Schema Theory and Knowledge‐Based Processes in Second Language Reading Comprehension: A Need for Alternative Perspectives

Despite major theoretical developments in second language (L2) reading comprehension over the last two decades, many attempts at explaining the role of knowledge in comprehension are still made almost exclusively in the context of schema theory. I first review and critically analyze the major assumptions underlying schema theory. Then, I consider an alternative perspective, a construction‐integration model of text comprehension, and discuss how this perspective, when applied to L2 reading comprehension, offers a fundamentally different and more comprehensive account of the role of knowledge and knowledge‐based processes that L2 researchers had previously tried to explain within schema‐theoretic principles.