Reading notes for class December 3
For class please read the articles posted on Classroom. The topic is schema theory and how it connects
to social and cultural aspects of second language acquisition theory, particularly literacy. It appears to
be a complex cognitive topic, but it wouldn’t be so complex if academic writers would write in a less
dense manner. Here’s an overview:
As we proceed through our lives we learn things. We store those things in our long-term memory, and
pull them out when we need them. Think of schemas as little storage boxes we have in our brains. I
have a schema about geometry – I know what it is, it is stored in my long-term memory, and with a little
bit of promptings and reminders I can pull my geometry out and use it. Schemas are how we store
information; it’s how our brains work.
In a teaching/classroom environment, the terms background knowledge, prior knowledge, existing
knowledge, etc. are often used to refer to schemas. Because you all are master’s students you should
use the term schemas.
When information is not already in our schemas, or when new information is available that conflicts
with what we know, this creates a problem for us. If the information is new, we need to be taught, and
we need to be taught in incremental steps. Otherwise, we experience cognitive overload and our brains
shut down. Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, and Krashen’s i+1 are grounded in this idea. If I
didn’t already know something about geometry, the teacher would have to do more than prompt and
remind, they would have to teach me from the beginning. However, if I already know something about
geometry, the teacher can activate that and then build on what I know, which enhances learning (and
also saves a lot of time!) Below is a visual representation of ZPD and i+1. What you already know is
your schema. Too much new information all at once creates difficulty and then cognitive overload.
Cognitive overload
What I can learn
with difficulty
What I can learn
easily
What I already
know
If the new information conflicts with what we already know, we experience cognitive dissonance, which
is very stressful. If our parents teach us one thing, and then we go to school and learn something
different, this creates serious issues for us. We can deny, we can say to the teacher (or our parents!)
“No, you’re wrong!” or we can reflect and process and adapt our schemas. In the US we are currently
having serious issues about this very topic. For example, students are being asked to read about the
brutal realities of slavery which often conflicts with the schemas their parents have instilled in them.
Some parents are angry and fighting with teachers and school administrators. Others, like me, feel that
we need to study and learn about unpleasant topics so that we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past.
Cognitive dissonance is rather beyond the scope of this class, and we won’t be talking much about it. I
wanted to address this because it does relate to schema theory. Also, I know that you all are interested
in what’s going on in the US, and what’s going on is totally connected to a conflict of schemas that exist
among different people, and that some people do not want their children to learn unpleasant
information that conflicts with their existing pleasant schemas.
The readings address schema theory as it relates to reading in general, and reading in a student’s second
language in particular. This is how schema theory manifests itself in the classroom. At issue is how
schemas are built, and the article Schema Theory Revisited discusses the connection between social and
cultural aspects of schema-building, implying that diverse students are going to have diverse schemas
that can impact their reading comprehension. If my teacher wants me to read something and I already
know something about (I have a schema about the topic), my comprehension will be high. If I know
nothing about the topic (I don’t have a schema about the topic), my comprehension will be low. How do
teachers address this? We’ll talk about this in class Friday.
Cognitive
overload
What I can
learn with
difficulty
What I can
learn easily
What I
already
know
