Furthermore, second language researchers have learned how expectations defined by a reader's culture influence what the reader understands when reading. Second language researchers and instructors are applying these research findings in classrooms through a variety of strategy-use activities such as those discussed below. Most foreign language reading specialists view reading as interactive. Into this framework, the reader fits what he or she finds in any passage. If new textual information does not fit into a reader's schemata, the reader misunderstands the new material, ignores the new material, or revises the schemata to match the facts within the passage.
Content schemata are background knowledge about the cultural orientation or content of a passage.
For example, readers might know that Mark Twain wrote stories about life on the Mississippi River during the nineteenth century. When teachers of second language reading recognize that each reader brings to the reading process a unique set of past experiences, emotional and mental processes, level of cognitive development, and interest level in the topic, they also recognize that not all teaching strategies will be effective for all students. When isolating the most effective teaching strategies to use with a group of students, the second language teacher must also consider those reader strategies that are not necessarily related to content schemata. All of these strategies can be targeted for use with foreign language materials. Another step in effectively teaching students how to read materials written in a second language is helping the individual reader to identify effective reading strategies based on text variables.