The Schematic Theory and English Reading Comprehension Teaching

The Schematic Theory and English Reading Comprehension Teaching Abstract：Schema theory originated from western Countries．It explained explicitly how readers world knowledge interacts with text to arrive at comprehension．Many Chinese English teachers use it to guide their teaching．but most of them can not get all ideal outcome．first，this paper represent schemata and schematic theory briefly，and then explores the interactions between schematic theory and reading comprehension．At last．the author lists out three factors that is helpful for comprehending and establishing new schemata．Key words：s chemata；schematic theory；interaction；teaching；reading comprehension1 IntroductionReading is considered as one of the most important ways toimprove English．Without reading，there is no improvement inEnglish learning．However, many students read English materialwith slower speed and Ie88 comprehension．On the surface．due to the inadequate vocabulary and grammar knowledge，or the linguistic schemata, In fact，the inadequate knowledge of formal schemata and content schemata are still prevent them to comprehend successfully．Therefore，to know much more about these factors and their interactions with reading comprehension is very necessary for Enoish teacher．2 Schematic theorySchemata are highly organized，generic knowledge structures composed of slots or placeholders which are activated consciously or unconsciously in reading comprehension Schematic theory is based on Goodman's psycholinguistic model that reading is a guessing game．The basic idea of the theory is that human memory consists of high leveh of structures known as schemata, each of which encapsulates our knowledge about everything connected with a particular Object or event．Modem schemata theory is generally approved to be advanced by Bartlett, who is a German psychologist．He elicited this theory from Gestalt psychology and represented it in his book Remembering．He described it like tllis，schemata is a reflection of past experience，and it is an active developing paRern(Bartlett，1992：197)．The schematic theory has explained exphcifly how readers’world knowledge interacts withthe text to arrive to acomprehension．3 The interactions beween schematic theory and reading comprehension Reading is a process of interaction between reader and reading material，input information and reader's schemata．Comprehension depends on three main$ources d knowledge：schematic knowledge，contextual knowledge and systematic knowledge．Readers build meanings by drawing on a wider rangeof resources，including schematic and contextual knowledge，asthese knowledge fioul宅e$are drawn on，interactively，to achievecomprehension(cui Yali，2004：10)．The schematic knowledgeplay an important role in reading comprehension．It consists of linguistic schemata,formal schemata an d content schemata．Unguistic schemata refer to the knowledge of grammatical，syntacticaland semantic systems，formal schemata refer to the under．standing of the style and genre of a text,while content schematarefer to the prior experience and background knowledge．Andertonhas defined the three function of t}le content schemata．First．schemata provide the basis for filling'ff／e gap8 in a text：no messageis ever completely explicit and schemata permits a coherent interpretation through inferential elaboration．Second，schemata co ntain the reader's interpretation of an ambiguous message．Third，it is by establishing a correspondence between things known．曲represented by schemata，and then given in a message，that readers monitor their comprehension and known whether they have understood the text．Perhaps the central function of鲫event．ohject，or situation(Anderson，1978：17)．Therefore，the kinds of assumption we make about the world depend on what we have ex—perienced and how our minds havo organized the knowledge wehave got from our past experiences．Schematic theory suggeststhat our knowledge will strongly affect our ability to understandnew information by providing a framework within which new information might fit．(5)Nunan【2001：86]．Reading comprehensionis thus an interactive process between the reader and the text．4 11he Factors that should be highlighted in theteaching of Engfish reading4．1 Activate the reader's schemata before readingIt is very important to activate a reader's schemata beforethe reading activaty to achieve a successful reading and compre—hention．As each reader carries in his head mental representa-tions of typical situations that he comes across．when he is stim—ulated by particular words。