Abstract
<em>Some certain texts either written or spoken are sometimes very difficult to understand and interpret. This might happen if the readers or hearers do not have any experience or background knowledge about the texts to be interpreted. To make it clear, this paper aims at discussing the problems dealing with the role of schemata in interpreting some certain texts related to written and spoken texts. Concerning with individual’s experience or background knowledge of the texts, we then realize that everybody of us or a group of people has their own background knowledge which is different between one person and another, one group of people and another. These facts more often might make them interpret the texts differently based on their own experiences or background knowledge. This different interpretation is due to the different background knowledge or schemata of the readers or hearers, to whom the text is directed. In line with this problem, to avoid misunderstanding and misinterpreting between the two persons or community having different background knowledge or schemata, here are several special texts to discuss and analyze as it was stated by Michael Mc. Carthy (1991), such as: a) Public Notice, b) Headlines of Article on the Newspaper, c) Some Peaces of Small Ads, d) Short Dialogues in Public Services, and e) the Term “Jamu” in Javanese Culture were discussed in this paper. Based on the data analysis, it could be concluded that schemata were required much in efforts to understand and interpret both written and spoken texts correctly.</em>
Highlights
Schemata can be seen as the well-organized background knowledge which leads us to expect or predict aspects in our interpretation of discourse (Brown & Yule, 1983)
The four different interpretations are as follows: (a) TPA for “Taman Pendidikan Al-Qur’an” is a place to learn holy Qur’an. This term is usually used by the learners learning Holy Qur’an, their teacher and their parents; (b) TPA for Tempat Pembuangan Akhir sampah is a central area where trash or rubbish from different places are collected at the same location; (c) TPA for Tempat Penitipan Anak is a place where especially the carreer women put their children the whole day while they are working; (d) TPA for Tugas Perancangan Arsitektur” is a Task of Architectural Design
This term is usually used by the students majoring in architectural engineering, their friends and their lecturers. These different interpretations are due to the different background knowledge or schemata of the readers or hearers, to whom the text is directed
Summary
Schemata can be seen as the well-organized background knowledge which leads us to expect or predict aspects in our interpretation of discourse (Brown & Yule, 1983). When we read a statement in one massmedia several years ago: “Beberapa Ayam Hartono ditangkap” (Jawa Pos, 2000) as the head line on some local newspapers several years ago, probably not all people (readers) could directly be capable of interpreting well what the real meaning of the word “ayam” in that statement was. Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that whoever (the readers) would not be capable of understanding and interpreting that statement correctly if they did not have any experience or background knowledge about the case or the news that had already been published previously in the same newspapers or any other information from other sources Otherwise, they would not know what the implied meaning of the word “ayam” in that context.
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