The Application of Schema Theory in English Textbook Compiling Guided by National English Curriculum in Compulsory Education

Abstract： National English Curriculum in compulsory education （2011 Ed.） adjusts in each aspect in foreign language teaching and some new principles in textbook compiling. This present dissertation aims to improve the theoretical bases in middle school English course book from the methods of the schema in psycholinguistics and the analysis of the senior high school English course book.

Key words： English course curriculum schema middle school English course book

一、Introduction

In the year of 2011， the national English course curriculum had been recompiled in the teaching aims with five aspects： language knowledge， language skills， learning strategies， affects and cultural awareness. The new edition proposes stricter and more requirements for teacher and students. In addition， some demands on the textbook compiling are presented in it. From the 1990s， more and more concentration is focused on the students’ demands and psychological features. Textbook compiling is based on the multi-syllabus and the new curriculum. It alters from the isolated textbook to a package of materials which include textbook， exercise book， tape， video， cards， pictures， teacher’s book and so on. It represents the multi-mode and the schema theory in teaching and learning.

二、The analysis on the schema theory

The concept ”schema” is firstly appeared in the world famous Germany philosopher Kant’s works. He suggested that a fundamental distinction exists in the rational categories and sensational objects. The contemporary concept ”schema” is proposed from the book： Remembering， written by the British psychologist Bartlett. （Carroll， 2008） Cognitive psychologists divide the schema into three main categories： linguistic schema， content schema， and formal schema. These three schemata co-relate with each other in the process of acquiring new information and guide human mind to receive these new information constantly. The linguistic schema is people’s knowledge about language organizing a passage. Content schema， also called theme schema， is a reader’s background knowledge， theme and content knowledge or structure to a reading material. Formal schema， also called text schema or rhetoric schema， is the general structure of a text. The decoding process of textual comprehension is the interaction between reader’s schema and the content of the passage.

三、The analysis on the textbook compiling of National English Curriculum

In the year of 2001， a national English curriculum in primary level of education was constituted. In 2011， a more suitable and scientific new edition was built up on the basis of the old one. In this curriculum， a specific and operable guidance is presented to the textbook compiling experts and the textbook users. It proposes the following suggestions and demands： the English textbook in primary level is the main carrier for student’s learning and teacher’s teaching. The following four principles are required in the textbook compiling：

①Moral. The materials must be selected from the realia to facilitate student’s comprehension.

②Scientific. It must obey the laws of language learning and the different learning characteristics and needs in different ages and language levels and be related to other subjects and the real， native and typical language materials to guarantee the high recurrence frequency.

③Interesting. It should consider the hobbies， learning demands and desires from different ages.

④ Flexible. The differences between different areas should be taken into consideration. （Translated according to the original Chinese edition）

From the above requirements， it presents one of the supporting theoretical bases on the textbook compiling： the schema theory from psycholinguistics. Many specific details have proved the three categories of schema theory.

四、The combination between schema and the senior high school English textbook

4.1 The analysis of the senior high school English textbook

The senior English for schools， published by Chongqing University， is a national standard English textbook in nation wide. It is used in most areas in China， especially in the western part. In student’s book 1， it concludes the following topics： teachers， schoolmates， school education， music， films， sports， ways of dressing， eating habits， kinds of houses. They all relate to student’s real life closely. According to the schema theory， people’s cognitive path is from the easy ones to the difficult ones， from simple to complex， form known to unknown， so does the textbook compiling. In junior middle school， students are demanded to be able to use 1，500 to 1，600 words and 200 to 300 idioms. （教育部，2011） Based on the standard， the senior high school English textbook enlarges some words from easy to difficult ones. For example， from the first topic： teachers， students have learnt some words related to “teacher”， like： schoolmate， good-looking， hardworking， loudness， easy-going. Students can easily recognize them and get their meanings and uses. The previous information stored in their mind helps them understand the present ones. For the learning of new vocabulary， there are amount of pictures to help students acquire their meanings. For example， when presenting the word “wardrobe”， there is a vivid and beautiful picture of wardrobe at the right side of the paper. From real life experiences， students can acquire the meaning of this word through the picture directly. This compiling method is supported by the schema theory directly. On the choice of the context genres， it includes the narratives， introductions， arguments， diaries， letters， dialogues and so on. Students contact these styles in their real life， so they are familiar with these styles. On the text genres， it includes： generalization-specify pattern， narrative pattern， problem-settle pattern， pros-cons pattern and question-answer pattern. Students can use these ones to construct a new context. Their past experiences in their mind would be activated in the process of comprehension. It helps to improve student’s ability of context production in language skills， especially the writing skill.

4.2 The schema theory applied in English textbook compiling

According to the view of schema theory， human owns the rules of recognizing and explaining the world. The new information is dealt in different levels and degrees through their own schema. From this point， schema theory provides some implications to the English textbook compiling. It embodies in the following aspects.

（1） Obey human’s cognitive law. Human’s cognition obeys some laws， which is from the objective to subjective， simple to complex and so on. The textbook obeys the laws as well. In the process of textbook compiling， the arrangement of the materials could be from simple to complex. However， it is impossible to arrange every content in this way. One way to solve this difficulty is to increase the repetition frequency of a certain linguistic point. It reduces the pressure of the uncertainty and incorrect of difficulties in materials through this way. On one hand， it can build up relations with the previous experiences to add new information and enrich the present schema. On the other hand， repetition is actually the method of dividing the comprehension process into several steps， which decreases the difficulty of student’s learning in each linguistic item.

（2） Select the proper materials. The choice of materials in textbook compiling takes a great proportion. The following is some of the basic principles to the materials development：

①Materials should achieve impact.

②Materials should help learners to feel at ease.

③ Materials should help learners to develop confidence.

④Materials should require and facilitate learner self-investment.

⑤Materials should expose the learners to language in authentic.

⑥Materials should provide the learners with opportunities to use the target language to achieve communicative purposes.

⑦Materials should take into account that learners differ in affective attitudes.

⑧Materials should maximise learning potential by encouraging intellectual， aesthetic and emotional involvement which stimulates both right- and left-brain activities. （Tomlinson， 2011）

（3） Design the proper activities. The scientific and reasonable exercises help to open learners’ thinking ways and minds， to enlarge their exiting schema. The following are some demands for proper activities in the textbook compiling.

①Devising readiness activities to get the learners ready to experience the text in multi-dimensional ways.

②Devising experiential activities to help the learners to represent the text in their minds as they read it or listen to it.

③Devising intake response activities to help the learners to develop and articulate what they have taken in from the text.

④Devising development activities to provide opportunities for meaningful language production based on the learners’ representations of the text. （Tomlinson Masuhara， 2007）

五、 Conclusion

Textbook plays a fundamental function in the English education system. It is the key factor in teaching. Based on the schema theory in textbook compiling， it would meet the teaching and learning needs. With the further study on this theory and textbook compiling， it must obtain more meanings and more implications from it， which improves English teaching in China and the English teaching quality and sufficiency entirely around the nation.

References：

[1]中華人民共和國教育部，2011，《義務(wù)教育英語課程標準》（2011年版），北京：北京師范大學。

[2]楊曉鈺，2010，《普通高中課程標準實驗教科書（必修）英語》（重大版），重慶：重慶大學。

[3]David W. Carroll， 2008， Psychology of Language （Fifth ed.）， Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[4]Brian Tomlinson， 2011， Materials Development in Language Teaching （Second ed.）， UK： Cambridge University Press.

Brian Tomlinson Hitomi Masuhara， 2007， Developing Language Course Materials， Beijing： People’s Education Press.