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Schema Theory in Reading |
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- Schema Theory: Explains how readers use prior knowledge to comprehend and learn from text.
- Origin:
- First used in psychology by Barlett (1932).
- Defined as "an active organization of past reactions or experiences".
- Introduction by Researchers:
- Rumelhart (1980), Carrell (1981), and Hudson (1982) introduced schema in reading.
- Emphasized the role of background knowledge in reading comprehension.
- Rumelhart (1980): Defined schema as "a data structure for representing the genetic concepts stored in memory".
- Anderson and Pearson (1984): Defined schema as "an abstract knowledge structure".
- Medin and Russ (1992): Defined schema simply as "a general knowledge structure used for understanding".
- Text and Meaning:
- Written text does not carry meaning by itself.
- Text provides directions for readers to retrieve or construct meaning using prior knowledge.
- Background Knowledge:
- Referred to as the reader’s prior knowledge.
- Organized into structures called schemata.
- Hierarchical Organization:
- Schemata are organized hierarchically.
- Most general schemata are at the top; more specific ones are at the bottom.
- Interactive Process:
- Comprehending a text is an interactive process between the reader’s background knowledge and the text.
- Efficient comprehension requires relating the textual material to one’s own knowledge.
- Anderson (1977):
- "Every act of comprehension involves one’s knowledge of the world".
- Reading Processes:
- Operate in two directions: bottom-up and top-down.
- Bottom-Up Processing:
- Activated by specific data from the text.
- Top-Down Processing:
- Starts with general predictions based on higher-level schemata.
- Searches for specific details to confirm these predictions.
- Simultaneous Interaction:
- Bottom-up and top-down processes occur simultaneously and interactively.
- This interaction is crucial for comprehension.
- Schema Theory: Central to understanding how readers use prior knowledge for comprehension.
- Hierarchical Schemata: Organize knowledge from general to specific.
- Interactive Reading: Combines bottom-up and top-down processes for efficient comprehension.
- Definition: Knowledge of formal, rhetorical organizational structures of texts.
- Carrel and Eisterhold (1983): Formal schema refers to knowledge of how different genres are presented.
- Example:
- Story Schema: Setting (time, place, characters) + Episodes (events) + Reaction.
- Genre Variations: Different genres have different structures, e.g., stories, descriptions, letters, reports, poems.
- Importance: Lack of knowledge in formal schema contributes to reading comprehension problems.
- Definition: Background knowledge of the content area of the text.
- Carrel and Eisterhold (1983): Content schema contains conceptual knowledge about typical events and entities within a topic.
- Example:
- Restaurant Schema: Includes services, menus, ordering dishes, paying the bill.
- Culture-Specific: Content schema is often culture-specific.
- Cultural Schema: Usually categorized as content schema, relating to general aspects of cultural knowledge shared by larger sections of a cultural population.
- Definition: Knowledge of beliefs, attitudes, customs, behaviors, and social habits of a particular society.
- Richard et al. (2000): Culture is the total set of beliefs, attitudes, customs, behaviors, social habits, etc., of a society.
- Rivers and Temperly (1978): Cultural knowledge or "socio-cultural meaning" springs from shared experiences, values, and attitudes.
- Impact on Reading:
- Studies by Johnson (1981) and Carrel (1981): Cultural knowledge presupposed by a text interacts with the reader's cultural background, making culturally familiar texts easier to understand.
- Different Interpretations: Different groups may interpret the same texts differently, as shown in Steffenson et al. (1979) study.
- Sensitivity: Important to be sensitive to cultural differences for efficient comprehension.
- Definition: Knowledge about vocabulary and grammar.
- Basic Role: Plays a fundamental role in understanding texts.
- Eskey (1988):
- Good readers are both decoders and interpreters.
- Decoding skills become more automatic but remain important.
- Language is a major problem in second language reading.
- Accurate decoding is essential for successful comprehension.
- Comprehension: Impossible without effective decoding skills.
- Definition: The process where textual stimuli signal the direction or area for the reader to search and evoke the relevant schema from memory.
- Textual Stimuli:
- Specific words or groups of words, or the title of a text, that suggest certain schemata.
- Example: Mention of "fire brigade" may activate a "fire accident" schema.
- Two Ways Textual Stimuli Affect Schema:
- Direct Activation: When a stimulus is highly suggestive of a certain schema, it activates the schema as a whole.
- Example: "Fire brigade" directly activates "fire accident" schema.
- Slot Filling: When a single stimulus is insufficient for activation, it may suggest a slot that fits into several schemata.
- Example: "Acid" may suggest slots for "acid rain", "food processing", etc.
- As more stimuli are provided, possibilities narrow down to a specific schema.
- Example: Adding "litmus paper", "Bunsen burner", and "test tube" to "acid" narrows it to a "chemistry lab" schema.
