A state-of-the art review of background knowledge as one of the major factors that influence reading comprehension performance

The aim of this paper is to review the research carried out to date on the use and effect of background knowledge on reading comprehension. We want to reflect on the use of background knowledge in first (L1) and second (L2) language reading comprehension and on the interrelation between language proficiency and background knowledge in reading comprehension performance. This study aims to provide more insight into the relationship between prior knowledge and reading comprehension, which will add to the knowledge of reading research and will help better understand the role of these factors and how they affect one another.El objetivo de este artículo es revisar la investigación que se ha llevado a cabo hasta la fecha acerca del uso y efecto del conocimiento previo en la comprensión escrita. Queremos reflexionar sobre el uso del conocimiento previo en la comprensión lectora en una lengua nativa y en una segunda lengua, así como sobre la interrelación entre la competencia lingüística y el conocimiento previo en la comprensión lectora. Este estudio pretende profundizar en la relación entre el conocimiento previo y la comprensión lectora, lo que incrementará el conocimiento de la investigación llevada a cabo en el campo de la lectura y ayudará a entender mejor el papel de estos factores y qué efecto tienen entre sí

A STATE-OF-THE-ART REVIEW OF BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE AS ONE OF THE MAJOR FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE READING COMPREHENSION PERFORMANCE

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to review the research carried out to date on the use and effect of background knowledge on reading comprehension. We want to reflect on the use of background knowledge in first (L1) and second (L2) language reading comprehension and on the interrelation between language proficiency and background knowledge in reading comprehension performance. This study aims to provide more insight into the relationship between prior knowledge and reading comprehension, which will add to the knowledge of reading research and will help better understand the role of these factors and how they affect one another.ResumenEl objetivo de este artículo es revisar la investigación que se ha llevado a cabo hasta la fecha acerca del uso y efecto del conocimiento previo en la comprensión escrita. Queremos reflexionar sobre el uso del conocimiento previo en la comprensión lectora en una lengua nativa y en una segunda lengua, así como sobre la interrelación entre la competencia lingüística y el conocimiento previo en la comprensión lectora. Este estudio pretende profundizar en la relación entre el conocimiento previo y la comprensión lectora, lo que incrementará el conocimiento de la investigación llevada a cabo en el campo de la lectura y ayudará a entender mejor el papel de estos factores y qué efecto tienen entre sí.

Comprehension and Learning from Social Studies Textbook Passages among Elementary School Children in Korea and the United States

Earlier research has shown that cultural schemata affect readers' comprehension from an expository text (e.g., Carrell, 1984, 1987; Swales, 1990). Previous research also suggested that there are shared features of well-designed text across cultures (Chambliss & Calfee, 1998) and that reader characteristics like background knowledge affect text comprehension (e.g. McKeown, Beck, Sinatra, & Loxterman, 1992; McNamara, Kintsch, Songer, & Kintsch,1996). However, little research has shown the relations among culture, text design, and reader characteristics. Accordingly, I first analyzed four US and Korean social studies textbook passages about two topics. Then, 63 Korean and 57 US 10-year-olds read in their own language one of the four passages that differed in topic and country of origin counterbalanced to insure that all passages were read by an equal number of students. Students completed perceived and demonstrated knowledge and individual interest measures before and after reading, and main ideas, conceptual understanding, free drawing, problem-solving, and situational interest measures after reading. I analyzed the large-group data with either mixed or between-subjects ANCOVA with background knowledge as a covariate. Additionally, four protocol students from each country thought aloud as they read one of the four passages and answered some interview questions after reading, which I qualitatively analyzed. The results of this study suggest that although cultural schemata made differences in the design of a text about the same topic, children's comprehension was not affected by cultural differences in text design. It did not matter whether a text was from their own or the other country. Rather, the comprehension of children from both countries was affected by their own background knowledge about the topic and whether a particular text was familiar with realistic examples, had interest-enhancing but not seductive features, had explicit statements or signals, and had features that facilitate active engagement such as why and how questions. More importantly, all of these textual features in comprehensible texts were coherently structured around main ideas. These findings indicate that comprehension and learning from text depends on the effective interplay between well-designed text and a reader who brings a certain level of background knowledge to text

