Term

2007

Capstone

Restricted Access Thesis

Degree Name

MAESL

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of two pre-reading strategies on the building of sociocultural background knowledge for comprehending culturally unfamiliar texts as well as helping ELLs make active links between old and new knowledge. Seven adolescent English Language Learners (ELLs) with little background in Christianity participated in the one-week study. Each student read and took a quiz on four different reading passages based on common stories from the New Testament. The first and final reading passage and quiz pairs were not accompanied by a reading lesson, the second pair was accompanied by a K-W-L chart lesson, and the third pair was accompanied by an anticipation guide lesson. The results of the quiz scores were compared and the final results of the study suggest that although K-W-L charts aid comprehension for ELLs more than anticipation guides, both strategies are effective.

Share

COinS