The impact of schematic knowledge on listening comprehension among Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to investigate the impact of schematic knowledge on listening comprehension among Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners. To fulfill, 60 Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners were selected among 95 students at a private English Language Institute in Yazd, Iran. Then, the selected participants were divided into two equal groups; an experimental group and a control group. After that, both groups were pretested by a listening comprehension pre-test. Then, the experimental group received the treatment which was activating the learners’ background knowledge before each listening session. The control group was in ordinary program and did not receive any treatment. At the end of the study, a listening comprehension posttest was administered to measure the effect of the treatment. The results of Paired samples T-test revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the posttest. It was concluded that schematic knowledge has a considerable significance on enhancing listening comprehension skill of Iranian EFL Learners. Thus, the activation of schematic knowledge before the listening process can be an efficient method in teaching listening comprehension in language classes.