图式理论应用于初中英语词汇教学的实证研究

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study
Vocabulary is one of the most important parts of language and the foundation of all thevocal activities. As D. A. Wilkins says,“Without grammar very little can be conveyed,without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”.[1]As to foreign language learners, none of thefour skills—listening, speaking, reading and writing, can be improved, if there is not enoughvocabulary. Junior Middle School English Curriculum Standard, requires that junior middleschool graduates should reach the fifth level of English, which includes 1500~1600 wordsand 200~300 idioms and collocations.[2]Vocabulary is the building block of language. Vocabulary is to language what a brick isto a house. Language acquisition usually begins with words. Vocabulary in junior middleschool is not only the core of English teaching, but also the difficulty of English learning.Vocabulary is the key factor of foreign language learning. The level of vocabulary directlydecides the level of foreign language performance. Therefore, it is very important to enlargejunior middle school students’vocabulary.In the process of vocabulary teaching, it is more important to teach the students effectivelearning strategies than just vocabulary knowledge. However, for many years, vocabulary hasbeen the weak part in language teaching. The neglect of vocabulary teaching has beenpartially due to a specialization in linguistic research on syntax and phonology which mayhave fostered a climate in learning a second language. Since the late 1970s, there has been arevival of interest in vocabulary teaching, especially in Britain where lexical research projectswere in any case undertaken in the late 1960s.[3]Since the 1980s, schema theory has beenapplied to foreign language teaching.
........

1.2 Significance of the Study
According to Junior Middle School English Curriculum Standard, the three-yearlearning in junior middle school is a critical period of accumulating vocabulary.[2]Every year,questions about vocabulary are the main parts of Senior High School Entrance Exams. Thekey factor that limits students’ reading and writing skills is also the insufficient vocabulary.Therefore this research has great practical significance. Since the 1980s, schema theory hasbeen playing an important role in foreign language teaching and learning. Applying schematheory to junior middle school English vocabulary teaching, will improve students’vocabulary learning. Based on the studies about schema theory in the second languagelearning at home and abroad, the author found abundant researches about reading and writing,but fewer in vocabulary. Thus the present study may shed a new light on the study ofvocabulary teaching.Linguistic studies indicate that, schema is an important factor in vocabulary acquisition.In the process of vocabulary acquisition, schema plays a more important role than foreignlanguage skills do, and it is more useful to the underachieved foreign language learners.Vocabulary learning is a very important part of language learning. The foreign languagelearners’ language level closely depends on their vocabulary size. Without vocabulary, therecan be nothing to speak of about language.
.......

Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Vocabulary
Vocabulary is the core part of foreign language learning, especially for the new learners.Words make up sentences. Sentences make up passages, and then one gets the basic forms tocommunicate with people and spread culture. Without vocabulary no one can master alanguage, in other words, vocabulary is the blood of language.Vocabulary is a basic and flexible part of language. Before studying vocabulary, it isnecessary to know what vocabulary is. The simplest way is to look for the answer from adictionary. In Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary, vocabulary is given two meanings:“All the words known and used by a particular person; All the words that exist in a particularlanguage or subject.”[4]In the aspect of linguistics, the definition of vocabulary is not so simple. In 19thcentury,western linguists defined word as the smallest unit of language. They thought that wordsmade up phrases and phrases made up sentences. However, many scholars such as DavidSigleton, Halliday, and John Read, accept that defining vocabulary should start from definingword, as word is really an important part of vocabulary. Halliday and Colin Yallop say thatword is complex, “there is no single right answer to these questions, because differentdictionaries take different decisions about what to do with them”[5]and it contains three parts—lexical item, wording and world class. Then they define vocabulary by an indirect way:“Every language has a vocabulary, or ‘lexicon’, which forms one part of its grammar—or, touse a more accurate term, one part of its lexico-grammar.”[5]
.........

