Zhang, Xia2024-08-152024-08-1519931993https://hdl.handle.net/1828/20274This study investigates the effect of cross-cultural content schemata on read­ing comprehension of ESL beginners. It attempts to examine whether ESL begin­ners comprehend and recall significantly better a text which is culturally familiar than a text which is culturally unfamiliar. Subjects were a homogeneous group of ESL Chinese upper beginners at Camosun College. All of them were literate in their first language. The actual num­ber of subjects participating the test was twelve. Two stories representing Chinese and Western cultures respectively were chosen as the testing materials. Because the language used in the original texts was too difficult for the subjects, adaptation was necessary. The adaptation of the materials was based on the idea that both texts should contain the same number of propositions, the same type of discourse structures, and should be at the same level of linguistic complexity. The subjects were asked to read the two stories and then recall them in Chinese. To better measure their comprehension of the texts, they were also asked to answer fifteen multiple-choice and true or false questions on each text. Recall protocols were analysed for the number of propositions and inferences. Two methods of analyzing text propositions were employed. Kintsch's propositional analysis was used at a micro level, focusing on the detailed information of the texts. Brown & Yule's discourse analysis was employed for a macro level of analysis, focusing primarily on the gist information of the texts. The analysis of inferences included elaborations and distortions. Dependent t-tests were used to analyze the data. The statistical analysis of results showed that the subjects recalled and comprehended the culturally familiar text significantly better than the culturally unfamiliar text. They made more cultural­ly appropriate elaborations and less distortions from the Chinese story than from the Western story. Moreover, they spent less time in reading the familiar story than the unfamiliar story. Finally, a close look at the data revealed high individual differ­ences. The results of the study indicated that cultural content schemata play a signifi­cant role in reading comprehension and recall of ESL beginning students. And having cultural background knowledge of the content of an L2 text may compen­sate for ESL students' low level of language proficiency. However, significant individual differences suggest that while cultural content schemata of a text may facili­tate comprehension and recall of an L2 text, the degree to how much the prior knowledge can facilitate the understanding and remembering of the text seems to depend on the reader's second language competence and reading skills. Implica­tions for educational practice are that reading teachers of ESL upper beginners should provide the students with appropriate background knowledge, especially cultural background knowledge. And they should attempt to choose reading materials which are culturally familiar to the students. Additionally, the importance of the linguistic aspects of L2 should be noted.102 pagesAvailable to the World Wide WebUN SDG 4: Quality EducationThesis