The Cultural Baggage of Second Language Reading: An Approach to Understanding the Practices and Perspectives of a Nonnative Product

Abstract: The role of background knowledge in second language (L2) reading has received much attention in pedagogical research through theoretical paradigms such as schema theory, mental models, scripts, and expectations. The recent culture goals of the National Standards (1999) have provided new direction for research in Interactive reading models, as sufficient background knowledge can help students comprehend the relationship between the practices and perspectives of a nonnative text or product. This article presents a 3R model of reading strategies (Recognize, Research, Relate) that focuses on developing background knowledge about a target culture while applying this schema to appropriate clues in a foreign text. Samples of data from a qualitative study testing the effectiveness of the 3R model accompany the discussion of this approach designed for a wide-ranging instructional audience. Key words: francophone, literature, reading, schema theory, second language acquisition (SLA), Standards Language: French Introduction In today's global society, foreign language study has become increasingly important as world leaders recognize its value for effective international communication and intercultural understanding. ACTFUs 2005: The Year of Languages campaign attests to the growing need for language educators to encourage more students to continue with foreign language study in a world progressively dominated by culturally diverse populations and international conflicts. The consequential rise in intercultural communication in all its forms-spoken, e-mail, formal documents, literary texts, and so forth-inevitably poses specific challenges because of the cultural baggage that each word carries. The written word in particular, taken devoid of its cultural and interpersonal context, can lead to vast misunderstandings easily avoidable through a culturally informed approach to textual communication. Indeed, the past few decades of research on reading strategies in second language acquisition (SLA) have focused on the importance of cultural knowledge in teaching foreign literature, leading to a somewhat broader view of the text than in previous decades. This interdisciplinary approach to literary analysis joins and expands upon prior research in fields such as cultural anthropology and semiotics. Schema theory, introduced in its earliest forms in 1932 by Sir Frederick Bartlctt in his book Remembering, has provided new insights for SLA reading strategy research through its emphasis on the relationship between the reader's background knowledge and the cultural context of the writer. Alternatively referred to throughout the years as scripts (Schank & Abelson, 1977), frames (Minsky, 1975), expectations (Tannen, 1978), schemata (Adams & Collins, 1977; Bartlctt, 1932; Rumelhart, 1977; Rumelhart & Ortony, 1977), and mental models (Johnson-Laird & Nicholas, 1983), reader background knowledge has particular significance in foreign language study because of the differing cultural perspectives of author and receiver. Findings by Carrell (1981, 1984a, 1984b, 1985, 1987) and others have shown that reading in a foreign language requires more active preparation on the part of the reader, who must not only activate the appropriate scripts or mental models while reading a tc.xi but also recognize and acquire any cultural information that may be lacking for an adequate understanding of the text. While one might assume that native readers already possess this necessary background knowledge when approaching a written document, readers of a foreign language text must overcome an added challenge of cultural unfamiliarity when processing written communication. In light of these issues, the purpose of this article is to examine studies on background knowledge in reading comprehension conducted throughout the past 20 years. This investigation will emphasize in particular those findings that highlight the challenges of foreign language reading comprehension, culminating in the development of a new model of reading strategies for foreign literature. …