Schema: The Gear of Reading Teaching

The human mind is like the mechanical labyrinth, moving continuously until human himself could figure out what it is for. It's somewhat like a machine, processing, doing what it primarily does all over again unless it's been upgraded by the maker. After the machine is rebuilt-up for its new production skill, it goes better just like the reader who keeps on reading and building his mind's capacity.

The more knowledge is been stored to a reader's brain, the more competent will he be in identifying, comprehending, and applying his knowing with any possible happenings. The stored knowledge is called prior knowledge, but whenever it's organized in structure, it is schema which helps the reader to understand and respond to a topic familiar to him. Schema or schemata in its plurality are some kind of form, plan or outline which could give support, stand or basis to a reader's future encounter with certain concepts. It's where new information is processed accordingly. Schemata form independently by virtue of the contents each schema contains; they enable readers to communicate when necessary; according to Bartlett, they are active organization of past reactions of past experience, which must always be supposed to be operation in any well-adapted organic response, and are of great importance regarding the knowledge background and schema for text comprehension which is stated and stressed in his Schema Theory and in Reading Teaching.

Schema Theory. It was proposed by Bartlett who explains how this theory-- background knowledge-- could be best associated with language comprehension. It proposes, too, that a reader possesses different conceptual frameworks which he brings to the reading of a text and which he uses to make sense of what he reads.

Reading Teaching. Since English teaching reading isn't only teaching language but also culture, therefore, it is worthwhile to study practical methods of effective reading teaching. Here, teacher should provide as much background knowledge as possible for the reader to help him familiarize himself with appropriate schemata utilizing his comprehension through various methods or activities-- accumulation, activation, and construction of the reader's schemata.

Concerning reading, schema theory seems reasonable to be of enormous significance to it. Schemata give correct comprehension of the right information the reader has, and this makes him possible to interpret the world. Seemingly, schema is the driving force towards reading comprehension.

Until the labyrinth is been maze out, the adventurer finds success. Just like the process of comprehension, the reader is said to be successful if he gets to understand and respond to the newly or not read information, puzzling to fit in along with the prior knowledge, which the teacher or whoever gives to become a schema soon.