The term “Schema” was first used in psychology and was defined as “an active organization of past reactions or experiences”. A Schemata is a generalized description or a conceptual system for understanding knowledge-how knowledge is represented and how it is used.

1. Schema theory
By. Dr. Kshetrimayum Sajina Devi

2. • The term “Schema” was first used in psychology and was defined as “an active organization
of past reactions or experiences”. A Schemata is a generalized description or a conceptual
system for understanding knowledge-how knowledge is represented and how it is used.
Schema can also be viewed as creating new connections by activating previous knowledge. It
is an organised knowledge structure. It is based on past, personal experiences, which are
powerful. The past knowledge mixes with new experiences and new knowledge is created. It
is a unique feature of the human information processing system. Each individual will have
his or her own set of schema, and the schema of two persons of the same concept may be
different. An example of schema would be to think of your schema of a cat.

3. • Schema Theory is a cognitive learning theory used by psychologists, linguists, and
psycholinguistics, to better understand the process of comprehension. It was introduced by
psychologist Sir Fredric Bartlett, and made popular by another psychologist, Jean Piaget, and
later expanded by education psychologist Richard Anderson. The Schema Theory describes how
knowledge is acquired, processed, and organised. The starting assumption of this theory is that
the “very act of comprehension involves one’s knowledge of the world”. According to this theory,
knowledge is a network of mental frames or cognitive constructs called Schema. Schema organise
knowledge stored in the long-term memory and represent knowledge about concepts, objects and
the relationships they have with other objects, situations, events, sequences of events, actions, and
sequences of actions. “Schema can represent knowledge at all levels - from ideologies and cultural
truths to knowledge about the meaning of a particular word, to knowledge about what patterns of
excitations are associated with what letters of the alphabet. We have schemata that represent all
levels of our experience, at all levels of abstraction. Finally, our schemas are our knowledge. All of
our general knowledge is embedded in schema.”

4. • Schema also expand and change in time, due to acquisition of new information, but deeply
installed schema are inert and slow in changing. This can provide an explanation as to why
some people live with incorrect or inconsistent beliefs rather than changing them. When new
information is retrieved, if possible, it will be assimilated into the existing schema(ta) or the
related schema will be changed(accommodated) in order to integrate the new information.
For example, during the schooling process, a child learns about lizard as a reptile first, and
assimilates the schema similar to lizards and when they see chameleon, tries to assimilate it
also as a reptile from its characters and develops corresponding schema. The schema of the
child is now expanded with the assimilation of a new item. The child identifies the
similarities and differences and the schema get more depth

5. • The schema theory also explains how readers use prior knowledge to comprehend and learn
from text. The term ‘schema’ is also defined as “a data structure for representing the concepts
stored in memory”. These are abstract knowledge structures. It is a general knowledge
structure used for understanding. The fundamental tenet of the schema theory assumes that
the written text does not carry any meaning by itself. Rather, a text only provides directions
for readers as to how they should retrieve or construct meaning from their previously
acquired knowledge. This previous knowledge is called the readers’ background knowledge
(prior knowledge), and the previously acquired knowledge structures are called schemata.

6. • The schemata of a reader are organised in a hierarchical manner, with the most general at
the top to the most specific at the bottom. Recall the example given beforein the context of
explaining what is a schema. Observe the following diagram and try to understand what we
mean by hierarchy in this context.

7. village
Dwelling
place
Farm Shandy
Huts houses
Group
of
trees
Farme
rs
Shops
Animal
s

8. • According to the schema theory, comprehending a text is an interactive process between the
reader’s background knowledge and the text. Efficient comprehension requires the ability to relate
the textual material to one’s own knowledge. Reading comprehension operates in two directions,
from bottom up to the top and from the top down to the bottom of the hierarchy. The bottom-up
processing is activated by specific data from the text, while the top-down processing starts with
general data to confirm these predictions. These two kinds of processing occur simultaneously and
interactively, which add to the concept of interaction or comprehension between the bottom-up and
top-down processes. According to the schema theory, people make sense of new experiences and the
world by activating the mental representations or schemas stored in their memory. New
experiences and information are interpreted according to how it fits into their schema.
Information that does not fit may be misunderstood or misconstrued. Now you may relate your
difficulty in comprehension with a definite cause. If there is a discrepancy between text material
demands and reader’s previous knowledge, then there may arise difficulty of not understanding or
misunderstanding.