Abstract: Schema theory and metacognition theory of psycholinguistics have close relationship with reading comprehension. The success of reading comprehension depends not only on whether readers have language schemata， content schemata， formal schemata and cultural schemata related to reading materials， but also on whether readers could apply various reading strategies to manage and adjust these schemata to enhance their reading comprehension. Through four empirical experiments， it has been verified that lack of appropriate schemata and metacognitive reading strategies is the main cause of college students reading difficulty， and the positive effect of schemata and metacognitive reading strategies on college students reading comprehension has been proven as well. Therefore， in language teaching， instructors should actively help students construct various schemata and enhance their awareness of metacognition reading strategies.

Key words: schema, metacognitive reading strategy, reading difficulty