ANDERSON AND PEARSON SCHEMA-THEORETIC VIEW

 Focus on the role of schemata, knowledge stored in memory, in text comprehension

 Comprehension = Interaction between old and new information
 Schema Theory: Already known general ideas subsume and anchor new information.
 Include:
a) Info about the relationship among the components
b) Role of inference
c) Reliance on knowledge of the content +abstract and general schemata.
 Schemata:
Knowledge already stored in memory, function in the process of interpreting new
information and allowing it to enter and become part of the knowledge store.
 Schema:
An abstract knowledge structure. A structure that represents the relationship among its
component parts.

Drawbacks of the Schema-theoretic View

 It is crucial to use the schema of the reader as the only source of
interpreting the text. It might or there will always be a possibility that the
meaning intended of the writer will be distorted.
 The general or standard understanding of the context is at stake.

How can this model be useful to a Reading Teacher?

 Using schema in reading helps the students to connect with the text more deeply and to
enhance the reader’s comprehension. What the teacher does is to activate prior schema.
 It allows the reader to connect his own experiences, feelings, and knowledge to what he
is reading. The teacher has to teach the children to use their schema for reading.