Question

What is the term for the mental frameworks or background knowledge that a reader activates to understand and interpret a text more effectively?

• A. Lexical competence
• B. Syntactic awareness
• C. Schema
• D. Textual cohesion

Answer 1

Answer:

C. Schema

Understanding Schema in Reading Comprehension

• Schema (plural: schemata) refers to an organized unit of knowledge or a mental framework that a person uses to understand and interpret information. It acts as a cognitive shortcut, allowing individuals to make sense of new experiences by relating them to existing knowledge.
• In the context of reading, schema is the background knowledge, experiences, and beliefs a reader possesses. This pre-existing knowledge is activated and applied to make meaning from a text.
• Role in Comprehension:
  • Bridging Gaps: Schema helps readers infer information not explicitly stated in the text.
  • Predicting: It enables readers to anticipate what might come next in a text, improving reading fluency and speed.
  • Organizing Information: Readers use schema to categorize and structure new information, making it easier to recall.
  • Resolving Ambiguities: Background knowledge helps in interpreting words or phrases that might have multiple meanings based on context.

• Key Concepts and Theories:

  • The concept of schema was first introduced by British psychologist Frederic Bartlett in 1932 in his book Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology. He emphasized how memory is reconstructive, not merely reproductive, and heavily influenced by pre-existing mental structures.
  • Later, it was further developed in cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence, notably by Jean Piaget (who used the term 'schemata' to describe cognitive structures in child development) and by cognitive scientists like David Rumelhart and Andrew Ortony, who applied it extensively to reading comprehension theory in the 1970s.
  • Types of Schema:
    • Content Schema: Relates to a reader's knowledge about the subject matter or topic of a text (e.g., knowing about football when reading a sports article).
    • Formal Schema: Relates to a reader's knowledge about the rhetorical structure or organization of different types of texts (e.g., knowing the structure of a narrative, a scientific report, or an argumentative essay).
    • Linguistic Schema: Refers to knowledge about language itself, including grammar, vocabulary, and syntax.

• Importance in Teaching and Learning:

  • Activating prior knowledge (schema) is a crucial pre-reading strategy. Teachers often engage students in discussions or activities to bring relevant background knowledge to the forefront before reading a new text.
  • Schema theory suggests that effective reading instruction should not only focus on decoding skills but also on building and activating students' background knowledge.
  • For competitive exams, understanding schema helps in tackling reading comprehension passages more effectively, as it highlights the importance of connecting new information with existing knowledge for better understanding and recall.