Background knowledge, linguistic complexity, and second-language reading comprehension

Abstract

In the present study, the role of cultural background knowledge on the reading comprehension of third graders acquiring literacy in Dutch as a first and second language is examined while the children read noncontrived texts from the reading curricula. Children were given three types of texts: texts referring to Dutch culture, texts referring to the cultures of immigrants from Near Eastern countries (i.e., Turkey and Morocco), and neutral texts. Within each type of text, a distinction was made between two levels of linguistic complexity. By means of reading-aloud protocols, retelling and questioning the children's reading performance on the distinguished types of texts was analyzed. A facilitating effect of cultural familiarity was found for both reading comprehension and reading efficiency. For the minority children, this effect was restricted to linguistically simple texts, because of their limited knowledge of the target language, Dutch.