Schema Theory And L2 Reading Comprehension: Implications For Teaching

Abstract

Reading is a multileveled and interactive process in which readers construct a meaningful representation of text using their schemata.  While it has been known for some time that both content and formal schemata are necessary for a complete understanding of written texts in a reader’s first language (L1), and has been suspected to be true in a reader’s second language (L2), it is still an area that has been generally ignored by both researchers and classroom teachers.  The purpose of this paper is threefold.  The first is to give a brief overview of some of the literature that deals with schema theory as part of a reader centered psycholinguistic processing model for both native and non-native readers.  The second goal is to show how familiarity with the subject matter (i.e., content schema) as one aspect of schema theory, affects L2 reading comprehension.  The third goal is to discuss the implications of schema theory in L2 classrooms.