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

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.