It is fascinating how culture affects everything that people do and especially the way they perceive things. Reading in a different language then one’s native language is very difficult, especially if one does not know the background or have the cultural knowledge required to understand the text properly. A good example of this includes social studies in U.S. schools. Social studies is one of the most difficult subjects to teach ELLs (English Language Learners) because of all the background and cultural knowledge that one must already know to even understand basic historical concepts. The English literature is also full of passages that require one to understand the culture before they can even begin to make sense of the passage. Through this multi-genre project the cultural problems and difficulties that nonnative speakers of English have when confronted with English texts will be shown and some strategies that ELLs can use to navigate through culturally embedded texts will be introduced through the means of various genres.
It was long thought that reading in a second language was simply a slower version of reading in the first language, but recently many more factors that include the culture, language and educational backgrounds of the readers have been shown to influence the second language reading process (Singhai, 1998). Specifically, cultural knowledge appears to play one of the largest roles in reading comprehension and the entire second language literacy process (Hyland, 2004; Kucer, 2001; Singhai, 1998; Pritchard, 1990; Bell, 1995; ; Johnson, 1981; Steffensen, Dev, and Anderson, 1979).
The ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher should strive to learn as much about their students’ language and cultural background, as well as trying to find as much information as possible pertaining to their students’ views of literacy in their first language (Singhai, 1998). Reading strategies taught to the students in the classroom and used by the teacher in order to help ELLs comprehend reading are essential in any ESL classroom. The ESL teacher should also understand the emotional state of their students as the students struggle to learn to read and write in their second language and how their students’ cultural views about literacy may affect the second language learning process (Bell, 1995).
Hyland, K. (2004). Genre and second language writing. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
This book mostly deals with the structure of writing and how one from a different culture can learn to figure out what kind of genre is being dealt with and, therefore, read it effectively based on their prior knowledge and the type of genre or writing being presented. The book does touch on culture and schema a little bit and I believe it to be a good source for this project.
Johnson, P. (1981). Effects on reading comprehension of language complexity and cultural background of a text. TESL Quarterly, 15, 169-181. Retrieved September 8, 2007, from JSTOR database.
This study involves Americans and Iranian ESL students reading texts that contain both stories from American folklore and Iranian folklore. The study found that the Iranians comprehended their folklore to a greater degree than the American folklore and the same was true for the American students. The study clearly shows the cultural differences and problems with reading in the L2 and only give a few broad strategies for how learners can overcome these problems.
Kucer, S. (2001). Dimensions of literacy: A conceptual base for teaching reading and writing in school settings. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
This is a wonderful book that deals with the teaching of reading and writing across cultures. It also has a lot of good information on the structure of our writing system and deals with the sociocultural dimensions f literacy in great detail.
Pritchard, R. (1990). The effects of cultural schemata on reading processing strategies. Reading Research Quarterly, 25, 273-295. Retrieved September 8, 2007, from JSTOR database.
In this article the author examines participants’ reading comprehension using texts that are written in their native language, but are about culturally different funerals. It reinforces the fact that readers that can relate to the material culturally will comprehend more than if they cannot. This article also lists the different strategies used by readers when dealing with materials that are from a different culture.
Singhal, M. (1998). A comparison of L1 and L2 reading: Cultural differences and schema. The Internet TESL Journal, 4. Retrieved September 8, 2007, from www.iteslj.org
This paper offers a very good overview on the role of culture in L2 reading and offers very good strategies that L2 readers can employ to discover the meaning of a text. This paper also quotes several case studies that specifically study culture’s role in L2 reading.
Sinclair Bell, J. (1995). The relationship between L1 and L2 literacy: Some complicated factors. TESL Quarterly 29, 687-704. Retrieved September 18, 2007, from JSTOR database.
This article addresses the preconceived cultural notions one brings into learning to read in a different language. This article does not give insight into the cultural differences in meaning or how an ESL learner can use certain strategies to find cultural meaning, but it does give insight into the emotional state of our ELLs and what they may go through in learning to read in the L2.
Steffensen, M.O., Joag-Dev, C., & Anderson, R. (1979). A cross-cultural perspective on reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 15, 10-29. Retrieved September 8, 2007, from JSTOR database.
This is a very detailed article that lends to the theory that cultural background does indeed affect reading comprehension in a variety of different ways. The article doe not talk about reading strategies, but does discuss some of the most difficult problems in cross-cultural reading and makes the claim that this could be a reason why so many minority students in the U.S. struggle with reading comprehension.
