A Schema Theoretical View on EFL Listening Comprehension：Classroom Techniques.doc

1、1A Schema Theoretical View on EFL Listening Comprehension：Classroom TechniquesAbstract：This article reviews the notions of schema and listening comprehension， discusses studies and approaches to associate schema theory with language comprehension， and explores techniques to be used practically in EF

2、L listening course in China. Key Words：listening comprehension schema theory listening techniques 1. Introduction The notion of schema was originally introduced by Bartlett as early as 1932， and was first adapted to the study of connected discourse by Rumelhart and Ortony （1977， cited in Rossi， 1991

3、） ， who defined a schema as a data structure which represents generic concepts stored in memory. It is the “active organization of past reactions， or of present experiences， which must be supposed to be operating in any well-adapted organic response“ （Bartlett， 1932： 20）. In Piagets theory of cognit

4、ive development， a schema is just “the coordination and organization of adaptive action， considered as a 2behavioral structure within the organism， such that the organism can transfer or generalize that action to similar and analogous circumstances“ （Furth， 1969： 44）. Cognitive scientists now believ

5、e that knowledge at all levels is organized in the form of schemata （also called scripts and frames） ， that is， stereotyped scenarios and sequences of actions that fit common situation （Long， 1990）. As the mental representation of typical instances， schemata are the innate structures which organize

6、our perception of the world， account for the organization of text in memory， and allow for hypotheses to be generated regarding the possible interpretation of texts （Anderson， 1983）. Schemata and background knowledge are terms both adopted to refer to previously acquired knowledge structures. Carrel

7、l （1983a） defined and studied three components of background knowledge in reading comprehension. They were “context-context versus no context”， referring to the presence or absence of a title and picture page preceding the text passage； “transparency-transparent versus opaque”， referring to the pres

8、ence or absence of specific， concrete lexical items within the text which provide textual cues to the content area of the text； and 3“familiarity-familiar versus novel”， referring to the presence or absence within the reader of prior knowledge or experience of the content of the text. 2. Listening c

9、omprehension Listening is an important mode of human communication， and is the most frequently used in the life. James （1984） pointed out that listening comprehension， as a skill， can not be learned without reference to other language skills. He claimed that listening， first of all， is a set of skil

10、ls which involves the aural perception of oral signals. It is not passive but involves a dynamic interaction between perception of sounds and concentration on content； and it is necessary for almost any other work related to language. Two broad categories of listening factors are identified. Inside-

11、the-head factors： 1）Intelligence， listeners cognitive ability to comprehend the language. 2）Language facility， listeners accurate and automatic recognition of words， and segment or parse the speech stream into morpheme and syntactic units； syntax knowledge to process the language understanding of di

12、fferent accents and anaphoric terms. 43）Background knowledge and schema. 4）Speech registers and awareness of contextual influence， listeners being aware of different styles of speech and the status of the speaker. 5）Metacognitive strategies， listeners monitoring and evaluation of listening. 6）Kinesi

13、cs， listeners understanding of the nonverbal signals. 7）Motivation， listeners interests in speakers words. Outside-the-head factors： 1） Discussion topic， topic matching with listeners background knowledge. 2） Speaker awareness of audience needs， speaker considering of listeners level and interests.

14、3）Clarity and speaker effectiveness， speakers clear language for the audience. 4）Context， context cues supporting speakers words. 3. Applying schema theory in listening comprehension： classroom techniques 3.1 Introduction of the listening course The course， Listening to English News Broadcasts， whic

15、h the author teaches himself， is a selective course for third-5year English majors. The course， while takes its primary focus on listening practice in news broadcasts， also aims at building up students vocabulary and knowledge in this field. Before students take up this course， they are expected to

16、have done some similar listening practice， beginning with VoA special English （with an average of 90 WPM， and linguistically easier） and gradually moving to VoA standard English （with an average of 140-150 WPM， and linguistically more difficult）. And therefore， students should have built up a certai

17、n amount of vocabulary， and become used to the intonation， the speech rate and overall structure of news reports. In giving the course， the teacher is not trying to cover all things in the news broadcasts， rather he/she focuses on the up-to-date hot issues around the world， which is definitely the d

18、istinctive feature of the course. The reasons for doing that primarily is based on the argument that through listening， listeners hope to get information， particularly， latest information from the news. Secondly， as students are asked to keep track on the latest and hot issues instead of sole listen

