The Application Of Schema Theory To The Teaching Of Listening And Speaking Of Marine Engineering English In Vocational College

In order to meet the requirements of the rapid expanding and growing international shipping industry,the International Maritime Organization(IMO)carried out an overall revision of "Standards of Training,Certification and Watch Keeping for Seafarers" convention(STCW convention)in 1995,which has especially emphasized the communication ability(foreign language communicative ability)among the multinational crew.English listening and speaking ability is particularly important for the occupation as a seafarer which has the distinguishing feature of internationalization.In order to enhance the competitiveness of the Chinese seafarers in the international shipping industry,the National Maritime Bureau makes it clear that the seafarer has to pass the listening and speaking assessment test of marine engineering English carried out by the International Maritime Organization(IMO)before taking the job.Marine Engineering is the key major in Wuhan Marine College,and it provides excellent graduates for the domestic and international shipping companies every year.Therefore,under the current situation,teachers must enable the students to communicate in English on board to meets the needs of society.Schema Theory has been widely applied in the field of foreign language teaching,and it really adds new vitality to this field.The Schema Theory has important implications for all aspects of foreign language teaching including reading,translation,writing,listening,vocabulary acquisition,and etc.However,the study on the application of Schema Theory in classroom teaching mostly focuses on the English for General Purposes(EGP)in the middle school,high school and college.And the study on English for Specific Purposes(ESP)in conjunction with Speaking and listening skills is relatively few.As one kind of English for Specific Purposes(ESP),Marine Engineering English(MEE)shows its unique features in different aspects of vocabulary,syntax,grammar and so on.Listening and Speaking English of marine engineering is a practical course for the listening and speaking assessment test of MEE.The teaching quality directly affects the overall qualities of engineering officers in the future,especially their English communicative ability.However,in the current situation,the traditional teaching method of Marine Engineering English in vocational college of China always focuses on the grammar and textual function.This is contrary to the principle of cultivating students’ abilities in the practical application and leads the vocational students in a difficult situation.Based on the Schema Theory,the author tries to combine the Schema Theory with the teaching of Marine Engineering English(MEE),applies the Schema Theory teaching approach to English listening and speaking course of marine engineering,and creates different types of schemas by typical working situation,physical demonstration,image reconstruction,and language description.The author attempts to answer the following three research questions:1)Is it possible to improve the students’ listening and speaking performances of Marine Engineering English by the use of Schema Theory teaching approach?2)Can the students’ interests in Marine Engineering English learning be improved by the use of Schema Theory teaching approach?3)Can the students’ participation in Marine Engineering English class be improved by the application of Schema Theory?The study was carried out among the sophomores in marine engineering major from Wuhan Marine College.It adopts the research methods of experiment and quantitative and qualitative analysis by comparing the data collected from the experimental class and the control class.The author selected two sets of tests from the test database system of English listening and speaking of marine engineering designed by the Maritime Bureau as the pre-test and the post-test for the experiment in mid-September and late-December,2014.The tests are computer-based tests with relatively high reliability and validity.The assessment test is a kind of instrument to measure whether students have mastered the related knowledge of Marine Engineering English.It covers all aspects of topics related to the engineering management,including Daily English,Routine Work in the Engine Room,Communication between Bridge and Engine Room,Emergency Expressions,Business Contacts with Shore Person,and PSC/ISM Inspection.After the pre-test and post-test,the author collected and analyzed the data in SPSS.During the teaching experiment,the author implements Schema Theory teaching approach in the experimental class and compares the listening and speaking test scores in the listening and speaking of Marine Engineering English assessment between the two classes.Then,the author tries to analyze the teaching effect of English listening and speaking course.The research instruments adopted are pre-test and post-test,classroom observation and interview.Based on the one semester’ investigation of 80 vocational students in two classes majoring in Marine Engineering,the present study aims to find out a more effective way to improve the students’ English communicative ability.The data are analyzed by SPSS 17.0.With the assistance of Independent T-test,this empirical study analyzes the score differences in listening and oral English pre-test and post-test of the students from two classes of the marine engineering major,and then compares whether the increasing rate between the experimental class and the control class student has significance.The author carried out the classroom observation while the teaching experiment was in process.The observation of students’ classroom participation was applied and recorded for six times during the early period,the mid-period and the late period of the teaching experiment.And then,the relevant data,such as classroom attendance rate,the condition of students’ participation in class activities and extracurricular English activities are analyzed.At the end of the experiment,according to the test results and class performances,the author selects 12 students for the interview.The result shows that Schema theory teaching approach is one of the appropriate ways to facilitate learner’s listening and speaking ability of Marine Engineering English.Through this study,the author proves that the students’ listening and speaking performances of marine engineering English can be improved by the use of Schema theory approach,and the students’ interests and participation in Marine Engineering English learning can be improved by the use of this approach,too.Besides,the author gives some relevant suggestions to the listening and speaking teaching of Marine Engineering English for the cultivation of more qualified seafarers.And the author hopes that the thesis can contribute to the study of the teaching of Marine engineering English and encourage more MEE teachers to explore schema theory teaching approach according to students’ needs and interests.