2.2 Schema Theory
Nowadays, schema is not a new name for language scholars any more. From 1781, whenKant raised the concept of schema, many foreign researchers from different fields turned theirattention to it. There are different definitions of schema, but the commonly accepted one isthat schema is people’s previous knowledge and experience that are accumulated in their mind when they are growing up.[28]After years of development, in 1932 Bartlett proposedschema theory, which makes schema a system to help the scholars explain questions ofdifferent fields, such as psychology, linguistics and so on.[29]About the concept of schema, different scholars give different definition. The researchabout schema can be traced back to 1781, Kant raises the concept of cognitive schema. Hethinks that the concept itself has no meaning, but only being connected with the things thatpeople have already known.[30]Bartlett thinks that schema is the active organization ofpeople’s prior experience in mind.[29]According to D. E. Rumelhart, schema is the combinedknowledge, which has stayed in mind and the unit of expert knowledge about some field. It isthe abstract knowledge.[31]Carrell defines schema as a kind of structure of semanticmemory.[32]Just like what Rumelhart says, schema is the footprint of cognition. Allinformation’s processing must be founded on the basis of schema.[31]Actually, the listener’sor reader’s comprehension of the input materials is the result of the dynamic process betweenlinguistic schema and encyclopedic knowledge schema. H. G. Widdowson defines schema:“When people make an indexical connection, they do so by linking features of the languagewith familiar features of their world, with what is established in their minds as a normalpattern of reality or schema.”[33]
........

Chapter 3 Methodology.....19
3.1 Research Questions ......19
3.2 Subjects........19
3.3 Materials.......19
3.4 Instruments....20
3.4.1 Pre-test and Post-test .....20
3.4.2 Questionnaire of students......21
3.5 Research Procedures.....21
3.6 Data Collection and Analysis.......27
3.7 Summary ......28
Chapter 4 Results and Discussion ....29
4.1 Results .........29
4.2 The Effects of Schema-based Vocabulary Teaching on Students .......34
4.3 Summary ......37
Chapter 5 Conclusion .......38
5.1 Major Findings .....38
5.2 Implications for English Vocabulary Teaching ....39
5.3 Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Further Research ........41

Chapter 4 Results and Discussion

The research data of the pre-test, the post-test and the questionnaire of the students inChapter 3 is collected and discussed in this chapter. After the analysis of the data from thetwo tests and questionnaire by SPSS19.0, the results will be discussed at the end of thischapter. Then the author will give a summary of this chapter.

4.1 Results
This section shows all of the results of the experiment, including the pre-test, thepost-test and the students’ questionnaire, and the brief analysis of the data.The table shows that the mean value of EC is 92.6471 and the mean value of CC is94.6667, which indicates that the total vocabulary performance between the two classes issimilar. This demonstrates that the English vocabulary proficiency of the students in the twoclasses is on a similar level. The SD and SEM value of EC (SD=20.10135, SEM=2.18030) isa little lower than that of CC (SD=18.40854, SEM=1.98504), showing that before theschema-based vocabulary teaching experiment, the score distribution of EC is a little morebalanced than that of CC. In general, there isn’t obvious difference between the two classesbefore the teaching experiment.From the results of the analysis by Spss19.0, the P value is 0.454, which is higher than0.05. It can be concluded that there is not significant difference between the total scores ofEC and CC. The values of t, Mean difference and Std. Error differences are nearly the same,indicating that there is no significant difference of data distribution between the two groups.

Conclusion

This chapter can be classified into three parts—the major findings of the study, theimplications for English vocabulary teaching in junior middle school, the limitations of thisstudy, and the suggestions for further research, according to all of the information mentionedin the previous chapters.This paper aims to explore the effects of schema-based vocabulary teaching on studentsin junior middle school. After the experiment and discussions in the previous chapters, thereare some findings about English vocabulary teaching in junior middle school as follows:The use of schema theory in junior middle school English vocabulary teaching showspositive effects on students. It can be demonstrated both from the results of the vocabularytests before and after the teaching treatment and the students’ questionnaire.Firstly, compared with the results of the pre-test of EC by the paired t-test, the students’vocabulary performance of EC has improved after the schema-based vocabulary teaching. Onthe contrary, by the paired t-test of CC, the students’ vocabulary performance of CC almostdoesn’t improve after this one-semester traditional vocabulary teaching.Secondly, according to the results of independent t-test of the pre-test in EC and CC, thestudents’ vocabulary performance in both classes is nearly the same before the teachingexperiment. And through the results of the independent t-test of the post-test in EC and CC, itcan be seen that the students’ vocabulary performance in the two classes has shown difference.The vocabulary performance of EC is better than that of CC.
............
References (omitted)