Schema Theory and Reading Comprehension

33 With text-to-world connections, readers stretch their thinking beyond the particulars of what they read, hear, and view to connect story themes with larger life issues. These are some questions that can be used to guide educators‘ or students‘ thinking as they practice making text-to-world connections: a What do you think the author‘s message or purpose was in writing this story or presenting this information? b What do you think was the author‘s opinion or perspective on the big ideas in this text? Do you agree? Why or why not? Au in Ajideh 2003: 7 proposes the Experience-Text-Relationship ETR method to activate students‘ schema. It consists of: a first, students expressing their own experience or knowledge about the topic prior to read, b after the students have adequately shared their knowledge, the text becomes the focus of the class. During this segment of the lesson, the teacher asks the students to read short sections of the text and then questions about the content. The teacher must be sensitive to those text areas that could elicit misunderstandings and work through any difficulties that the students may have, and c in the final stage, the teacher aids the students to draw relationships between personal experiences and the material discussed in the text stage. This step provides an opportunity for each student to make comparisons and contrasts with what they already know and to accommodate the new information into their preexisting schemata. Through this process, student‘s schemata become redefined and extended. The teacher has the 34 responsibility of leading the students to the appropriate answers without giving them too much information, so the task becomes one of self-discovery and integration. In line with Au, Willis 2008: 130 also gives a set of strategies to activate prior knowledge. They are as follows: a Activate students‘ background knowledge through discussions about interesting topics that will be included in the book before they read it. b Let students who already know something about the topic or author share their experiences and insights with classmates. Therefore, these students feel engaged and their enthusiasm builds interest among their classmates. c Continue to activate prior knowledge even after the book is started to sustain student goal-based and motivated reading. Every few chapters use pre - reading sessions that include questions and prompts related to additional prior knowledge that becomes pertinent during these later parts of the text. In Addition, Zhao and Zhu 2012: 115-116 propose pre-reading activities, while-reading activities, and post-reading activities in schema activation. They are presented as follows. a Pre-reading activities Schema determines readers comprehension of the text but sometimes the information that the texts provides are not enough to activate the relevant schema in students minds. That is, there are cases when 35 students do not store the proper schema. Under such circumstances, teachers can help students activate previous schema or construct related schema through the activities at the pre-reading stage. Questioning, brainstorming and pre-teaching, pre-texting and pre- discussing are the simple and efficient pre-reading activities. b Whilst-reading activities Teachers should cultivate students‘ capability in making predictions in order to make them experience how their schema plays its role in making prediction. It does not matter that readers may not predict the details and that what they predict may not in accordance with the text, since it is usually the case. The point is that the prediction can guide them to find the key information and detect the interferential details; therefore, it is very possible that their reading speed can be increased. c Post-reading activities Outlining can help students clear the passage structure and conclude the main idea. It is fundamental to penetrate into the analysis and further discussion of the text. In relation to the media which can be used to support schema activation, William in Al – Issa 2006: 44 argues that for teaching reading comprehension, pre-reading phase is the most important phase for building background knowledge. The instructor has the opportunity to use pictures, slides, movies, games, and other devices to activate and build on the students‘