19、ing practice for listenings sake， they may have more interest in the course and thus have higher motivation. 6Thirdly， both the teacher and students find it more convenient to collect materials for the class. 3.2 The textbook and other teaching materials The nature of the course indicates that not a

20、ny single textbook is able to meet the needs. One thing is that before any textbook on news broadcast is published， the news has gone out-of-date. Besides， most textbooks of this kind are organized in chronological order， covering news of all aspects. Some textbooks do classify the news into categor

21、ies， such as diplomacy， war， science and technology， business and disasters， but the classifications are still too broad since the materials are not arranged in depth to provide an overall image of any single topic. However， setting a major textbook for students to draw references from is possible a

22、nd necessary. The textbook should be content-based， providing a series of materials on classified topics， together with some background knowledge， thus enabling the students to have a general understanding of these topics. A book， English Listening Course of International News， is able to meet the n

23、eeds. Although the listening materials it provides are out-of-date， detailed background knowledge is given on various topics. Besides， 7there are relevant vocabulary lists in each lesson and explanations of terms used in the listening materials. Besides， both the teacher and students are responsible

24、 for making the course up-to-date. The teacher should know where and how to get such materials， whether on the internet， television， radio， newspapers or magazines. The students are also required to do some preparations. Both of them contribute to the classroom sessions. 3.3 Teaching and learning pr

25、ocedures There are generally four steps in each session of lesson. Step 1 Preparations for the class For preparations of each session of lesson， students are required to obtain relevant information on the topics， such as the topic on terrorism， materials may include Sept. 11 terrorist attack on USA，

26、 US-led war in Afghanistan and the War in Iraq， etc. While the teacher collected some printed materials， made some tape recordings and downloaded some latest reports in both special and standard English. Step 2 Pre-listening discussion and oral reports In this step， students are given twenty minutes

27、 to discuss in groups on information they have collected. Occasionally， handouts are given out by the teacher as reference. Then 8several students are to given oral reports on what they have discussed. This step is indeed an interactive process， involving reading and oral communication and is expect

28、ed to activate and construct students background knowledge and thus get them prepared for the listening practice. Step 3 Listening comprehension The listening materials for third-year students are expected to be mostly in standard English， which causes some difficulties in students listening compreh

29、ension. For the purpose of lessening the difficulty level and for students better information， occasionally， students have accesses to special reports on similar topics before they listen to reports in standard English. While listening， students are required to take notes for the use of post-listeni

30、ng discussion， which is designed for students to monitor their comprehension and ensure that all students gain more or less information on the topic （For students who are weak in listening comprehension， this activity can be crucial）. At times， students are given a list of questions to check their c

31、omprehension after they listen to the news （The recording may be played several times considering its difficulty level.）. Step 4 After-class activity 9After listening and discussion， students are asked to write a summary of about 200 to 300 words on the topics. The purpose of doing this is to help s

32、tudents reinforce what they have learned and to prepare for the next session. When the four procedures are all completed， students are required to reflect on the materials learned and write an essay about 500 words on the topic， particularly with the focus on some aspects in depth. 4. Discussion and

33、 conclusion In the learning and teaching precess， there are some features worth analyzing. Questions facilitating students listening comprehension， and to what extent. Further studies are to be done to find out the answers to these questions. References： Anderson， J. R. （1983）. The Architecture of C

34、ognition. Cambridge， Mass.： Harvard University Press. Bartlett， F. C. （1932）. Remembering： A study in Experiment and Social Psychology. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press. Carrell， P.L. -（1983a）. Three components of background knowledge in reading comprehension. Language Learning， Vol. 33， No. 2：

35、 183-207. 10Furth， H.G. （ 1969）. Piaget and Knowledge： Theoretical Foundations. Prentice-Hall， Inc.， Englewood Cliffs， N. J. James， C. J. （1984）. Are you listening？ -the practical components of listening comprehension. Foreign Language Annals， 17： 129-133. Long， D. R. （1990）. What you dont know cant

36、 help you： an exploratory study of background knowledge and second language listening comprehension. Studies in Second Language Acquisition， 12： 65-80 Rossi， J.-P. （1991）. Input-Output： Processing and representation， in Text and Text Processing， Denhiere， G. and Rossi， J.-R， 3-17. Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. 作者简介： 袁刚（1975-） ，男，云南昭通人，讲师，硕士，主要研究方向为英语视听教学和教师教育。