An Experimental Study Of The Application Of Schema Theory To English Vocabulary Teaching In Primary Schools

It is known that vocabulary teaching plays an essential part in foreign language teaching. However, the traditional vocabulary teaching methods used in primary English teaching at home usually neglect guiding pupils to learn and memorize words efficiently, so it is rather difficult for pupils to learn new words. Therefore, it is of vital importance for primary school English teachers to try different teaching approaches to help pupils learn and memorize vocabulary more proficiently with effective learning strategies.There are relatively few studies on the application of schema theory to primary schools English vocabulary teaching. Thus, this research mainly explores the implications of the schema theory to vocabulary teaching and learning in primary schools. Based on schema theory, this study investigates how to put the schema theory into vocabulary teaching and learning practice, help pupils develop vocabulary leaning strategies by guiding pupils to activate and construct schemata. The research questions are as follows:1) Can the schema-based vocabulary teaching approach in primary school help pupils memorize the newly-learnt and previously-learnt vocabulary?2) Can the application of schema theory to English vocabulary teaching in primary school be workable?The author chooses ninety Grade Five pupils from Tuhua Primary School in Haizhu Distinct of Guangzhou as the participants. They are divided into the experimental class and the control class. Each class has45subjects. At the beginning of the experiment, questionnaires were handed out to investigate pupils’vocabulary learning situation and pre-test is designed to check pupils’vocabulary proficiency and differences between the two classes. The experiment lasts for16weeks. During this process, the schematic vocabulary presentation is used in the experimental class, while the traditional teaching method is used in the control class. A post-test is administered after the experiment. All the results are analyzed by using SPSS17.0.The following findings are achieved:Firstly, subjects receiving schema-based vocabulary presentation scored significantly higher in learning new words and memorizing previously-learnt words. Compared with the traditional teaching method, the schema-based one works more significantly in helping pupils learn vocabulary well. Secondly, pupils in experimental class have changed a lot in their vocabulary learning methods and strategies after the experiment. A majority of pupils tend to learn new words by using associating, imagining and grouping methods, which indicates that the application of schema theory to vocabulary teaching in primary school is workable.