The Effect of an Explicit Strategy Instructional Approach for the Treatment of L2 Writing Difficulties

Writing difficulties (WDs) have been investigated to identify what they are and how they occur, but not necessarily how to address them within a specific genre (Barsturkmen & Randow, 2014; Bitchener & Barsturkmen, 2006; Casanave & Hubard, 1992; Cooley & Lewkowicz, 1995; Hinkel, 2011; Hyland, 2002; Leki, Cumming & Silva, 2008; Ong, 2011; Silva, 1990; Thompson, Morton & Storch, 2013; Zhang, 2000). Because empirical research has shown strategies can help students improve their use of the English language, strategies were considered as one way of addressing specific WDs (Chamot, 2005; Griffiths, 2008; O’Malley & Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1986, 1990). Before investigating strategies, this thesis investigates approaches to resolving WDs and different perspectives about why WDs may occur in the expository genre. With that information, this thesis investigates the effectiveness of an explicit strategy instructional approach for addressing the identified WDs and for determining whether the knowledge gained from such an approach was retained and used appropriately after a 10-week period. This research was conducted with 70-second language (L2) students at a large University in the USA. A quasi-experimental study design was employed, including a pre-test / intervention / immediate and delayed post-test methodology to establish whether the instruction was effective. Additionally, a survey was used to investigate students’ perceived WDs in relation to their actual WDs. The first result showed that WDs related to linguistic accuracy (local WDs) were the most problematic and that these were followed by difficulties with writing appropriate propositions (global WDs) and difficulties with supporting them with appropriate examples (global WDs). The second result showed that there was no relationship between students’ perceptions of what was difficult for them and the difficulties that their writing revealed. The final result showed that the explicit strategy instruction was effective for writing appropriate propositions and for examples of propositions in the immediate post-test. The effectiveness of the explicit strategy instruction was also ‘retained’ over time for a number of students when immediate and delayed post-test texts were compared. Additionally, there were a few students who ‘improved’ in the delayed post-tests but who had not improved in the immediate post-test

More Bang for your Buck: Bolstering Learning Via Refutation Text with Refutation-based Elaborated Feedback

The current study examines the effects of refutation text and refutation-based elaborated feedback on conceptual understanding, self-efficacy, interest, beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge, within the context of learning about climate change. The study also tests whether elaborated feedback moderates the refutation text effect through an interaction. One hundred and fifty nine undergraduate students were recruited to participate in this study, which was administered via computer. They completed measures of their self-efficacy and interest in learning about climate change, as well as climate change beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge. Approximately half of the participants read a refutation text and half read a comparison expository text. Participants then completed a series of multiple choice questions either with or without elaborated refutation-based feedback, creating four mutually exclusive groups based on type of text by type of feedback design. Participants then answered five open-ended questions as a measure of deep conceptual understanding before completing the self-efficacy, interest, beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge measures again. There were no significant interaction effects of text and feedback by time on the variables of interest. However, there was a significant increase in overall interest, beliefs, and knowledge from pretest to posttest. Limitations and future research directions are discussed

Inference generation in the reading of expository texts by university students

The continued underperformance of many L2 students at primary, secondary and tertiary level is a cause for grave concern in South Africa. In an attempt to better understand the cognitivelinguistic conditions and processes that underlie academic performance and underperformance, this study looks at the problem of differential academic performance by focussing on the inferential ability of undergraduate L2 students during the reading of expository texts. The study works within a constructivist theory of reading, where the successful understanding of a text is seen to involve the construction of a mental representation of what the text is about. Inferencing plays an important role in constructing meaning during reading because it enables the reader to link incoming information with already given information, and it enables the reader to construct a mental representation of the meaning of a text by converting the linear input into a hierarchical mental representation of interrelated information. The main finding showed that the ability to make inferences during the reading of expository texts was strongly related to academic performance: the more inferences students made during the reading of expository texts, the better they performed academically. This relationship held across the making of various inferences, such as anaphoric inferences, vocabulary inferences, inferences about various semantic relations, and thematic inferences. In particular, the ability to make anaphoric, contrastive and causal inferences emerged as the strongest predictors of academic performance. The study provides strong empirical evidence that the ability to make inferences during reading enables a reader to construct meaning and thereby also to acquire new knowledge. Reading is not only a tool for independently accessing information in an information-driven society, it is fundamentally a tool for constructing meaning. Reading and inferencing are not additional tools that students need to master in the learning context- they constitute the very process whereby learning occurs.Linguistics and Modern LanguagesD.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics

