Schematic Cueing System

The schematic cueing system is one of the three deep structure systems governing meaning making during reading and writing. This system relates to the ways in which readers understand the larger ideas and themes in text, the ways in which knowledge is stored and retrieved in long-term memory, and the ways in which readers regulate the new to the known as they read. Writers use this system strategically to make their compositions meaningful.

“The schematic system involves the storage and retrieval of ideas and information by connecting new ideas to our background knowledge.

The schematic system is the set of cognitive processes that are at work when our heart quickens while reading a compelling written passage. It is the system that leaves us with indelible memories of books from our childhood and allows us to remember when we first went beyond the literal meanings of words to speculate about unwritten messages-those ideas the author may have considered when writing a particular text. The schematic system is at the heart of our personal interpretations and our drive to read more. It also reshapes our existing knowledge, belief systems, feelings, and opinions by accommodating newly learned or discovered ideas” (Keene, 2008, p. 121).”¹

In the following video of a fifth-grade lesson, schema is used to support inference during an instructional read-aloud of a picture book.

¹Keene, E. (2008). To understand: New horizons in reading comprehension. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.