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Investigating the Effect of Cultural Schemata Activation on EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension

Received: 24 September 2017     Accepted: 19 October 2017     Published: 18 December 2017
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Abstract

This study tried to find the possible relationship between listeners' cultural schemata and its activation and their performance in EFL listening comprehension. The participants of this study were two groups of 37 Muslim Iranian students. Firstly, the students were divided into two groups of high and low proficiency. Then, they were exposed to two audio files, one about mosques and the other about cathedrals. In one of the classes the recording about the cathedrals was played first, but in the other the order was reversed. The collected data were inputted into the SPSS program. The null hypothesis of the study was whether listening to a culturally unfamiliar topic (cathedrals) can activate low-level learners’ schema of the culturally familiar topic (mosques). The hypothesis of the study was accepted implying that an unfamiliar text, even if it is conceptually similar, cannot activate a culturally familiar schema in the low-level students. This study has pedagogical implications for teaching listening comprehension.

Published in English Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 2, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.ellc.20170206.12
Page(s) 99-104
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Cultural Schemata, Language Proficiency, Schema Activation, Listening Comprehension

References
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  • APA Style

    Soheil Mahmoudi. (2017). Investigating the Effect of Cultural Schemata Activation on EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension. English Language, Literature & Culture, 2(6), 99-104. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20170206.12

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    ACS Style

    Soheil Mahmoudi. Investigating the Effect of Cultural Schemata Activation on EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension. Engl. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2017, 2(6), 99-104. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20170206.12

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    AMA Style

    Soheil Mahmoudi. Investigating the Effect of Cultural Schemata Activation on EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension. Engl Lang Lit Cult. 2017;2(6):99-104. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20170206.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ellc.20170206.12,
      author = {Soheil Mahmoudi},
      title = {Investigating the Effect of Cultural Schemata Activation on EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension},
      journal = {English Language, Literature & Culture},
      volume = {2},
      number = {6},
      pages = {99-104},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ellc.20170206.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20170206.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ellc.20170206.12},
      abstract = {This study tried to find the possible relationship between listeners' cultural schemata and its activation and their performance in EFL listening comprehension. The participants of this study were two groups of 37 Muslim Iranian students. Firstly, the students were divided into two groups of high and low proficiency. Then, they were exposed to two audio files, one about mosques and the other about cathedrals. In one of the classes the recording about the cathedrals was played first, but in the other the order was reversed. The collected data were inputted into the SPSS program. The null hypothesis of the study was whether listening to a culturally unfamiliar topic (cathedrals) can activate low-level learners’ schema of the culturally familiar topic (mosques). The hypothesis of the study was accepted implying that an unfamiliar text, even if it is conceptually similar, cannot activate a culturally familiar schema in the low-level students. This study has pedagogical implications for teaching listening comprehension.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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    T1  - Investigating the Effect of Cultural Schemata Activation on EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension
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    AB  - This study tried to find the possible relationship between listeners' cultural schemata and its activation and their performance in EFL listening comprehension. The participants of this study were two groups of 37 Muslim Iranian students. Firstly, the students were divided into two groups of high and low proficiency. Then, they were exposed to two audio files, one about mosques and the other about cathedrals. In one of the classes the recording about the cathedrals was played first, but in the other the order was reversed. The collected data were inputted into the SPSS program. The null hypothesis of the study was whether listening to a culturally unfamiliar topic (cathedrals) can activate low-level learners’ schema of the culturally familiar topic (mosques). The hypothesis of the study was accepted implying that an unfamiliar text, even if it is conceptually similar, cannot activate a culturally familiar schema in the low-level students. This study has pedagogical implications for teaching listening comprehension.
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Author Information
  • English Preparatory School, Department of Foreign Languages, Uskudar University, Istanbul, Turkey

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