In this article, reading is considered to be an interactiveprocess in which the schematic information a readerpossesses for the topic of a given text is as important to adequate comprehension as the information presented on the printed page. When reading in a foreign language, understanding of that language's accompanying culture enables students to approach reading topics from the appropriate cultural perspective. Several classroom activities are described for use before reading, while reading, and after reading.At a time when innovative methodologies for oral language instruction are gaining recognition in the classroom as well as in the research literature (Wolfe and Jones, 11; Lafayette and Strasheim, 4), most materials developers and classroom teachers still continue to disregard the newer body of theory and application that has developed in reading (Schulz,8). As a result, reading materials and instruction for foreign language students remain dominated by the practices of the past which view reading as deriving meaning from print, without recognizing the full importance of the reader's background knowledge. The alternatives presented in this article are based on an interactive model of reading, which maintains that background knowledge readers bring to the reading act is as important as the information residing in the text. E. Jane Melendez Schema Theory and Reading ComprehensionThe following paragraph offers the readers of this article personal experience with the implications of schema theory. The paragraph contains four nonsense words: doogledorph, gleep, klem, and sleechy. Even though these words all follow the conventions of English spelling, and readers can undoubtably pronounce each one, it is impossible to assign them meaning out of context. However, as one reads the paragraph, the English equivalent meanings will become apparent. He kept on climbing until he reached the top of the doogledorph. He was suddenly engulfed by a dense sleechy. As the wind carried it away, he found himself gazing out over a breathtaking panorama. White peaks surrounded him, some with fluffy sleechies seeming to be skewered on their points. The klem was a deep blue, and everything seemed to sparkle as the bright sun beamed down. As he looked down into a valley, he saw a two-humped gleep ambling along the river bank. It was the most unusual one he had ever seen, but he was sure it was a gleep. He wondered what agleep was doing in a doogledorph area. They usually inhabited only desert areas. As most readers go through the paragraph, they recognize that the English equivalents for the nonsense words listed above are mountain, camel, sky, and cloud, respectively. Of course, these are the terms that make sense as one tries to fit real words into the spaces filled by nonsense. But, why are readers able to do this?For several years theorists in the field of reading have recognized readers' knowledge of the general