A Study On Applying Schema Theory To The College EFL Writing Instruction

The paper is directing to the phenomenon that the present writings of non-English major college students lack contents--no original ideas or persuasive details. The author is trying to look for reasonable explanations of such phenomenon by adopting the schema theory, and then, with some planned instructing, to find if students'writing capacity could be improved in aspects of content, organization and language; if such kind of instructing could promote the ability of critical thinking and automatic learning as well. If the goals mentioned above are achieved, the teaching of EFL could be a connection between the old schemata and the newly-built schemata that can spur one's learning or acquisition.From reading some literature on schema theory and EFL writing instruction, the author found that: the previous study in China mainly focused on the formal schema, for example, error analysis (Cun Hongbin 2005; Liu Xianghong 2008; Peng Xiyan 2009), discourse coherence, paragraph organization (Yin Guangqin 1999; Lu Zhenhui 2003; Wu Jing 2003) and the influence of native language on English writing or expression (Wen Qiufang, Guo Chunjie 1998; Wang Wenyu, Wen Qiufang 2002; Wang Wenyu 2004). Studies abroad on content schema paid much attention to the influence of cultural difference.(Johns, Ann M. 1986; Cem Alptekin 1993)In most text books about writing that edited by the English speakers, critical thinking was a very essential part(Alannah T.D. Fitzgeral,Zhang Chengsi 2006;H. Ramsey Fowler & Jane E. Aaron 2007)while most text books about English writing that edited by Chinese emphasized grammar and model texts. (Ji Kangli 2002; Zhou Huilin2006)In an ideal situation, the college students, with critical reading and writing, are able to deconstruct the existing old schema and building new schema in their mind. Being exposed to more English materials of high quality, students can acquire other than learn the grammar and vocabulary which they failed in the previous learning. However, in fact, the traditional writing instruction which emphasize model text imitating and correct grammar makes students feel that the model text is setting a standard too high to be achieved. Fears stopped them from practicing writing. Obviously, the exam-oriented instruction can not allow massive input; it seldom consider critical thinking, therefore, some old and rigid schemata of the outlines in exams coined in students'minds. It undermined students'creativity and spirits of challenging, let alone to cultivate the capacity of automatic learning. In other words, it is neither student-centered nor study-centered. Hence, the impact of the instruction that stemmed from the schema theory on the sophomores of non-English-majors became the study object of this thesis.This research is conducted to find out the efficiency of how the instructing that connected with schema theory can help to improve the sophomores'writing capacity. Questions for discussing are as follows:1. Do the schema-based teaching and traditional class teaching improve students'overall English writing proficiency?2. Weather schema-based teaching is more effective than the traditional class teaching in promoting the building and activating of the college students'content schema, as well as organization and linguistic schema?3. What are the students'attitudes toward the schema-based teaching?This paper includes four chapters:The first chapter is introduction. It covers the background and purpose of the study as well as the specific problems that need consideration. The present problem of students'EFL writing is lack of contents, details and ideas. A new type of instructing of writing which is inspired by schema theory is expected to be able to build correct conceptions in students'minds, as well as help them to form better habits and activate the old schema, build a new schema, to deal with the problem of content-lacking from the root.Chapter two is a review of the literature. It reviews some core concepts that involved in the experiment, for example: approaches of EFL writing, schema theory, acquisition, input and student-centered. To do such a review is to illustrate that the planned instruction that connected with schema theory is not contradictory to the theory of acquisition and can achieve a goal as to magnify input and make a student-centered writing teaching process.Chapter three is about the experiment. It describes the hypothesis, subjects, and tools, standards for evaluation of the writings, text books and the concrete steps of the experiment.Chapter four is to make a discussion about the results of the experiment. Analyzing the pre-test and after-test results shows that: instructing connected with schema theory can be more helpful than the traditional teaching in improving students'writing; applying schema theory plays an role that can not be replaced in terms of making critical thinking, cultivating a habit of revision, strengthening the awareness of"good writing"and preventing rigid CET4/6 schema. At last, the limitations of this research are presented in the conclusion part.