The information structure of television news

Abstract

Understanding authentic transactional speech is a challenge for many English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. Television news language is no exception. Television news uses an information-packed and syntactically complex speech style which must compete with certain visuals for listeners' attention. It is often found difficult to understand by ESL learners and has been found a poor source of comprehended news for native-speakers. But because news items are a widely available and interesting source of authentic input in English language teaching (ELT), a way of making them more comprehensible is needed. Taking advantage of the highly structured nature of television news speech, the present study suggests schema processing as a way of better understanding television news language. This study attempted to determine the function and frequency of elements commonly used in television news. First, through multiple analysis of a sample news item using 12 different schemata, an adequate understanding and description of the structural composition of one news item was achieved. Its structural composition was described as a 'suggested schema' which was then applied to a representative sample corpus of 86 news items. The 8 most frequently appearing elements were formed into a generalisable television news item schema. This schema was able to describe the structural composition and entire contents of 87% of the corpus news items. Moreover, 4 elements appeared in predictable positions within most news items. In each item of the remaining 13%, there was generally only one unit of information which the schema could not describe. Listening comprehension theory and schematic processing theory suggest that prior knowledge of news item structure and tuition in its use should result in increased listening comprehension. This is exploited in the form of suggested teaching activities.