CONTENTS
I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 II. Influencing Factors of Cultural Background Knowledge on English
Reading Comprehension .............................................................................................. 2
2.1 Idiom ...................................................................................................................................... 2 2.2 Literature ............................................................................................................................. 3 2.3 Social Customs .................................................................................................................... 3 2.4 Social Lives .......................................................................................................................... 4 2.5 Allusions and History ........................................................................................................ 5
2.5.1 Allusions .................................................................................................................... 5 2.5.2 History........................................................................................................................ 6 2.6 Geography Environment ................................................................................................. 6
III. Suggested Teaching Strategies of Improving Reading Teaching
through Background Knowledge ...................................................................... 7
3.1 Teaching Strategies ............................................................................................................ 8
3.1.1Class Discussion ....................................................................................................... 8 3.1.2 Writing and Presenting Personal Experiences .............................................. 8 3.1.3 Comparison between Native and Foreign Background .............................. 9 3.1.4 Video and Slide Show ............................................................................................ 9
3.1.5 Use of True-or-False or Multiple-Choice Exercises ..................................... 9
3.1.6 Guessing and Inferring ......................................................................................... 9
3.1.7 Widely Reading..................................................................................................... 10
3.2 Models of Classroom Practices .................................................................................... 10
IV. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 11 References ...................................................................................................................................... 12 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. 13
I. Introduction
As the international communication and cooperation increasing, English is becoming more and more important in modern society. It becomes a main way to acquire advanced culture and scientific technology. Learning English of more importance in our society than today. However, reading is often considered the most difficult in terms of literacy, accuracy, and efficiency. Generally speaking, improving reading skills requires more time of training than improving listening or speaking. What factors affect the reading comprehension of EFL learners? The ability to read is acknowledged by the most stable and durable of the second language modalities (Bernhardt, 1991). In other words, reading plays a vital role in second language acquisition. For a long time, reading was traditionally viewed as a bottom-up process in a word -sentence-passage sequence, in which readers decode the text and rebuilt what the writer wants to convey. Accordingly, reading teaching becomes teaching of points known as grammar and vocabulary. When students comprehending the text, they are told that they fail because of their poor grammar or limited vocabulary. Consequently, people are misled to believe that the only approach of an effective reading is enlarging vocabulary and mastering grammatical rules. Actually it is not so.
During the latest forty years, researchers of foreign language reading show their doubt towards traditional view on reading and reading teaching. Goady (1997) thinks that the process between language and thinking referred to three elements: Conceptual ability, background knowledge and process strategies. Some other researchers such as Adams (1982), Hudson (1982) and Wilson (1986) also did researches on the importance of background knowledge in reading process. In China, Tan (1997) thinks that reading comprehension is a complicated psycholinguistic process. A nation’s language is infiltrating its native culture. The shortage of understanding of the native English culture is the key difficulty in English reading comprehension. Qiu (2004) points out that the more the learners know the background knowledge of foreign language countries, the easier they communicate with foreigners. Yang (1995), Lai (1998), Hu (1999) and study to aid their L2 teaching practice.
Based on these studies, this paper discusses the relationship between reading
comprehension and background knowledge and then discusses . Finally it provides some effective methods to introduce background knowledge in reading teaching, with its aim at improving reading in an anti-traditional way.
II. Influencing Factors of Cultural Background Knowledge on English Reading Comprehension
Transformational Generative Theory (Chomsky) asserts that reading comprehension begins at the smallest and simplest language units and each single word, sentence and passage carries its own meaning independently which noted in the introduction of this thesis, reading is simply decoding. When decoding ends, reading comprehension is realized. In that case, if comprehension does not go on successfully, it is the reading material that causes the problem grammatically or lexically. This theory the reader's own influence. The recent researches indicate that reading comprehension is neither simply a unidirectional information-receiving activity nor a comprehension of words, sentences, and texts. Readers construct a certain mode in the reading process, a comprehension-aimed and interactive process that requires consistent inferring and guessing. An interactive process means that a text affects readers through its words, content, and structure whereas readers apply their background knowledge to act on the text. Background contains many aspects (Zhang, 2005). 2.1 Idiom
Idiom is an important part of the language and culture of a society. It is often the same words may not to look down on such idioms just because they’re made up of such simple and easy words. He should look out for identical phrases with different meanings and look them up in a dictionary if into a lot of trouble when ’t give in, much less give up. If out well in the end” (Zhang and Cui, 2001).
