스키마활성화를 통한 효과적인 영어읽기 방안 연구

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of schema on reading comprehension. In this study the following three questions were investigated: (1) What are the effects of schema activation on reading? (2) How different are the effects of schema activation according to student gender? (3) How different are the effects of schema activation according to student reading abilities? The subjects of this study were eighty-five first grade high school students in Korea. They were divided into three groups on the basis of their English proficiency: Beginner-level, Intermediate-level, and Advanced-level. These three groups were given various types of reading materials to build their background knowledge. It aimed to help students access background information that can facilitate subsequent reading, provide specific information needed for successful comprehension, stimulate student interest, set up student expectation, and model strategies that students can later use on their own. Two months later, students were tested to evaluate the reading comprehension of those involved in this study. The results were as follows: Three groups given the schema activation treatment generally had better grades than before. Compared to the mean of achievement scores in pre- and post-test, there was no reading distinctions in gender. When comparing the reading comprehension test results between levels, there were statistical differences among three groups. Advanced-level students generally showed similar scores while Intermediate-level and Beginner-level students showed much better scores in reading through Schema Activation Treatment. The implication can be noted as follows: (1) In reading, it is more important to emphasize students' schema than any other features of the text. (2) In teaching reading, the student's background knowledge should be activated by various interesting and coherently linked materials, especially for the lower level students.