A Study Of English Majors’ Discourse Comprehension Based On Schema Theory

The present study aims to discover the effects of schema theory on the Englishdiscourse understanding of Chinese students majoring in English. The main purpose ofthis study is to investigate the effectiveness that linguistic schema, formal schema andcontent schema have on English discourse understanding.This study involves fifty-four university sophomores majoring in English. Aquestionnaire and interviews are utilized in this study, and the following conclusionsare reached: First, language learners can use schema theory on their own initiative tosolve the reading obstacles in discourse understanding. Second, the shortage of certaincontent schemata (background knowledge) negatively affects readers’ understanding.Most students do not have enough content schemata and they lack of appropriateschema-based reading strategies. Last, language learners can use the interaction oflinguistic schema and non-linguistic schema (i.e. content schema) in reading process.Based on these conclusions, the author proposes several suggestions for teachingEnglish reading. Language learners should raise their awareness of schema as a goodreading habit; teachers should encourage students to explore schema strategies,provide appropriate reading material and introduce certain reading skills in teaching.