Though the passage is short, it includes ten idioms: look down, made up of, look out for, look up, run into, give in, give up, keep at it, make out and turn out (well). 2.2 Literature
Many writers usually quoted literature such as famous experts and their
writings, folk literature and allegory etc..
Example: In Jane Eyre, when Jane Eyre a freshening gale, wakened by which pilgrim will go before getting into paradise. In John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, Bealah is a very peaceful, . When Jane Eyre felt of perusing customs to explain the meaning of the passage.
Example1: There are such several speeches in a material: “Why don't you go to church?” asked the minister. The non church goers said, “Well, I'll tell you. The first time I went to church they threw water in my face, and the second time they tied me to a woman I've you” (Qi, 2006).
For understanding of this reading material, the student must know: 1) “The first time I went to church they threw water in my face” means when parents baby to the church for baptism, pastor threw water in the child’s face; 2) “the second time they tied me to a woman I've the church. This article refers to the situation when a westerner dies; pastor finally prays and pulls up the earth to the coffin to carry on burying again. If the reader is not familiar with the religion cultural knowledge in the British and American country, cause the understanding of being blocked, let alone appreciates as the wedding ceremony was over, we rushed to the bride and struggled with each other for feeling of over me” (Wang, 2008).
In Chinese countryside, children will rush to the bride and struggle with each other for the coins of and why “we” struggle with each other for “I” felt the coins and banknotes. 2.4 Social Lives
In reading material, there are many vivid examples about social lives. Example 1: “By voting against mass transportation, voters to continue on a road to ruin. Our interstate avenues built to whisk suburban travelers in and out of downtown the text are very complicated. But some EFL learners find it very difficult to comprehend the meaning of the text. The reason is that, in trying to understand this paragraph, learners must the literal sense of words.
When reading this passage, many EFL learners may fail to perceive the connection between “mass transportation” and “interstate information carried by the passage is that many people in the United States own cars. The individual ownership of cars results in an overburdens of . Since so many people drive
themselves to work and travel around, the interstate the city causes the semantic associations of congestion and rush . The sentence “These be understood that the as few people nowadays take buses or trains, on which they could talk to each other. This example implies that covert cultural background is an important factor in reading performance.
Example 2: There is such a dialogue in Senior Student Book II Unit 22(SEFC,1999):
“--- Would you like another piece of bean curd ? ---Yes, please. It's delicious. Did you cook it yourself? ---Yes, of course. It's very easy. I'll teach you if you like.? ---How about some more beef? There's plenty more.? ---Well, just a little, please.?
---Let me give you some more chicken. And they are in dinner time. China and the western cultures treating meal. The Chinese take pride in “modesty”, while the Americans in “straight forwardness”. An American slightly edible instead. The Chinese always ask the visitors to and again, for fearing that the visitors , are different. The from , literature etc., often appear in English works and culture and be little appreciation .For example:
David and Goliath (from Bible)—David was a shepherd boy; metaphorical use, David and Goliath stand for a contest between two persons, enterprises, countries, etc., in which one is much smaller andor weaker, but in which the smaller one wins out (Zhang and Guo, 2005).
Some of these allusions may be looked up in the dictionary, but with the continuous development of society and language, new allusions country, one would be at a loss about the meaning and connotations of terms or expressions. For example:
A Rambo—Rambo is the character made famous by American movies around the mid-1980s. He is a tough soldier of the Vietnam War, resourceful, taciturn, lonely, and somewhat “odd”. Rambo gets involved in numerous risky adventures or in one violent situation after another. He makes miraculous escapes from impossible situations by shooting, knifing, bombing or burning boys and young men (Ma, 1995).