THREE COMPONENTS OF BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE IN READING COMPREHENSION1

Patricia L. Carrell

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Second Language Acquisition and Learning EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning Reading and Literacy Development

Abstract

Research in native (English) and nonnative (ESL) reading comprehension has shown that the ability to understand texts is based not only on the comprehender's linguistic knowledge, but also on general knowledge of the world and the extent to which that knowledge is activated during processing. Separate components of background knowledge which have been identified in the literature are: (1) prior knowledge in the content area of the text (familiar vs. novel); (2) prior knowledge that the text is about a particular content area (context vs. no context); and (3) degree to which the lexical items in the text reveal the content area (transparent vs. opaque). This paper reports a study which shows the individual and interactive effects of these three separate variables on the reading comprehension of both native (English) and nonnative (ESL) readers. Results indicate that, unlike native speakers for whom all three components of background knowledge play a significant role in reading, understanding, and recalling a text, nonnative readers show virtually no significant effects of background knowledge. Further, also unlike native readers, nonnative readers appear not to have a good sense of how easy or difficult a text is for them to understand. These findings are discussed in relation to schema‐theoretical views of reading as an interactive process between the text and the reader, and in relation to their implications for ESL reading pedagogy.

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1985International intelligibility of English: directions and resources 2002Schema Theory and Knowledge‐Based Processes in Second Language Reading Comprehension: A Need for Alternative Perspectives 1995English-as-a-Second-Language Learners' Cognitive Reading Processes: A Review of Research in the United States 1989Second Language Reading Strategy Instruction: Its Effects on Comprehension and Word Inference Ability 2007

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