郭艳琴
【Abstract】According to schema theory， the knowledge is stored in human brain by these units， and such units are the Schemata. Teachers can design prelistening tasks to build or activate the learners schemata in the IELTS listening teaching.
【Key Words】IELTS listening， Schemata， activate， application
In recent years， more and more college students are planning to further their study abroad， and since IELTS is recognized by more than 7，000 institutions in over 135 countries， students have an increasing demand for taking this test. Listening accounts for one fourth of IELTS total score， the same as reading， writing and speaking does respectively. Second language listening is a complex process， but yet a stratigic activity. Therefore， it poses a challenge for our college English teachers how to effectively help students get a high score in IELTS Listening tests.
Schema is a psychological concept which was first put out by Bartlett， a British psychologist. In the 1970s， an artificial intelligence expert named Rumelhart did a lot of research， established and developed the theory. Stored knowledge and its structure play a key role in peoples cognitive activities. According to schema theory， the knowledge is stored in human brain by these units， and such units are the Schemata. Schema theory describes the process by which learners combine their own background knowledge with the information in a listening passage to comprehend that passage. This is an important concept in IELTS listening teaching. We can design prelistening tasks to build or activate the learners schemata.
There are about 8 types of questions in IELTS listening part， and if students want to understand the listening material， they are supposed to master not only some fundamental knowledge about phonetics， grammar， and adequate vocabulary， but also some schematic knowledge， that is background knowledge. Rivers （1981） points out teachers should activate studentsprevious background information by debates through offering them a related subject. So brainstorming should be a good method to assist students activating their schemata， which can have students participate in the listening practice more actively. In other words， teachers can activate the students schematic knowledge through the discussion among them by providing the title or subject of the passage. During the group discussion， the students can recall the former knowledge kept in their long-term memory， which contains words they memorized before and some other world knowledge related to the title or subject.
Take the first section in Test 1 of Cambridge IELTS 9 as an example， it is notes taking question type. Therefore， before listening to the conversation， the students will be encouraged to scan for the given words quickily and predict the topic： an enquiry for a job at a restaurant. Then the subjects are given 10 minutes to discuss in groups. The discussion will be mainly brainstorming questions： What can they think of at the sight of this topic？ Think about some words exclusively conecerning restaurant. What kind of jobs can be provided in a restaurant？ These questions could help students make some active predications of the content and activate their schemata of the topic. Furthermore， the teacher could also help the students to predict the part of speech of the words they are going to fill in the blanks.
Whats more， the teacher can also list some new vocabulary concerning this topic and give some sentences with blanks. And the sentences are generally the definition or explanation of the new words. Ask the students to fill in the blanks by choosing from the vocabulary. Meanwhile， the teacher can also help the students to distinguish the meanings of such words as salary， pay and wage from each other.
Above all， the application of schemata theory in IELTS listening teaching is a worthwhile effort. It can help students more prepared and confident while doing IELTS listening tests.
References：
[1]Al-Issa， A. Schema Theory and L2 Reading Comprehension： Implication for Teaching[J].College Teaching and Learning，2006.
[2]Rivers， W. M. Teaching Foreign Language Skills[M].Chicage： University of Chicago Press，1981.
[3]UCLES，Cambridge IELTS 9一Authentic Examination Papers from University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations： English for Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press，2013.
[4]刘绍龙.背景知识与听力策略一 图式理论案例报告[J].现代外语，1996（2）.
