Schema Theory In College English Reading Teaching

English Reading is an important part of the four skills in the foreign language learning, and it has been recognized significantly to encourage students to read at an excellent rate and with good interpretation in terms of English teachers. Therefore a number of researches have been made about its nature, characteristics and functions. Schema theory is one of the flourishing perspectives in the light of the research of reading comprehension. Schema-theoretic reading strategies, as a major and flawless representative of interactive reading process, play an important role in English reading. Numerous relevant researches about reading have shown that the successful comprehension of a passage is completed only through the efficient interaction of "top-down" and "bottom-up" reading process. Only when the schema information in a reader's mind is activated, built, and then associated with the new information in the reading materials is he able to succeed in understanding the articleTherefore, this thesis puts emphasis on the two important questions:1) How can the schemata be activated? 2) And how to apply schema theory in English reading teaching? The thesis is primarily on the application of the schema instantiation in English Reading. The analysis of schema instantiation indicates some teaching strategies for teachers to follow. The feasible teaching process can go as the following:1) Activate the old schemata:Activate the relative schemata in ones' mind to get new message.2) Learn the schemata:To improve the students' reading skills to facilitate comprehension.3) Consolidate the schemata:help the students to develop their study.This thesis aims to help students to cultivate their good reading habits and promote their reading skills under the guidance of schema theory. Therefore, to aid students to evoke and instantiate their schemata to develop their reading is the final goal of this thesis.