Reading in the Content Area: Its Impact on Teaching in the Social Studies Classroom

This study focused on evaluating the sufficiency of research in reading in the content area used to instruct classroom teachers. The research used was conducted between 1970 and 2000 and incorporated into textbooks written between 1975 and 2005. Studies examined were those reported in the following journals: Review of Educational Research, Review of Research in Education, Social Education, Theory and Research in Social Education, Reading Research Quarterly, and Research in the Teaching of English. Some attention was also given to two major educational curriculum and issue journals- Educational Leadership and Phi Delta Kappan as these sources might identify relevant research studies for further investigation. References cited in more than one text helped identify and establish a baseline of those studies considered most significant by textbook authors. The findings of this study showed that the majority of citations looked at the following themes: -Learners acquire meaning from the printed page through thought. -Reading can and should be done for different purposes using a variety of materials. -A number of techniques can be used to teach reading skills. -Reading materials need to be selected according to changes in a child‘s interests. -Reading ability is the level of reading difficulty that students can cope with. It depends on ability rather than age or grade level. -Readability contributes to both the reader‘s degree of comprehension and the need for teacher assistance when reading difficulty exceeds the reader‘s capability. -Reading instruction, in some form, needs to be carried on into the secondary grades. Research findings from the 1970s were concerned with reading strategies, reading skills, reading comprehension, readability, attitudes towards reading, vocabulary, study skills, and content area reading programs. In the 1980s research cited in content area reading books looked at reading comprehension, reading skills, vocabulary, learning strategies, curriculum issues, purposes for reading and writing, content area reading programs, readability, schema theory, thinking skills, summarizing, comprehension strategies, and cooperative learning. By the 1990s more research cited in content area reading books focused on reading strategies, curriculum issues, how to read documents and graphs, reading skills, vocabulary, attitudes towards reading, reading comprehension, and activating background knowledge

An evaluation of the procedures used to assess and remediate the perceived writing difficulties of undergraduate students in the Faculty of Education at Edith Cowan University

