The Experiment Research Of The Schema Theory To The English Reading Teaching In Senior High School

Reading is one of the most important components for English learners in high school. At present, the traditional grammar translation method is dominant in English reading teaching in our country. This model views EFL reading as a passive decoding process, but it is now facing the challenges according to the New English Curriculum Standards in China, because it can't satisfy the demands of developing the students' reading abilities. At the same time, reading theories abroad have developed into the integral schema model, which emphasizes the readers' prior knowledge and personal experiences. In the reading teaching, the teachers should encourage the students consciously to apply the schemas to improve their abilities of reading comprehension.This study mainly focuses on the feasibility of applying the schema theory to the English teaching. The author carried out an experimental study in Chang Chun No.8 Senior High School, which was conducted from September, 2007 to January, 2008. Two classes of the subjects each consisting of 40 students were chosen respectively as the control group and the experimental group for their same level of English proficiency. In the experimental class, schema-oriented instruction model was adopted while traditional teaching method was utilized as usual in the control class. The results of the experimental study indicate that the students' prior knowledge to a large extent affects their reading comprehension. As a result of it, the students in the experimental class have improved their English reading abilities more explicitly and rapidly than those in the control class.All these demonstrate that schema-oriented instruction is of great value in improving high school students' English reading comprehension. It is essential that the teachers should help the students with the creation and activation of their schema by supplementing and enriching the students' background knowledge in order to improve their English reading abilities, expand their reading strategies and develop their good reading habits.The whole paper contains five chapters:In Chapter One, the writer points out the research of the essay by analyzing the important part reading teaching plays in high school's English teaching and the necessity of applying schema model in high school's English reading teaching.Chapter Two discusses the related reading theories, including the definition of reading; the process of reading; and three reading models and the related schema theories, including the definition, the developing situation and classification of Schema and its functions in the reading comprehension.Chapter Three studies the applying principles and methods of schema reading teaching and discusses the students' drawbacks in the reading by putting three schema into use in the classrooms of reading teaching.In Chapter Four, the writer presents an experiment and gets some enlightenmentsChapter Five draws a conclusion. It summarizes the whole paper and at the same time points out the significance and limitations of this approach...