On Discourse Coherence From The Perspective Of Schema Theory

This paper attempts to deal with discourse coherence from the perspective of schema theory. It first reviews current research trends of coherence and introduces the perspective of schema theory. A fundamental tenet of schema theory assumes that a written text does not carry meaning by itself. Rather, a text only provides directions for receivers as to how they should retrieve or construct meaning from their own previously acquired knowledge. According to schema theory, coherence is a concept related to cognition of discourse receivers (readers/listeners), rather than a concept connected with discourse producers (writers/speakers). The achievement of discourse coherence, to a large extent, depends on whether receivers can activate the relevant schemata or not. Schema theory is based on the interactive comprehension model which suggests that receivers process texts by using information provided simultaneously from several different sources. Schemata have some prototypical characteristics, but when people use schema theory there exists relativity in terms of coherence understanding. According to schema theory, when people understand some discourse, they will necessarily activate some schemata. But this doesn't mean that all the schemata relevant to the discourse will be activated. Actually, only those which are directly related to the discourse are activated. The activated schemata, to some extent, construct the current context for understanding the discourse, which builds the bridge for the ultimate understanding and the assurance of coherence. This paper also criticizes cohesion theory, especially anaphora from the perspective of schema theory, proving that traditional anaphora theory which tends to regard the relation between a reference item and a referent as substitution has shaky grounds. Then it discusses the four kinds of schemata respectively, i.e., content schemata, formal schemata, cultural schemata and linguistic schemata, in order to interpret discourse coherence specifically and concretely. Schema theory also has its pedagogical values. Its application in the teaching of English listening and reading is mentioned in this paper.