The Effects of Cultural Familiarity and Reading Activities on L2 Reading Comprehension

GÜRKAN S.

3rd International Conference on New Horizons in Education (INTE), Prague, Czech Republic, 5 - 07 June 2012, vol.55, pp.1196-1206, (Full Text) identifier

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Full Text
  • Volume: 55
  • Doi Number: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.615
  • City: Prague
  • Country: Czech Republic
  • Page Numbers: pp.1196-1206
  • Kocaeli University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This study examines whether cultural familiarity has an influence on reading comprehension and whether using a set of reading activities compensate for the absence of cultural familiarity. 60 junior Turkish EFL university students participated to the study. A 2 x 2 true-experimental research design was used in the study. The results revealed that the nativized version of a short story from the target language culture contributes to comprehension of L2 readers' significantly and the use of activities facilitated for better literal understanding of the original text. It also emphasizes a strong influence of cultural schema on comprehension. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of The Association of Science, Education and Technology