The standards of written literacy of teacher-education students at Edith Cowan University are perceived by many staff to be inadequate. The Faculty of Education\u27s response to this perceived inadequacy is to carry out a mandatory skills-based remedial writing programme for students whose literacy competencies are judged to be deficient, The instrument used to assess the students\u27 literacy competencies is the English Skills Assessment test. The students\u27 performances in the various skills which the test purports to measure, also determine the area in which they are given remedial instruction if the results of the test suggest this is necessary. However, many Faculty of Education staff are concerned that there are important conceptual, structural, and organisational inadequacies in students\u27 writing which are not identified by the English Skills Assessment test and, therefore, are not attended to in remediation programmes based on the results generated by this test. This study was an evaluation of the remedial literacy programme conducted by the Faculty of Education at Edith Cowan University. The programme was evaluated from two perspectives (a) a theoretical perspective and (b) a practical perspective. Firstly, the study evaluated the procedures used by the Faculty of Education to diagnose and remediate writing difficulties among its first year student intake by comparing the assumptions underlying those procedures to the assumptions underlying a contemporary perspective of writing and the teaching of writing. This comparison revealed that not only were many of the procedures used by the Faculty ineffectual, but also some of the procedures used had the potential to inhibit the literacy development of its students. Secondly, the study investigated whether the English Skills Assessment test was able to identify (a) all the areas in which students experienced difficulties inwriting and (b) the students who were likely to experience the difficulties. The performances of 426 first year primary and secondary teacher education students attending the Mount Lawley Campus of the Edith Cowan University in the English Skills Assessment test were compared with their performances in a research-essay assignment, carried out as a normal part of their course work. The results of this aspect of the study reinforce the findings of an earlier study (Holbrook & Bourke, 1989) which reported that the English Skills Assessment test neither identified all the areas in which tertiary level students experience difficulty in their real writing nor the students likely to experience difficulties, This study shows that Holbrook and Bourke\u27s findings, which related to narrative text, also applied when students wrote expository text. These results challenge the validity of the Faculty\u27s use of the English Skills Assessment test as a means of identifying students with writing problems and show that any remedial writing programme based solely on the areas identified by the test will have a limited impact on the development of students\u27 written literacy. In addition to the data originally sought for this study, other information came to light which showed the limitations of the way in which the Faculty conceptualises students\u27 literacy needs. The emphasis of this programme is diagnosis and remediation. This conceptualisation has produced a literacy unit which is peripheral to the mainstream academic programme and which teaches the surface features of language in decontextualised, skills-based lessons. As a consequence, the unit: (a) is accorded marginal status by lecturers and students alike, ( b ) bears little relationship to what is happening in other units of the course, and (c) contributes little, if anything, to students\u27 literacy development. It is clear from the findings of this study that the Faculty of Educator\u27s remedial literacy programme contains serious flaws which cannot be rectified by attempting to modify the existing programme, The study concludes by recommending that the Faculty of Education should abandon its existing programme, along with its remedial emphasis, and institute a new programme designed to cater for the literacy needs of all its students. That is, all incoming students should be required to undertake a foundation unit which outlines the Faculty of Education\u27s requirements and expectations of students, and teaches them the structures and processes (reading, writing, and thinking) required for successful learning in Bachelor of Arts (Education) courses

Planning multisentential English text using communicative acts

The goal of this research is to develop explanation presentation mechanisms for knowledge based systems which enable them to define domain terminology and concepts, narrate events, elucidate plans, processes, or propositions and argue to support a claim or advocate action. This requires the development of devices which select, structure, order and then linguistically realize explanation content as coherent and cohesive English text. With the goal of identifying generic explanation presentation strategies, a wide range of naturally occurring texts were analyzed with respect to their communicative sttucture, function, content and intended effects on the reader. This motivated an integrated theory of communicative acts which characterizes text at the level of rhetorical acts (e.g., describe, define, narrate), illocutionary acts (e.g., inform, request), and locutionary acts (e.g., ask, command). Taken as a whole, the identified communicative acts characterize the structure, content and intended effects of four types of text: description, narration, exposition, argument. These text types have distinct effects such as getting the reader to know about entities, to know about events, to understand plans, processes, or propositions, or to believe propositions or want to perform actions. In addition to identifying the communicative function and effect of text at multiple levels of abstraction, this dissertation details a tripartite theory of focus of attention (discourse focus, temporal focus, and spatial focus) which constrains the planning and linguistic realization of text. To test the integrated theory of communicative acts and tripartite theory of focus of attention, a text generation system TEXPLAN (Textual EXplanation PLANner) was implemented that plans and linguistically realizes multisentential and multiparagraph explanations from knowledge based systems. The communicative acts identified during text analysis were formalized as over sixty compositional and (in some cases) recursive plan operators in the library of a hierarchical planner. Discourse, temporal, and spatial focus models were implemented to track and use attentional information to guide the organization and realization of text. Because the plan operators distinguish between the communicative function (e.g., argue for a proposition) and the expected effect (e.g., the reader believes the proposition) of communicative acts, the system is able to construct a discourse model of the structure and function of its textual responses as well as a user model of the expected effects of its responses on the reader's knowledge, beliefs, and desires. The system uses both the discourse model and user model to guide subsequent utterances. To test its generality, the system was interfaced to a variety of domain applications including a neuropsychological diagnosis system, a mission planning system, and a knowledge based mission simulator. The system produces descriptions, narrations, expositions, and arguments from these applications, thus exhibiting a broader range of rhetorical coverage than previous text generation systems