THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BACKGROUND EXPERIENCE AND STUDENTS’ COMPREHENSION: A CROSS CULTURAL STUDY

Abstract

Helping students better understand what they read is of primary importance to reading teachers. Research on schema theory tells us that there is a strong relationship between the background experiences children have and how well they comprehend what they read. How do teachers build this background? Can it be done in the regular classroom setting? The purpose of this article is to describe a cross‐cultural study conducted in two classrooms, one in Texas and the other in England. Using a pre‐ and posttest model, the study shows that generally speaking (1) children understand and are able to answer questions about their own culture; (2) instruction in a classroom can improve the understanding of concepts from a differing culture; and, (3) classroom‐based, cross cultural research is possible