activate students' background schema

http://www.bridgetefl.com/why-to-activate-your-esl-students-

background-schema/

This post was written by Laura Greenwood

Why should you activate your ESL students’ background schema when

teaching English as a foreign language?

When doing receptive skills work (listenings and readings) with your

students, it is important to take time at the very beginning of the

lesson to activate your students’ experiences with and knowledge of

the topic of the listening/reading. In TEFL this is called activating

background schema. Doing this immediately engages your Ss, gets them

using English, and sets them up for more successful listening/reading

comprehension. Read more about Schema Theory to understand why this

approach is successful.

• This component of a receptive skills lesson is called a ‘Lead In.’

• Include visuals, realia, discussion, and personalization – a broad

look at the topic/subject/content area of the listening or reading.

• Ask some general questions and have your Ss brainstorm

ideas/knowledge of the listening/reading topic or ‘What I want to

Know’ (about the topic).

• Read a background text, watch a video clip, listen to others discuss

the topic of the listening/reading, etc. to stimulate discussion.

• Make an explicit link between the topic of the text and students’

own lives and experiences in order to prepare them for successful

listening/reading.


If you don’t activate your Ss background schema when teaching English

as a foreign language, your Ss might not be interested in

listening/reading, have a purpose for listening/reading, or even be

ready to successfully listen/read.

Beyond all of the above excellent reasons for activating background

schema when teaching English as a foreign language, is the fact that

you will learn a lot of interesting and remarkable facts about your

Ss.