| In this thesis, problems of non-English majors' in FL reading comprehension are concerned and a feasible and effective reading model based on Discourse Theory and Schema Theory is suggested to improve the present FL reading teaching and ultimately improve students' reading ability. According to the author, non-English majors encounter many problems in FL reading which are mainly reflected in these aspects: they are unable to grasp the main idea conveyed through the written text; they are unable to distinguish the important ideas from supporting evidences (less important words); they are unable to understand the writer's own opinion and attitude; they are unable to tackle strange lexical-items from the context, etc. hi a word, students' reading level doesn't measure up to the reading ability which is essentially needed in reading processing. It does not only entail linguistic competence (vocabulary; grammatical knowledge, etc) but also communicative competence (socio-linguistic competence, discourse competence and strategic competence). However, College English Syllabus (1999) requires non-English majors to achieve a relatively high level in reading after the two-year long college English course which specifically means students are expected to be competent at reading unfamiliar texts at appropriate speed independently with adequate understanding. What is discussed above about students' inadequacy in reading comprehension clearly indicates the gap between student's reading proficiency and the objectives of reading teaching. Thus, there is an urgent need for improving students' reading ability in FL reading class.The author of this thesis attributes the inadequacy of students' in reading to the traditional teaching model based on understanding text at sentence-level, which results in a language-centered and teacher-centered reading class. A more profoundreason for this traditional teaching model is that both teacher and students don't have an objective view on the nature of reading which is better described in Communicative Approach. Communicative Approach tries to describe the nature of reading from the perspective of how a text is organized by the writer who intends to convey a certain idea or message in written form. In short, the nature of reading is considered as a communication of a message from the writer to reader. To make sure the success of this communication, the writer is believed to follow a conventional way in organizing sentences, paragraphs and whole passage.Discourse Theory is introduced to explain the conventional organization of a paragraph in which a topic sentence is supported by a group of explanatory sentences closely linked by means of cohesion and coherence. Cohesion is overt links between sentences while coherence is covert links beneath sentences. It is believed understanding and identifying the functional use of sentences within a paragraph contributes to understanding the idea a paragraph conveys. On the basis of understanding of each paragraph, the message of the whole text is within reach. Comparatively speaking, covert coherence underlying sentences is not easy to identify. Understanding coherence depends on one's background knowledge accumulated in one's life and memory. Schema Theory is preceded with Discourse Theory. It not only explains why reader can interpret coherence underlying sentences, why proficient readers are able to skim and skip while reading; but also tells why organization above paragraph level can be easily recognized and understood.It is pointed out to improve students' reading ability, especially their communicative competence, reinforcing students' awareness of discourse knowledge and activating their background knowledge or previous experience are essentially important. On basis of this consideration, a discoursed-based readingmodel aiming at improving non-English majors' reading ability is suggested as follows: the whole process of reading teaching falls into pre-reading activities, while-reading activities and post-reading activiti...
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