Schemas, authentic texts and cross-cultural communication

It is proposed that teaching and learning the schemas of language is important for effective language learning. In the first part of the paper, the cultural and linguistic interdependence of schemas is discussed. In the second part of the paper, 40 Chinese letters of request written by Mainland Chinese to Radio Australia are considered. The schemas and rhetorical structures of two of them are analysed in detail to illustrate points made in the first part of the paper. Finally a brief description is given of how the letters might be used to teach a request schema for Modern Standard Chinese to Australian tertiary students learning Chinese.