Comparison of the Effects of Two Schema Theory-Based Pre-Reading Activities in Spanish: Key Word Discussion and Vocabulary Review

摘要

This Study compares the effectiveness of two schema theory-based pre- reading activities: key word discussion and vocabulary review. Background knowledge plays an important role in reading comprehension. Schema theory models the processing of information and the role that background knowledge plays in comprehension. Research suggests that reading strategies based on schema theory improve reading comprehension. In terms of pre-reading activities based on schema theory, Klapper (1993) claims that getting students to think about and predict content is more fruitful than reviewing difficult vocabulary items. The current study compared the effectiveness of these two types of pre-reading exercises in three sections of Spanish 102 students at Brigham Young University. A pretest was first conducted to establish that all three sections were comparable in reading comprehension skill. Each section then read each of three readings followed by a reading comprehension test. Prior to each reading, one section conducted a vocabulary review, another section conducted a class discussion of key words modeled after the Pre-Reading Plan (PReP) designed by Langer (1981), and the third section conducted a pre-reading activity that combined both the vocabulary review and the class discussion of key words. Each pre-reading activity lasted approximately 15 minutes. The three treatments were rotated so that each section participated in each treatment one time. Data from the pretest and treatment reading comprehension tests were analyzed in terms of the change in scores between the pretest and the reading comprehension tests. The analysis failed to show that one treatment was significantly more effective than the others in improving student reading comprehension. The only significant variable was reading selection. The more difficult the reading, the smaller the change in scores between the pretest and the treatment reading comprehension tests.