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Key concepts in LTSchemasA schema is a mental representation of a typicalinstance. Schema theory suggests that peopleunderstand new experiences by activatingreleva nt schem as (also called sche ma ta ) in theirminds. They then assume, unless there is evidenceto the contrary, that the new experience conformsto their schematic representation. Schematicprocessing allows people to interpret newexperiences quickly and economically, makingintelligent guesses as to what is likely, evenbefore they have explicit evidence.Thus, if I tell you that I went to a restaurant lastnigh t , you are likely to assume (without beingtold) that I sat on a chair, ordered a meal, paid,and left. If you later discover that I sat on thefloor, cooked the mealmyself robbed the till atgunpoint, or stayed all night, you will adjust yourunderstanding accordingly. Schemas varyaccording to cultural norms and individualexperience: whether restaurants are expected toserve alcohol, whether they are routine or specialplaces to eat.Schema theory was proposed by the gestaltpsychologist Bartlett (1932) who observed howpeople, when asked to repeat a story frommemory, filled in details which did not occur inthe original but conformed to their own culturalnorms. The theory was further developed in theArtificial Intelligence work on perception and textprocessing during the 1970s (e.g. Schank andAb elson 1977), where a numb er of terms for typesof schema, such as scripts and fram es , were alsodeveloped. In the 1980s, schema theory becamean important component of discourse analysis(Sanford and Garrod 1981), reading theory(Carrell and Eisterhold 1983), and appliedlinguistics (Widdowson 1983, 1984).Schema theory is important to language teachingbecause schematic knowledge is as essential acomponent of successful communication aslinguistic knowledge (Widdowson 1983). It canhelp explain students comprehension problemsand suggest the kind of background knowledgethey need. As well as this general relevance,schema theory also explains some more specificpheno me na in language production and processing.The use of the definite article with a noun, forexample, can be determined by schematic

expectation, even though the noun is being usedfor the first time: We ordered a taxi. The drivertook a long time finding the ho use . Schema theorycan also explain how we choose unconsciouslybetween homonyms. We are unlikely to assume thesentence The King put his seal on the letter. to beabout an aquatic mammal, because that is not thekind of seal in most king schem as (Lehne rt,quoted in Cook 1989).The importance of schematic knowledge is nowwidely acknowledged in language teaching theory,and linked in particular to the importance ofdeveloping cultural knowledge in learners. Itshould be remembered, however, that whileschemas allow humans to process communicationfast without paying attention to every minordetail, they can often also be restrictive (Cook1994). A negative stereotype, for example, is aschema which leads to a refusal to perceive newinformation or to change one s ideas. Inunfamiliar situations, attention to detail and awillingness to abandon and change our schemasare still the hallmarks of a flexible and open mind.Guy Cook Institute of Ed ucation University ofLondonReferencesBartlett F.C. 1932. Remembering. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.Carrell P.and J. Eisterhold.1983. Schema theoryand ESL reading pedagogy in TESOL Quar-terly 17/4: 553-73 (reprinted in P. Carrell, J.Devine, and D. Eskey (eds.) InteractiveApproaches to Second LanguageReading Cam-

bridge: Cambridge University Press).Cook G. 1989. Discourse.Oxford: Oxford Uni-versity Press.Cook G. 1994. Discourse and Literature.Oxford:Oxford University Press.Sanford AJ. and S.C. Garrod. 1981. Under-standing Written Language.Chichester: W iley.Schank R.C.and R. Abelson.1977. Scripts PlansGoals and Understanding. Hillsdale N.J.:Lawrence Erlbaum.Widdowson H.G. 1983. Learning Purpose andLanguage Use. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress.Widdowson H.G. 1984. Explorations in AppliedLinguistics2. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

86 ELT JournalVolume51 1 January 1997 OxfordUniversity Press 1997