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

nrstott [at] teacher.email.ne.jp Schema theory describes the process by which readers combine their own background knowledge with the information in a text to comprehend that text. All readers carry different schemata (background information) and these are also often culture-specific. This is an important concept in ESL teaching, and prereading tasks are often designed to build or activate the learners ’ schemata. This paper summarizes some of the research into schema theory and its applications to ESL reading. The author also highlights some of the limitations of the use of the schema-theoretic approach and points out the importance both of developing the learners ’ vocabulary and of encouraging extensive reading