- Direct Activation: When a stimulus is highly suggestive of a certain schema, it activates the schema as a whole.
- Definition: The process of filling the abstract and stereotypical schemata with specific instances during reading.
- Abstract Schemata: Contain slots or placeholders for each constituent element in a knowledge structure.
- Reader's Role: Constructs a correspondence between relevant schemata and the known elements of a message.
- Example Process:
- Sentences: "He picked up his axe. He held it softly for a moment and blew sharp notes through its bell. The crowd listened and cheered him; they loved his saxophone playing."
- Initial Interpretation: "Axe" schema produced.
- Second Sentence: "Blew", "sharp notes", and "bell" conflict with "axe" schema.
- Third Sentence: Reconciliation to "saxophone" schema.
- Importance: Comprehension entails drawing from both the message and internal schemata until reconciled as a single schema or message.
- Sentences: "He picked up his axe. He held it softly for a moment and blew sharp notes through its bell. The crowd listened and cheered him; they loved his saxophone playing."
- Schema Theory in Reading: Guides the process of making sense of new experiences and enables predictions about expected experiences.
- Integral Schema Teaching Model: Emphasizes positive intercommunication between reader and writer, focusing on background knowledge's role in comprehension.
- Classifications:
- Text-External Criteria: Related to communication situations, e.g., reports, poems, jokes, letters, advertisements, stories, lectures.
- Text-Internal Criteria: Related to form and content, e.g., expository, descriptive, narrative, argumentative, persuasive, evaluative, procedural.
- Kinneavy's Grouping (1980):
- Expressive Texts: Focus on the author.
- Persuasive Texts: Focus on readers.
- Inferential Texts: Focus on topics.
- Further classification by facts: Descriptive (static state), narrative (dynamic state), evaluative (choices on current state).
- Common Patterns:
- Problem-Solution Pattern:
- Example: "Situation: I was on sentry duty. Problem: I saw the enemy approaching. Solution: I tried to open fire. Response: I beat off the attack."
- Claim-Counterclaim Pattern:
- Example: "Initial Claim: On Food and Cooking is brilliant. Counterclaim: It has mistakes, omissions, and misalignments."
- Narrative Pattern:
- Labov's (1972) Structure: Abstraction, orientation, complicating events, evaluation, resolution, coda.
- Question-Answer Pattern:
- Sets a distinct question and searches for a satisfying answer.
- General-Specific Pattern:
- Structure: General statement followed by detailed statements, ending with a general statement.
- Problem-Solution Pattern:
- Definition: General decision-making and choice of text production process.
- Continuity Styles:
- Time Continuity:
- Realized by a time chain at the front of the sentence or paragraph.
- Sometimes includes non-adverbial time expressions.
- Place Continuity:
- Realized by an adverbial chain.
- Includes continuity of non-adverbial markers at the beginning of a sentence or paragraph.
- Action Continuity:
- Composed of figures, animals, or entities treated as figures.
- Topic Continuity:
- Composed of signified non-figure or non-animal entities.
- Often occurs in explanatory or argumentative passages.
- Action Continuity:
- Conveys new information.
- Time Continuity:
- Purpose of Text Strategies:
- Help readers decode text efficiently and correctly.
- Establish a text strategy schema in the reader’s mind.
- Macrostructure:
- Helps readers decode text acroscopically, efficiently, and correctly.
- Establishes a text strategy schema in the reader's mind.
- Anticipating Function:
- Readers guess the type of text.
- Anticipate topics based on the text type.
- Use context to guess the latter part of the text.
- Supplementary Function:
- Activate corresponding psychological schema when information is insufficient.
- Supplement missing information during reading.
- Selective Process:
- Schema selects the most appropriate part to explain the reading material.
- After reading, schema helps sort and organize the information.
- Bottom-Up Model:
- Specific data from the text activates processing.
- Top-Down Model:
- General predictions guide the search for specific details.
- Interactive Model:
- Combines bottom-up and top-down processing.
- Interaction at three levels:
- Between bottom-up and top-down processing.
- Between lower-level and higher-level skills.
- Between reader’s background knowledge and text's background knowledge.
- Readers use both types of processing interchangeably to construct comprehension.
- Schema Theory in Reading:
- Guides the process of understanding new experiences.
- Enables predictions about expected experiences.
- Integral Schema Teaching Model:
- Emphasizes positive interaction between reader and writer.
- Focuses on the function of background knowledge in reading comprehension.
- Reading Schema:
- Has anticipating, supplementary, and selective functions.
- Enhances understanding and comprehension of text.
- Schema Theory:
- Provides a framework for understanding the reading process.
- Emphasizes the interaction between reader’s background knowledge and textual material.
