The Application Of Schema Theory In The Teaching Of Reading Comprehension In Senior High School

The innovation of reading comprehension teaching is the key to the English language teaching reformation. Therefore more and more importance is attached to the training of reading comprehension, which is regarded as one of the four basic language skills in English learning . But, under the influence of the learning of the traditional pedagogy quite a few senior high school teachers often lay focus on the learning of the knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, as a result, their students ignore the learning , accumulating and applying of the schemata knowledge , which is closely related to the reading materials .The writer, with the achievements in reading studies , from the angle of schemata theory, mainly explore that the innovation of reading comprehension teaching is quite necessary .Schema theory holds the view that reader's background knowledge play a significant role in the process of reading .Any text , either spoken or written , does not by itself carry meaning , it only provides directions for listeners or readers as to how they should retrieve or construct meaning from their own previously acquired knowledge.This previously acquired knowledge is called background knowledge .Background knowledge involves all the knowledge the reader acquired before , such as linguistic knowledge, social knowledge, cultural knowledge, common senses, etc .According to schema theory , comprehending a text is an interactive process between reader's background knowledge and the text. When a render applies his background knowledge to guide him through reading , he in effect adopts the top-down process to make prediction and assumptions about the incoming text. Simultaneously, the uses the bottom -up process to acquire information from decoding words, phrases and sentences in the text. This process assists him to be aware of the new information and to make proper adjustments .The continuous interaction of both the reader and the text leads to an agreement on the text, which signifies the accomplishment of reading.The more background knowledge a reader has in his mind , the easier it is for him to decode the reading text .It is believed that apparent reading problems may be problems of insufficient background knowledge. Thus for our college English teachers, an important task in reading teaching is to help them build more new schemata. Reading problems are not just caused by schema deficiencies, and the relevant schemata must be activated because theattainment of background knowledge will not make sure that they are utilized correctly and appropriately .Therefore, another task for our English teacher is to help them activate existing schema.At the same time , in view of the problems in senior high school English reading teaching schema theory implies some teaching principles to be followed by our reading teachers .For example , the class should be student-centered; cultural background knowledge should be emphasized; awareness of textual structure should be reinforced; students' vocabulary reading skills should be developed; students should be encouraged to read extensively outside classroom.In building or activating background knowledge , teachers should not dominate the class , but provide students chances to experience real reading, to apply what they have learnt to practical communication , hence , to improve their reading ability .An experiment is done between two classes using two different teaching methods, one is traditional, the other is new , that is, the teaching method that uses schemata theory, which is proved to improve the speed of reading comprehension.In Chapter one, the writer looks back the proposal and development of schemata theory and points out the problems of research. Chapter two gives a brief survey of current Senior High School English reading teaching in China, covering the requirements of Senior High School English Syllable and the problems in current Senior High School English reading teaching, thus points out that the traditional way of Senior High School English reading teaching has great deficiencies in cultivating students' reading ability. It is high time that we reevaluated our reading teaching. Chapter three explores schemata theory and its implication to reading comprehension. According to schemata theory, comprehending a text is an interactive process between reader's background and the text. Reader's background knowledge plays a significant role in the process of reading. Background knowledge involves all the knowledge the reader acquired before, such as linguistic knowledge, social knowledge, cultural knowledge, common senses, etc. In an attempt to translate theory into practice, chapter four of this paper suggests that we, as English teachers, should help students activate their existing background knowledge to make prediction before reading and help build more new background knowledge to develop the knowledge base they need to be successful readers. Meanwhile, six teaching principles are presented.Chapter five, the author adopts two differentteaching methods in two different classes. One is a traditional method, the other is a new method guided by Schemata theory. The author takes two tests on them and gets some data. Finally analyzes those data. Chapter six makes a conclusion of the whole paper and points out the limitation and future research.