4.1.2 data of two post-tests for different classes 19

     4.1.3 data of contrasts between two tests for the experimental class 20

  4.2 Effects of Schema Theory in Reading Teaching 22

Chapter Five   Conclusion 22

  5.1 Major Findings 22

  5.2 Implications 24

  5.3 Limitation 25

References 26

Appendix 28

Application of Schema Theory in English Reading Teaching in Junior High School

Chapter One   Introduction

1.1 Background

Reading class is one of the main methods to train junior high school students' reading ability, which occupies an important position in junior high school English teaching. However, many students feel depressed because of low scores and then lose interest and confidence in English reading. In addition, in most classes, teachers dominantly impart knowledge while students passively accept it. The teaching of reading materials mainly focuses on vocabulary and grammar knowledge instead of the cultivation of students' reading ability. As a result, students’ reading performances are not improved and teachers' teaching is often in trouble. English teaching in junior high school is facing a great challenge. Therefore, in order to effectively improve reading teaching, teachers must follow some theoretical instructions.

1.2 The Significance of the Paper

This paper focuses on improving students' ability in English learning, from acquiring information to processing information, from analyzing problems to solving problems in English. The development of comprehensive language skills is also emphasized. The main idea of the paper is to design an English reading teaching model based on the schema theory.

The development of reading ability plays an important role in the basic education stage, but there are still many problems in the practical teaching of English reading. This paper applies schema theory in English reading class, aiming to verify the effectiveness of schema theory in junior high school English reading teaching. Therefore, the significance of this paper lies in the application of schema theory to find an effective English reading teaching method.

1.3 The Goal of the Paper

The goal of this paper is to investigate the application of schema theory in the current English reading class as well as its influence on the English reading ability of junior high school students.

The intention of this paper is to explore the role of schematic knowledge in reading, and then put forward the specific model of reading teaching based on schema theory, take the textbook of Oxford junior high school English as the carrier, and use this model to teach reading. The purpose of this paper is to deepen the application of schema theory in English reading teaching in junior high school in order to increase the efficiency of it. It is hoped that this study will have some theoretical and practical value in junior high school English reading teaching.

1.4 The Overall Structure of the Paper

The paper is pided into five chapters in order to accomplish the goals mentioned above. Chapter one serves as the introduction, which generalizes the background information along with the significance and the goal of the research. Chapter two is literature review, which introduces three reading models. The development of schema theory is also included in this chapter. The third chapter is methodology. The experiment was conducted on two class by applying schema theory in the experimental class while adapting traditional teaching model to the contrast class. The results of the experiment are analyzed in Chapter four. Based on the collected data from the research, this paper discusses about the influence of the application of schema theory in English reading teaching in junior high school. Chapter five serves as the conclusion, which discusses about the major findings of the research. Moreover, it also points out some limitations of the research.