Cognitive Theory of Comprehension
Cognitive psychologists look at learning at being "intimately intertwined with developmental changes and a gradual increase in the sophistication of mental processes" (Churchill, 2013). Cognitive Psychologists have looked at Schema Theory to help understand comprehension development. Schema Theory Schema Theory states that all knowledge and prior experience is organised into units and within these individual units of knowledge, information of different topics is sorted. Schemas are important in reading comprehension as they affect the way information is interpreted while reading. Students may comprehend the same texts differently due to the varying patterns and levels of activation in each individuals schemata while reading a text (Meurer,1985). As schemata are made up of individuals background knowledge and information gained from individuals prior experiences, it is safe to claim that background knowledge is an essential component of reading comprehension. Schema theory directly relates to various strategies that have been found to be important for effective reading and comprehension including making connections, predicting and inferring. |
Sociocultural Theory of Comprehension Sociocultural theory looks at how learning is influenced by social context and how social factors can affect learning. Sociocultural theory states that learning is not an individualistic process and it needs to be learned in a social context with the help of peers or expert teachers (Ghafar Samar & Dehqan, 2013) One important aspect of the Sociocultural Theory is the Zone of Proximal Development. The Zone of Proximal Development is a concept developed by Vygotsky that identifies the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help (Churchill, 2013) Based on the Sociocultural Theory and the Zone of Proximal Development, it has been suggested that reading comprehension is a social skill that requires students to actively participate in interaction with their peers and teachers in order to facilitate learning. |