Schema Theory and Its Application to Second Language Reading

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The major findings of the present research are as follows : 1) interaction of background and linguistic knowledge plays an essential role in reading comprehension : 2) the absence of appropriate cultural schema affects reading ; 3) good readers make major changes to the schema while reading.1) The process of interactive use of background and linguistic knowledge was examined by giving college and high school students reading passages with hints on background knowledge and linguistic knowledge. The background knowledge was given in the form of pictures and summaries of the passages. Linguistic knowledge was provided by simplifying the grammar of the sentences and by giving the meaning of vocabulary words. The college students found the summary and vocabulary hints helpful, while the high school students found the picture and grammar hints helpful in reading.2) In the experiment on cultural schema, the absence of appropriate cultural knowledge specific to the reading passage was found to affect not only the comprehension of poor readers but even that of good readers.3) The study of what good readers do while reading found that they start guessing the background of the text from the very beginning of the reading process, and constantly modify the schema. It is notable that they make major changes to the schema, too.Although at the beginning of this study, we aimed at applying our research of schema theory, to listening comprehension, speaking and writing as well, in the process of our research we decided to focus on reading comprehension because we realized that reading was an important area when schema theory is concerned. We have presented the result of our study mainly on reading comprehension in the attaeched booklet, but we are planning to pursue other skill areas also in the future.