Building Background and Enhancing Literary Schema Using Media Knowledge

Building Background

Peterson and Pignotti (1993) describe an approach to reading literature that emphasizes activation of prior knowledge before reading rather than post-reading follow-up activities. They contend that "schema (background familiarity) is the most important factor of good comprehension. The teacher facilitates better understanding when the student is able to connect the known (prior knowledge) with the unknown (new ideas) found in the text" (Peterson and Pignotti, 1993, p. x).

Unfortunately, some students are deficit in their background knowledge, hampering the process of understanding. To address this problem, instructors and tutors should design literature worksheets that serve two purposes: to assess each student's knowledge of terms or concepts to be covered in the readings and to provide students with a similar baseline of knowledge. As Peterson and Pignotti explain, "it is possible to create a common base among the students that they will need for reading a novel or play. Clarification of ideas and predictions of situations before approaching major literary works can greatly enhance both understanding and inferential thinking" (1993, p. x).

Peterson and Pignotti report that the background-building worksheet strategy encourages students to relate the literature assignments to their own personal experiences. Students are better able to relate to characters and situations in the readings, enhancing interest and motivation.

Worksheets contain questions about key terms, concepts, and situations that students will encounter in the assigned reading. Worksheets are distributed prior to giving the assignments. "Each student [fills] out the chart or [answers] the questions, and then class responses [are] shared until all students [are] similarly clear in the necessary schema" (Peterson and Pignotti, 1993, p. x). Two sample worksheets from Peterson and Pignotti (1993) are illustrated below.

Show Me The Glass Menagerie and the Catcher In The Rye Worksheet

Enhancing Literary Schema Using Media Knowledge

Another approach to enhancing the knowledge base with which students may evaluate and assess literature is described by Sawyer (1994). Media knowledge is used to enrich the literary schema - story line, setting, character development, and plot - of students who "seem to have little background in basic concepts of literature" (Sawyer, 1994, p. 683).

Many students "have good backgrounds for literary elements - plot, story line, character development, and so on - when these are drawn from television, movies, and videos" (Sawyer, 1994, p. 683). The media approach stimulates past experiences with these critical aspects of literature, although the key elements were initially introduced to the students in a nonliterary context.

Mind Maps

One aspect of Sawyer's approach is to have students develop mind maps of literary schema and illustrate them using media examples. For instance, the various types of fictional plots may be mapped and exemplified using examples from television, movies, and videos, as illustrated in the example below. Students may work individually or in groups to complete the task. "This activity not only brings knowledge of differing [plot] types to the cognitive foreground, but almost always produces additional information on topics such as story line, theme, characterization, and climax" (Sawyer, 1994, p. 684).

Example Coming Soon.

Diagrams

In addition to mind maps, diagrams may be used to illustrate literary schema. Sawyer provides an example of a fiction plot diagram that may be used "to teach elements of plot line, such as introduction, rising action, climax, and denouement" (1994, p. 684). The template is given below and an example using a popular movie is also provided. Sawyer argues that "once students are aware of the pattern of fiction as seen in films, it is easier to chart the plot of a novel, short story, narrative poem, or play (1994, p. 684).

Example Coming Soon.