The Effect of Cultural Familiarity on Reading Comprehension: An Approximate Replication of Erten and Razi (2009)

Abstract

This paper presents findings from an approximate replication of Erten and Razi (2009), which investigated the effects of cultural familiarity and reading activities on comprehension. Two variables were modified in the replication: participants’ first language (L1) and proficiency. Cultural referents were manipulated in a short story to make them more culturally familiar to participants. Reading comprehension was compared between four treatments: the original version with American cultural referents; original version plus reading activities; an adjusted version with L1 cultural referents; and adjusted version plus reading activities. While a large effect for cultural familiarity on comprehension was seen in the original study, no effect was found in the replication. Post-hoc analysis indicated lexical difficulty was likely a factor. The results suggest that if a large portion of vocabulary is unknown, no effect for cultural knowledge is seen. Thus, while cultural knowledge can aid comprehension, vocabulary knowledge seems to be more important.