Helping ESL Students Become Better Readers: Schema Theory Applications and Limitations

l" approach in which vocabulary and schemata are developed by "preteaching vocabulary and background knowledge concurrently for sets of passages to be read at some later time." Furthermore, since learners "need to see a word many times in different contexts before it is learned" (Aebersold and Field 1997:139), they may need to read a great many more texts than is usually the case in reading courses. This so-called 'extensive' reading (after Palmer in Bamford and Day 1997:6) is discussed next.

Extensive Reading and Intertextuality

Encouraging students to read for pleasure is advocated by several authors (Bamford and Day 1997; Carrell and Eisterhold 1983:85-6; Wallace 1992:68-9) and will hopefully lead to the kind of extensive reading learners need to do if they are to gain any 'automaticity' in their word and phrase recognition abilities (see Eskey and Grabe 1988:235). As Bamford and Day (1997:7) state, "until students read in quantity, they will not become fluent readers." Learners may be motivated to read extensively by being allowed to choose their own texts based on their own interests in such approaches as the reading lab approach (Stoller in Eskey and Grabe 1988:230).

Another reason for extensive reading is related to the concept of 'intertextuality' where "all texts contain traces of other texts, and frequently they cannot be readily interpreted - or at least fully appreciated - without reference to other texts" (Wallace 1992:47). McCarthy and Carter (1994:114) point out that "many common, everyday texts assume that the receiver will be able to pick up... allusions and perceive the cultural references [to deep-rooted common cultural stores of allusions, sayings, idioms etc.]." For example, an article on the death of Princess Diana (by Roxanne Roberts in The Washington Post, 14 September 1997) refers to Diana as "the face that launched a thousand tabloids" alluding to the line about the beauty of Helen of Troy from Marlowe's 'Faust' (1588): "Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?"

Sinclair (1990:16) claims that "in general people forget the actual language but remember the message." The fact remains, though, that textual memory is important because texts do carry references to other texts and, although not always crucial to the overall message, these references enhance the enjoyment of the text and are often points where L2 readers' knowledge breaks down. It is therefore vital for non-native readers to try to accomplish as much reading as possible in order to try to capture some of what native readers carry to a text: both schemata and textual memory.

Conclusion

It has been seen that schema-theoretic applications do not always result in improvements in comprehension, particularly where they result in insufficient attention to textual detail, or where there is an increase in schema-interference by, for example, the activation of dominant or negative schemata. Also, there is some evidence that the contextual and background information provided may not always even be utilised by the learners. However, there can be little doubt that schema theory has also positively influenced the teaching of reading and that prereading activities - building up absent schemata and activating resident schemata - can improve L2 reader comprehension in many situations. Therefore, it would seem sensible for teachers to employ such activities but not to blindly assume that the expected effect is actually occurring. In other words, teachers should take the time to verify the usefulness of the activities they use

and pay attention to possible schema-interference or non-activation.

Finally, basic bottom-up processing must not be ignored and the importance of a lexico-grammatical focus, particularly in the early stages of learning, needs to be recognised. L2 readers require training in the skill of rapid recognition of large numbers of words and structures in order to accomplish the objective of reading extensively enough to build and improve the schemata they need for fuller enjoyment of the texts they read.

References

• Aebersold, J.A. and Field, M.L. (1997) From Reader to Reading Teacher. Cambridge: CUP.
• Anderson, R.C. and Pearson, P.D. (1984) "A Schema-Theoretic View of Basic Processes in Reading Comprehension", in Carrell, P.L., Devine, J. and Eskey, D.E. (eds) (1988) Interactive Approaches to Second Language Reading. Cambridge: CUP.
• Bamford, J. and Day, R.R. (1997) "Extensive Reading: What is it? Why bother?" The Language Teacher, 21(5):6-8,12
• Carrell, P.L. (1983a) "Some Issues in Studying the Role of Schemata, or Background Knowledge, in Second Language Comprehension." Reading in a Foreign Language, 1:81-92.
• Carrell, P.L. (1988a) "Some Causes of Text-boundedness and Schema Interference in ESL Reading," in Carrell, P.L., Devine, J. and Eskey, D.E. (eds) (1988) Interactive Approaches to Second Language Reading. Cambridge: CUP.
• Carrell, P.L. (1988b) "Interactive Text Processing: Implications for ESL/Second Language Reading Classrooms", in Carrell, P.L., Devine, J. and Eskey, D.E. (eds) (1988) Interactive Approaches to Second Language Reading. Cambridge: CUP.

• 《Helping ESL Students Become Better Readers: Schema Theory Applications and Limitations》