Abstract Cloze test is considered to be a convenient and economical method for the test of students’ comprehensive language competence and reading comprehension ability, which has many advantages in foreign language testing. This paper tries to explore the feasibility of applying Schema Theory in cloze test to improve students’ efficiency in doing cloze test by analyzing the relationship between cloze test and linguistic schema, content schema and formal schema respectively. The paper takes the cloze test of Jiangsu college entrance examination in 2013 as the example, tries to set forth a teaching model of adopting Schema Theory in dealing with the cloze test. The process goes from activating schema before doing cloze test to building up new schema while doing cloze test to consolidating schema after doing cloze test. The purpose of exploring the process aims to help students overcome the obstacles they come across while doing cloze test and improve their comprehensive ability in doing cloze tests. 53818
Keywords: Schema Theory; cloze test; application
摘要完形填空被认为是一种测试综合语言能力、阅读理解能力的快捷而经济的方式,在外语考试中有很多突出优点。本文探讨了将图式理论运用于完形填空解题的可行性,并以2013年普通高等学校招生全国统一考试(江苏卷)完型填空为例,探讨在此理论的指导下,教师帮助学生激活图式导入文章,整体感知建立新图式,把握重点综合运用图式,从而提高完形填空解题效率的教学模式。
毕业论文关键词:图式理论;完形填空;应用
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Literature Review 2
2.1 Schema Theory 2
2.2 Studies on Cloze Test 4
3. The Feasibility of Applying Schema Theory to Cloze Test 5
3.1 Linguistic Schema——Providing Language Knowledge 5
3.2 Content Schema——Offering Background Knowledge 6
3.3 Formal Schema——Supplying Genre Knowledge 7
4. The Process of Applying Schema Theory to Cloze Test 8
4.1 Activating Schema before Doing Cloze Test 8
4.2 Building up New Schema while Doing Cloze Test 10
4.3 Consolidating Schema after Doing Cloze Test 12
5. Conclusion 14
Works Cited 15
Appendix 16
1. Introduction
Cloze test, created by Wilson Taylor, originates from 1950s (Taylor 1953). It is a language testing form which is based on Gestalt Psychology and focuses on the observation of comprehensive language competence. Later, it shows a lot of advantages when applied in second language acquisition. As a result, cloze test gradually becomes a common testing model in foreign language test.
Cloze test has been introduced into English test in China for more than 30 years and it enjoys great popularity. As a popular method in English test, cloze test aims to examine students’ basic linguistic knowledge, background knowledge as well as their grasp of organizational forms and structures of the written text, which is totally different from simple understanding of a word, a sentence or grammar rules. Such a feature makes cloze test the bottleneck for many English learners. Plenty of students have poor comprehensive language application ability. They lose many points in tests and complain that they cannot find coping strategies to score high. At the same time, most English teachers can hardly find effective teaching strategies when it comes to cloze test. They continue to use traditional word-translation method. Finally, cloze becomes a blind angle for both students and teachers. Therefore it is rather important to study available strategies for the teaching and learning of cloze test.