Application Of Schema To ESP

Reading comprehension is one of the main purposes of ESL teaching and learning. In brief, there are two main outlooks on reading. The first, a product-oriented approach to reading assumes meaning exists in the text itself, and it is text based-factors that determine meaning. The second one, a process-oriented approach to reading assumes that meaning is obtained through a successful interaction between the reader and text, and it is inside- the- head factors that play an important role in comprehension. Accordingly, background knowledge will be of primary importance for ESL/ESP reading comprehension. Some schema-based teaching activities should be used for activating and reconstructing such background knowledge before ESL/ESP reading.Schema theory, with long history of study, from early Plato, Kant to 1990s', has been widely and deeply researched (Anderson, 1985;Bransford, 1985;Rumelhart, 1980;Chen chun xian, 1998; Zhang bi yin, 1992), both in EFL and ESL reading and listening comprehension, as well as in terms of artificial intelligence, psychology, and even cognitive psychology, in an attempt to find some solutions to language comprehension, including reading and listening, in other words, language input. In reviewing the literature in this field, we can find a great many convincing and successful researches, experiments and tests focusing on basic English learning; (Wang chu min, 1988; Liu shao long, 1999; Zhou xiang li, 2002), there is a lack of experimental work on ESP learning. This paper describes exploratory classroom research with pilot students to gain further insight into the effect of schema on ESP reading comprehension.This paper reviews the origin, development, and significance of schema theory, as well as its application to language comprehension. The experiment in the study aims to improve the assumption: schema theory can greatly facilitate the comprehension of ESP, consequently, level of proficiency in ESP.First, it investigates the possibility that there might be two distinctively different outcomes between two groups: experimental group A and control group B, sampled randomly from pilot students. It displays what and how the ESP schemata are applied to ESP for Group A, whereas Group B is taught ordinarily.Second, a well-constructed test, on the basis of schema theory, second language learning, test theory and ESP, is held. By comparing the test results of two types of subjects: Group A and Group B, the hypotheses which will be tested statistically in the study are: (1) Group A can acquire higher scores than Group B in the test. (2) Group A, judging from the language performance of ESP or subject-based English, did significantly better (p<0.01) than Group B.Finally, we can, through analyzing the experiment results, conclude: schema plays a much more important role in ESP teaching, thus, the assumption can be justified.This thesis is organized into 6 chapters, as well as an introduction and a conclusion.The introduction shows the origins of the thesis.