Abstract
U The term schema refers to the mental organization of an individual's past experience (Bartlett, 1932). Schema theory, based on the psycholinguistic model of reading (Coady, 1979), views reading as an interaction between the readers' background knowledge and the reading text. As Pearson-Casanave (1984) points out, the text does not carry meaning; it provides clues that enable readers to construct meaning from existing knowledge. The text activates and builds on existing schemata. In other words, as we read, we make assumptions about the information according to existing schemata. Schema theory and research (Aron, 1986; Carrell, 1984, 1987; Carrell & Eisterhold, 1983; Johnson, 1981, 1982; Nelson, 1987; Obah, 1983) demonstrate that students' reading comprehension is higher when reading about their native culture. However, on standardized tests such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency, ALIGU (American Language Institute, Georgetown University), and the Graduate Record Exam, students are asked to read passages that are probably not related to their native culture. This research asks, Will the improved reading comprehension skills acquired by using reading passages on native culture transfer to improved performance on reading passages on standardized reading tests?
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