehension. If the students meet an unfamiliar material when they listen to the story， the teachers can introduce a new schema to students directly before listening. For example， teachers can provide a little background knowledge before listening by means of distributing reading materials， explaining， playing the video and so on. The more background knowledge they grasp the more new schemata they will established in they mind and so on in a virtuous cycle.

3.2 While-listening Stage

The schemata being activated or established in the pre-listening stage are helpful to listening comprehension. However， the prediction and judgment based on them are not necessarily accurate which are in need of improvement. In the while-listening stage， teachers should train students to comprehend the input information based on the schemata and then constantly adjust the schemata based on the input information. Firstly， teachers can let students make notes in a proper way. Making notes can not only help students overcome memory problems in listening comprehension but also can contribute to the mastering of the detail information of the material. Instead of trying to write down all the information， students should learn to be selective when they make notes. Correct notes usually contains the important and forgettable information such as time， place， quantity and so on. And whats more they have to be organized in a systematic and coherent way. Students may make reasonable and effective use of abbreviation and sign to lighten the burden of recording. Secondly， teachers can play the first sentences for different parts of the story to let students discuss and predict the content they are going to listen. Students can filter in the interaction between new schemata and input information in order to understand the whole listening materials.

3.3 Post-listening Stage

After the while-listening stage， students have had a basic understanding of the material， but the listening train has not finished. Teachers should train students to consolidate and expand the new schema， which means students reorganizing of the input information in order to store the new schemata in their mind. That is to say teachers should provide students with opportunities to relate what they have listened to what they already know or what they feel. Whats more， on the basis of listening， teachers can bring speaking， reading and writing together to improve students ability of using English. Firstly， teachers can let students retell the story based on their previous interpretations of the listening material. Secondly， they can also ask students to play different roles to reproduce the scene and interact with each other about the roles they play based on the excerpt or the main information of the story. Thirdly， teachers can provide students with a summary of the story， leaving some blanks for the students to fill in. Encourage students to use as many different words or expression as possible. Fourthly， experience sharing is very important in listening class. Teachers should guide students to summary the methods and strategies they used in the process of listening and to communicate these experiences to each other. Fifthly， with all of the things mentioned being done， teachers can play the story again to strengthen students comprehension， and make them aware of the skills and things need to do during the whole listening training.

4. Conclusion

Different from the traditional listening teaching mode which used to center on words and phrase， the above teaching method centering on the text. The prominent characteristics of the theory are it put the roles of students as subjects and the teachers as guiders into full play. The application of schema theory in listening teaching can maximum limit initiate students subjective motive and their interest in the listening materials and develop students ability of associating， reasoning， judging and strength their apprehension of listening materials， improve their listening ability. In the meanwhile， it can also enrich the teachers teaching methods.

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