The Effects of Cultural Familiarity on Reading Comprehension of Iranian EFL Learners

Abstract: This study explores the role of cultural familiarity on reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. On the basis of the Michigan test scores, 60 EFL (English as a Foreign Language) university students were divided into two roughly equivalent groups who constituted two intact classes. Both the experimental and the control groups received one of the three short stories, while the experimental group also received the background knowledge passage of the administered short story. In order to assess reading comprehension, they were asked to write freerecall protocols based on what they had read. Scoring of the recall-protocols was based on propositional analysisaccording to which two stages of analysis, qualitative and quantitative, were undertaken in this study. The results show that familiarity with culture of target language facilitates reading comprehension significantly.

cultural familiarity, cultural schemata, reading comprehension, background knowledge