Schema Theory and College English Reading Teaching

Reading plays a dominant role among the four skills in foreign language acquisition for college students. Unfortunately, over the past few decades, English teaching practice shows that Chinese students are vulnerable in it. Both their reading speed and their reading skills are far from being satisfactory. Schema theory presents a very efficient course in developing students' reading skills and improving their reading abilities. Based on a descriptive research, this paper aims to expound on the schema theory, its activation and construction on college English reading class. The research shows that the application of the theory is fulfilled throughout the whole reading process by designing various activities before, during and after the reading. The results testifies the assumption that its application is beneficial to cultivate students’ reading interest, quicken their reading speed and make proper judgments.