Application Of Schema Theory To College English Writing For Non-English Majors

Schema theory has been widely applied to foreign/second language learning especially listening and reading, yet there still remains some space to explore in the field of EFL writing, especially for non-English majors, which is neglected by most researchers and teachers for the limited teaching time and curriculum designed by colleges. Writing is a complex process involving cognitive process, and schema is helpful to facilitate this cognitive process. After examining the features and functions of two main schemata, namely content schema and formal schema, in writing process, the study highlights the significance of schema in EFL teaching. Moreover, the findings point to the possibility of developing the writing proficiency of Chinese college learners of English as a foreign language through focused instruction of applying schema theory to the EFL class.The present research is designed to investigate whether schema theory is an effective method to improve non-English major college students'writing proficiency concerning content, organization and reader awareness as well as students'attitude and response to schema theory. That is, whether college students are willing to apply schema theory to their writing practice. Specifically, the following two questions are addressed in the present study:(1) Is there a significant difference in the compositions (involving content, organization and reader awareness) between learners who receive instruction of schema theory application and those who receive traditional writing instruction?(2) Are Chinese college learners willing to apply schema theory to their English writing?The empirical study was designed and conducted by the author from September 2010 and to January 2011 for a semester-long period. Totally fifty-nine second-year non-English major students are randomly chosen from Shanxi College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the city of Tai Yuan. One of them is randomly designated the experimental group (EG) and the other the control group (CG). The combination of quantitative and qualitative study is employed so as to guarantee the reliability and validity of the present research. The quantitative data stem from subjects'compositions, which are sequenced by numbers and graded by two experienced English teachers respectively based on TOEFL Scoring Guide for TWE (Test of Written English), in order to evaluate and compare the different results between students in both groups in terms of content (idea clarification), organization (development pattern) and reader awareness. The qualitative data derive from the two questionnaires, which are administered to the experimental group before and after the training, in order to investigate students'attitudes and response to the new teaching method employing schema theory.Through elaborative analysis of the collected data with SPSS 10.0 for the pre-test and ANCOVA for the post-test, the following conclusions can be drawn:(1) By implementing schema theory in the writing teaching for non-English majors, students are more confident in writing activity and their writing proficiency in terms of content, organization and reader awareness has been improved.(2) According to the result of the post-experiment questionnaire, schema theory is accepted by most of the subjects. During the training, students are highly motivated and their interests in writing have been improved. That is to say, students'attitudes and responses to schema theory are positive.The research does prove that applying schema theory to writing teaching has essential and vital effect on improving students'writing ability as well as arousing students'interest in writing. However, due to the small sample and short time, there are still some limitations in the present study.