The Effects of Formal Schema on Reading Comprehension—An Experiment with Chinese EFL Readers

This study attempts to explore the effects of formal schemata or rhetorical patterns on reading comprehension through detailed analysis of a case study of 45 non-English majors from X University. The subjects were selected from three classes of comparable English level and were divided into three groups. Each group was asked to recall the text and finish a cloze test after reading one of three versions of a passage with identical content but different formal schemata: description schema, comparison and contrast schema, and problem-solution schema. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the recall protocol indicate that subjects displayed better recall of the text with highly structured schema than the one with loosely controlled schema, which suggests that formal schemata has a significant effect on written communication and the teaching of formal schemata to students is necessary to enhance their writing ability.