The Effects of Dynamic Image Schema on ESL Students’ Systematic Improvement of Listening Comprehension: A Dynamic System Theory Perspective

Abstract

From a dynamic system theory (DST) perspective, this study examines the effects of dynamic image schema (DIS) on ESL students’ systematic improvement of listening comprehension. Forty ESL learners of two classes at an American university were invited to participate in the study. Data were collected through multiple procedures including listening comprehension scores of pre- and post-tests, students’ class notes, and responses to survey questions. Both descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed. The results show that DIS did facilitate ESL learners’ listening comprehension. On the one hand, the construction of DIS allowed ESL learners to organize listening materials in the basic frameworks for systematically information processing; on the other hand, DIS helped to enhance ESL learners’ ability of refined sorting, categorizing, predicting, organizing, and analyzing information to reach meaningful re-configuration of knowledge and thus improve their listening comprehension. Important educational implications for second language acquisition practitioners are discussed.