A Study Of Schema-oriented Efl Reading Instruction In Colleges

Schema can be defined as"People processed and organized their experience and knowledge into a certain conventional cognitive structure, which can be stored in their mind for a long period of time"(Wang Yin 2006). For a long time, especially in the last 30 years, linguists and second language researchers at home and abroad have done many researches in schema theory. Their researches show that schema play a very important role in developing students'reading ability. Students can predict, infer and test the meaning of the reading material with the schema stored in their mind.Since schema theory as well as its influence on English reading was introduced into China in 1980s, it has carried a revolution to the instructions of English reading and the compilation of English textbooks. The traditional way of instruction of English reading was gradually challenged and in the meantime, the way of schema-oriented instruction of English reading has been accepted by more and more English teachers. However, influenced by various implications of schemata, some English teachers, especially in colleges, only emphasize content schema. They think that the task of English reading teaching is mostly a matter of providing students with the relevant background knowledge and encourage them to make full use of it in their English reading comprehension. Meanwhile, some English teachers do quite the opposite. They consider linguistic knowledge, especially vocabulary and grammar, as the major factors that influence the students'reading comprehension, so they pay much attention to linguistic schema. So what is the major obstacle to students'English reading comprehension, linguistic schema or content schema? And what are the effective ways to facilitate linguistic and content schema building? This study was conducted to explore the critical factors affecting non-English majors'reading comprehension and the effective ways to facilitate their linguistic and content schema building on the basis of schema theory by questionnaire and two experiments in Nan Yang Normal University. From the statistical analysis, the author has made the following findings:1) Lack of linguistic knowledge is non- English majors'greatest difficulty in their English reading. Content schema can not work in all conditions. They are useful to students only when they have sufficient knowledge about English. It is the students'combination of linguistic schema and content schema that make them understand the meaning of a text. Students will not be able to read efficiently until they have developed enough language proficiencies, which is the threshold of linguistic competence. So language instruction in reading class is still necessary. And the most effective way to remove their linguistic obstacles in English reading is through prior instruction to the linguistic knowledge by paraphrasing with simple, familiar words and phrases. On the contrary, good effect can not be produced through complex explanation and direct Chinese translation.2) Lack of relevant cultural schema is another factor that perplexes students'English reading comprehension. Cultural differences between English-speaking countries and China have a negative effect on students'English reading comprehension. Teachers'prior introduction of the topic-related cultural differences and knowledge of the text is proved necessary to improve students'English reading comprehension. Encouraging students to read intensively in English is another good way to build their content or cultural schema and help them read efficiently in English.3) Reading strategies, especially the schema-oriented strategies, are also very important to help students achieve good English reading comprehension. A skilled reader is one who is able to use his/her schema to make predictions about the text and check these against the text.4) The English reading materials play a vital part in activating students'schema in mind. In accordance with schema theory, students'schema may interact with the reading materials in a lot of ways to produce varying degrees of non-comprehension or miscomprehension. If the reading materials are too difficult or too easy, even if readers have the schema matching with the reading materials, it is still impossible for them to activate them and get successful reading comprehension.Based on the analysis of the empirical study conducted by the author as well as other linguists and instructors, this paper offers some tentative and constructive suggestions on how to apply schema theory to non-English majors'reading comprehension correctly. On the one hand, students'linguistic competence should be developed; on the other, the background knowledge, especially cultural differences between countries should be instructed in English reading teaching for non- English majors. Reading strategies should also be instructed and cultivated gradually. Besides, interesting and challenging but not too difficult English reading materials should be selected for the students.The paper also offered a complete overview of the latest researches to schema theory at home and abroad to reveal the role of schema theory in reading instruction. The author hopes that the research can play a useful inspiration in the teaching of English reading for college students, especially for non- English majors.