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by Donna and Meg
 * = [[image:r_CerCardosoDec06Fig1_cont.jpg width="216" height="189"]]﻿ Schema Theory  =

__ INTRODUCTION __

Chapter 20 Role of the Reader's Schema in Comprehension, Learning, and Memory
Definition of Schema- Organized knowledge of the world Schema Theory- Reader's schema allows a reader to comprehend, learn, and remember information read.

"By scaffolding learning and using what the students already know, educators are providing students with a gateway to understanding far more then they would be capable of without unlocking their mental filing cabinets." __**Schemata and Comprehension **__ Bransford and Johnson conducted an experiment where people were given a simple text to read for which they were unable to construct schema. This experiment showed that it is important for the reader to have schema that tells the relationships among elements. It is not enough to have the reading be easy to understand and easy to visualize. Anderson, Reynolds, Schallert, and Goetz asked people to read an exerpt that could be interpreted in two ways. The passage is about a wrestler, but the language used could fit the description of a convict. __﻿__ __**Schema-Based Processes in Learning and Remembering **__  1. I t took more time for the individuals to read the letter(s) concerning the wedding rituals of the other culture. 2. They were able to recall more information about the wedding of there own culture then that of the other culture. 3. Elaborations of the text were minimal for those reading about the wedding of their cultural. Distortions, culturally inppropriate modifications of the text, were more common for those who read the letters of the other culture. 4. The study also showed that Indians and Americans placed value on different parts of the text depending on their cultural beliefs. This was a reflection of the things their culture valued. 5. Schema theory-text units that are important in the light of the schema are more likely to be learned, and once learned, are more likely to be remembered. 1. African -Americans described the use of "sounding" as a friendly exchange between friends. Whites described the use of "sounding" as 'an ugly <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">confrontation'. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">2. When written material has identifiable cultural weight there is a significant <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">effect on comprehension. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">a. Anderson, Spiro, and Anderson had individuals read a passage about a formal dining experience and others read aba passage about a trip to the grocery store. The two passages were written similarily, listing foods, drinks, and characters. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">1. Individuals who read the restaurant text recalled more information about food <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">and drink in both of the experiments. (#'s 2&3) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">2. Schema about formal dining has a more restricted structure then schema <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">about the grocery store. Example, you are able to get select items at <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">a formal restaurant, where as at a grocery store you can get a larger variety <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">of items. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">3. There are more cross-connections among items in a restaurant schema. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">4. In another experiment, individuals were more likely to recall who ordered what <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">rather then who put what in the shopping cart. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">5. And, individuals recalled the order of items asked for at the restaurant more so <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">then at the grocery store because the order of items asked for at a restaurant <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">is important (You would not order your dessert before you order your main <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">dish.) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">1. People learned more information that was concerned with their chosen perspective. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">2. The experiment also showed that the reader's perspective had influence on learning and recall. When they changed perspectives they detected new information. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Teaching suggestions should be added to Basals and content area texts to promote the following: <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">1.They do not automatically integrate what they are reading with what they already know. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">2.Questions should be asked that remind children of relevant experiences of their own and orient them towards the problems of the story characters. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">1. Evidence: Hayes and Tierney had students read and recall newspaper reports of cricket matches. Performance improved significantly when students received information about how cricket is played before reading the reports. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">1. Prediction strategies such as DRTA (Directed Reading Thinking Activity) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">2. Readers were able to recall more sentences when they predicted the story, (rather then just focus on decoding.) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">1. Use advance organizers <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Ausubel, a schema theorist, said "the principal function of the organizer is to bridge the gap between what the learner already knows and what he needs to know before he can successfully learn the task at hand." <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">1.Minority children may sometimes be counted as failing to comprehend school reading material because their schemata do not match those of the majority children. --
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">A reader is able to comprehend reading material when he/she has the schema that allows them to understand key parts of the reading.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Without schema a person would not have the knowledge necessary to understand the reading passage
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The importance of having schema for comprehension to take place applies to simple as well as complex reading passages.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Schema theory emphasizes the fact that text can be interpreted in different ways. Schema used to comprehend the text varies person to person because we all have had various experiences based on our culture.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Conventional View **
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Comprehension consists of aggregating the meanings of words to form the meanings of clauses, aggregating the meanings of clauses to form the meanings of sentences, aggregating the meaning of sentences to form the meanings of paragraphs, and so on. (p. 598)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The meanings of words cannot be "added up" to give the meaning of the whole.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Schema theory- the message is comprehended when the reader's schema is used.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Schema theory- Reading is an interactive process. Analysis does not proceed in a strict order from the visual information in letters to the overall interpretation of the text (p.598)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Bottom up"/"data driven"- Processes that flow from the print. The print determines the meanng of the text, affecting the reader's thoughts.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Top-down"/"hypothesis driven"- Processes that flow to the print. The reader's thoughts determine the meaning of the text.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Six Functions of Schemata in Comprehending Text **
 * //<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">A schema provides ideational scaffolding for assimilating text information. //
 * //<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">A schema faiclitates selective allocation of attention. //
 * //<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">A schema enables inferential elaboration. //
 * //<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">A schemata allows orderly searches of memory. //
 * //<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">A schema facilitates editing and summarizing. //
 * //<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">A schema permits inferential reconstruction. //
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Evidence for Schema Theory (Manipulating People's Schemata) **
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Schema plays an important role in understanding language.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Ideas that support schema theory, such as text passages that are important because of the schema in place, are evident in a cross-cultural experiment conducted in 1979 by Steffensen, Joag-Dev, and Anderson.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The study compared the comprehension, learning, and memory of Indians and Americans after they read letters about Indian and American weddings.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The results of the study found that:
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Can cultural differences (differences in schema) within the US cause differential reading and langusge comprehension?
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Will minority children comprehend the reading material (stories, books, tests) if they are written fronm a cultural perpective they do not share?
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Reynolds, Taylor, Steffensen, Shirley, and Anderson wrote about an event that involved "sounding". (A term used in an African-American community.)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">A reader's perspective has influence on learning and recall.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Pichert and Anderson had individuals read passages using different perspectives. Some read a passage from the perspective of a home buyer and some read the passage from the perspective of a burgular.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Unpublished research by Richard Anderson and others suggests that selective allocation of attention to text elements that are important in light of the reader's schema. (Longer reading times and slower reaction to a probe [tone sound])
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Implications of Schema Theory for Design of Materials and Classroom Instruction **
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Children need help in activating prior knowledge before reading.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Build prerequisite knowledge to promote comprehension.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Integrate what children know with what is presented on the page.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Highlight text structure.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Publish stories that recognize the diverse backgrounds of all children.

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">Chapter 21: "Schema Activation and Schema Acquisition: Comments on Richard C. Anderson's Remarks" =

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;"> media type="custom" key="8707402" align="center" __**PRESENTATION/NOTES**__ media type="custom" key="8707170"