Application of Schema Theory in English Reading Comprehension Teaching in Senior High School

Abstract

English reading is a basic language skill, and the level of English reading comprehension is directly related to the level of learners’ language ability. In recent years, the new curriculum standards and the new college entrance examination reform have put forward higher requirements for high school students’ English reading comprehension ability. However, English teachers pay much more attention to vocabulary, sentence patterns and grammar knowledge, and to some extent neglect the cultivation of the cultural knowledge, genre structure and reading strategies at present. English reading teaching based on schema theory emphasizes linguistic knowledge as the basis, activating the existing schema, enriching the background knowledge and grasping the discourse structure, so as to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the text. Therefore, this paper combines schema theory with English reading teaching, and analyzes how to effectively use schema theory to help students effectively read and improve their reading ability from three stages: before reading, while reading and after reading.