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Tomoki OginoE180C004Research PaperThe Effectiveness and Ideal Way of Schema Reading1. Introduction1-1. Purpose of this researchThe purpose of this research is to reveal the relation between the ability of EFL learners` English reading and the schema which the readers have. It can also introduce better way of teaching English reading into EFL classes. EFL learners often encountered obstacles when they read English articles. Based on the results of the questionnaire analysis which was taken in an English language institute in Iran (Khataee, 2019), EFL learners confronted problems such as difficult content, unknown vocabulary, lack of background knowledge, and shortage of time. Also, Japanese EFL learners might have such experiences as Iranian students have. It can be said that there are two types of English articles. The one is the article whose contents you have read before, and the other one is the article whose contents you read for the first time. When you read the former one, you might easily understand what the author wants to say. On the other hand, when you read the latter one, you can hardly understand what the author mentions. Then, the problems; difficult content, unknown vocabulary, lack of background knowledge, and shortage of time, affect your English reading, and these things are often mentioned as “Schema.” The more you can use the schema you have effectively, the better you can understand the contents of English articles, and vice versa.1-2. Significance of this study English can be divided into four skills: Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing, which Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) directs to teach. It goes without saying that these four skills should be lectured, but especially Reading have to be regarded as the most important in EFL classes. EFL learners can touch English many times through some writings which native English speakers write. When they read them, they need to use Reading skills. Reading can be said as the “base” of English learning for EFL students. Hence it is significant and worthy to put stronger emphasis on the Reading skill than the other skills. In addition, if EFL learners can successfully read English articles with using their schema, it can motivate them to read English writings more and to learn English more. They can obtain successful experiences about English learning.2. Current situations of teaching reading in Japanese EFL classes 2-1. Teaching reading in junior high school or high school When I was a junior high student and a high school student, I read many article in English. Some of them were somehow easy to understand, but many of them were difficult for me to understand. Based on the results of the questionnaire analysis which Benesse Educational Research and Development Institute conducted in 2015, 76.4% of teachers in Japanese junior high school introduce about the contents of textbooks before they make students read the textbooks. This is called “Oral Introduction.” In the same analysis, it is mentioned that 59.8% teachers in Japanese high school use it before a reading activity. In Japan, teachers mainly use textbooks to teach English, so the percentage will be lower when it comes to reading activities with English articles. In the status quo, it can be said that supporting activities for EFL learners’ English reading are not still enough.3. Research Questions My research questions are followings.First, if EFL learners read English articles with their schema which includes their background knowledge, jargon, grammar, and previous information, what happens to their English reading recognition? In other words, how does schema or background knowledge influence EFL learners’ English reading?Second, how should teachers introduce a schema reading into EFL reading classes? They should give some background information or the meanings of the keywords, but it is completely meaningless that teachers give the hints which can directly lead students to the answers. Teachers should consider whether the information includes extra hints which can make students understand articles without thinking about them. Hence they need to know the effective ways of introducing schema activation.4. The relation and effective ways of teaching English reading in Japanese secondary school 4-1. The relation between schema or background knowledge and reading comprehension The first I take up is about the relevance, which schema theory has, to EFL learners’ reading comprehension. In a study, (Tanghirunwat, 2003), Thai engineers had difficulties to read manuals because of the content of texts, new vocabularies, and grammar.? Other study, (Intarasombat, 2002), about the effects of vocabulary development on reading comprehension showed that many students had limited vocabulary knowledge and this area caused them problems in English reading comprehension.? Considering these studies, it can be said that readers are not just passive people, but people who give meaning to the text.? The schemata or background knowledge which they have relates with English reading comprehension. In Kataee’s study (2019), which aims to investigate the impact of schemata activation thorough using THIEVES strategy, shows that when teachers use an activating strategy, the scores of reading tests became higher than the results when teachers do not use an activating strategy in Iranian EFL reading classes.? It means that using schema theory in English reading classes is beneficial for EFL learners 4-2. Schema reading Shen, Y. (2008) addressed that reading process can be divided into three parts: pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading.? In the process of pre-reading, which includes webbing, brainstorming, strip sentences, songs, role-play, predicting, initial discussion, guessing the title or the ending, word list of prediction, opinion poll, and charts, students read texts once to activate schema or get background information.? Teachers need not to care what students found then.? In the process of while-reading, teachers will explain the text basing on the global meaning of the text. This process can train students to think orderly and logically.? Finally, in the process of post-reading, the students will learn useful phrases in the text.? The students will write an article or an essay with using the phrases learned in the text.? In this way the students can be found how much they have understood the text (input) and how much they can speak out (output). 4-3. THIEVES strategy Khataee, E. (2019) mentioned the way of activating schema, it called “THIEVES strategy.”? THIEVES is an activating strategy which includes seven steps.? Before reading the whole text, readers steal information from the text’s Title, Headings, Introduction, Every first sentence, Visual/Vocabulary, End-of chapter questions, and Summary.? THIEVES is the acronym of each steps and means stealing information from the texts.5. Conclusion 5-1. Summary of this projectIn this article, I focus on the fruitfulness of reading with using schema and the effective ways of introducing reading English articles with using schema.My conclusion is as follow. First, what teachers should do is an integration of the ideas which show ideal ways of introducing schema reading. I addressed about two ways of introducing schema reading: Schema reading, THIEVES strategy. Both of them have their own strong points and weak points. Schema reading has many things or contents which students have to read to activate schema, so it is not only effective but also troublesome or too long. On the other hand, THIEVES strategy has only seven steps and students can easily know where they should read. However, students can hardly acquire information and activate their schema from such seven components because of the lack of information. It is hard for EFL learners to get essential information from only seven components. Therefore, what teachers should do is to integrate them, extract effective ways which they can use in their teaching method, and make more effective reading comprehension methods. 5-2. Further research Taking my conclusion of this research into consideration, I would like to know other ways of introducing schema reading. As I said, teachers should integrate some means and make more effective and suitable reading comprehension methods for students. Thus, what I would like to do as further research is to collect other ways of introducing schema reading which I can use as the components of my compilation method. 6. References?Ensar, F. (2015). Schema-Based Text Comprehension. Educational Research and Reviews, 10(18), 2568-2574. doi: 10.5897/ERR2015.2469?Khataee, E. (2019). The Effect of THEIVES strategy on EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension. International Journal of Instruction, 12 (2), 667-682.?Shen, Y. (2008). An Exploration of Schema Theory in Intensive Reading. English Language Teaching, 1(2), 104-107.?Zhao, X. & Zhu, L. (2012). Schema Theory and College English Reading Teaching. English Language Teaching, 5(11), 111-117. doi:10.5539/elt.v5n11p111?Benesse Educational Research and Development Institute (2015). A fact-finding investigation about English teaching in junior high schools and high schools in Japan. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (2017). The Course of Study. ................
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