Research ProposalThe Analysis of the Importance of Background Knowledge inEnglish Reading Comprehension浅谈英语阅读中背景知识的重要性By Chen Yuchao Ⅰ、SignificanceThe place of English in current society is important. It plays a indispensable role in our study and life. We learned English from our primary school time, we use it in our daily study and life, and we will go with it in our future work. It will be throughout all our lives. Especially, as the rapid development of world science and technology, international competition becomes increasingly fierce, especially since 2008 Olympic Game and 2010 Shanghai Expo, China and the international economic, technological and cultural exchanges have become increasingly active and the development keeps the state of sustaining. Therefore, as the international demand for talent increases, the quality of English talent is required higher and higher.I think English reading comprehension is the most important part in the process of learning English,and as we all know, reading comprehension is a basic skill in our society. Every day, every hour, every minute, we need to read materials for the meaning of them when we acquire information and knowledge from the outside world and deal with the problem of our daily life. And background knowledge is the key factor affecting reading comprehension. Because comprehension is an interactive process between the learner’s background knowledge and the text. Although some clues are provided in the passage, reading cannot be finished without necessary background knowledge. People may know the meaning of words, but they can never understand the whole passage or deep meaning if it is lack of background knowledge. Background knowledge plays a crucial role in reading. The purpose of this article is to introduce the importance of accumulating background knowledge in English reading comprehension and how to accumulate them.From the above, we can draw a conclusion that the background knowledge is so crucial to English reading comprehension that we should accumulate background knowledge as much as possible. However, it is of importance that we should accumulate them by appropriate methods.Ⅱ、Literature ReviewBackground knowledge plays a crucial role in schemata theory.We reach reading comprehension by schemata theory in order to emphasize the importance of background knowledge in reading comprehension.The earliest formulation of schema was put forward by Immanuel Kant, the most famous philosopher in Germany. Bartlet，a German psychologist, concluded the first concept of schemata theory in 1932. He considered: “someone comprehending an article does not copy the context directly, it is the l earner’s construction of the information from the context and his previous knowledge. ” David Rumelhart, American artificial intelligence expert, developed the theory in 1970s. His point is one’s comprehension process depends on one’s own knowledge and kno wledge structure. The result of experiment done by Johnson in 1982 confirmed that the experience of readers could make them familiar with textual message and was beneficial to reading comprehension. The research result of Steffensen, Joag-dev & Anderson（1979）、Carrel（1981）、Johnson（1982）stated that someone would comprehend the article of his own country culture more easily. Hudson（1982）researched the relationship between background knowledge and foreign language competence. The result showed that schema is a crucial factor affecting reading comprehension, and its effect on reading comprehension is bigger than foreign language competence. Entin & Klare（1985）made a research on the interests and background knowledge of second language learners. They discovered background knowledge affected reading comprehension competence seriously by analysis.In the recent years, many scholars have made lots of research on reading comprehension by using schema theory in order to explore the effect of background knowledge in reading comprehension.(The Effect of Schema Theory in ReadingComprehension: Zhang Weiyou 1995, Yuan Bo 1997, Lin Ting 1996; The Function of Culture Background Knowledge in Reading Comprehension: Xia Yunwen, Li Gang 2008; Schema Theory and Reading Teaching: Zhang Shaojuan 2006, Ye Wei’er 1998, Zhang Huaijian, Huang Jianbing 1995, Wang Zi 1995 and so on)I think the comprehension without background knowledge does not exist. The problem of reading does not lie in linguistic knowledge but the learners’ backgrou nd knowledge. If we want to obtain high quality reading comprehension, we should own enough、appropriate background knowledge.From the above, we all know that in the former research, most scholars put attention to researching the effect of background knowledge in English reading comprehension. However, few focus on the accumulating methods of background knowledge in English reading comprehension. Hence, I intend to discuss the accumulating method of background knowledge in English reading comprehension as the same time when I research the importance of background knowledge.Ⅲ、Research content and outlineChapter Ⅰ IntroductionChapter Ⅱ Background Knowledge Theory2.1 Content Background Knowledge2.2 Formal Background KnowledgeChapter Ⅲ The Importance of Accumulating Background Knowledge in English reading comprehension3.1 The Importance of Accumulating Content Background Knowledge inEnglish reading comprehension3.2 The Importance of Accumulating Formal Background Knowledge inEnglish reading comprehensionChapter ⅣThe Methods of Accumulating Background Knowledge English reading comprehension4.1 The Methods of Accumulating Content Background KnowledgeEnglish reading comprehension4.2 The Methods of Accumulating Formal Background KnowledgeEnglish reading comprehensionChapter Ⅴ ConclusionⅣ、Key pointsThis paper will focus on the importance of background knowledge in English reading comprehension and the methods of accumulating background knowledge. There is a difficult point in the paper: schema theory. It is the technical term of background knowledge. Schemata theory describes how knowledge is represented and how new knowledge is integrated with a network of prior knowledge.Ⅴ、Research MethodologyThe research method adopted in this paper is Theoretic research of reviewing the literature records and documents both at home and abroad related to the topic. This method emphasizes collecting former points, and puts forward my own points on the basis of the research of predecessors.Ⅵ、ScheduleDec.26 Hand in research proposalJan.10—Feb.10 Study literature and improve the literature reviewFeb.10—Feb.20 Integrate informationFeb.20--May.5 Make the first draftMar.10 Deliver the first draft to the InstructorMar.15—Apr.1 Revise the paper and hand in the second draft.Apr. 5 –Apr.20 Improve the essay and hand in the third daft.May.5—May.11 Oral defenseⅦ、Reference[1] 谢继春. 背景知识与英语阅读理解[J].内江科技, 2009,（5）: P179[2] 张维友. 图式知识与阅读理解[J]. 外语界. 1995. 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