Background Knowledge Introduction In ESL Reading And The Construction Of Situation Models

Nearly all foreign language teaching methodologies highlight the significant role that reading plays in SLA in that reading is the most convenient way for people to obtain information and knowledge from the outside world. However, reading is not, as most people suppose, simply to extract senses from words and sentences, but rather it constructs complex notional representations in the reader's mind, which is considered to be rather a complicated cognitive mental process, thus having aroused keen interest among numerous linguists, psychologists, and psycholinguists. A large number of theories and models related to text reading have been originated and developed, among which the Schema Theory initiated by Rumelhart, the Constructionist Theory by Graesser, Singer, Trabasso, etc., the Minimalist Hypothesis by Mckoon and Ratcliff, the Construction-Integration model (CI Model) by Kintsch.Among all the theories and models mentioned above, Kintsch's CI Model lays much emphasis on the significance of readers'background knowledge, or world knowledge. With respect to text representation, the CI Model makes a distinction between Surface Component, Textbase, and Situation Model. According to Kintsch, there are two stages in text comprehension:construction and integration. Textbase is formed in the stage of construction, while in the integration stage, the background knowledge of the reader are integrated with the information contained in the text to form a highly integrated Situational Model. Kintsch also makes a differentiation between remembering a text and learning from the text. For him, remembering a text means that one can reproduce it in some form, whereas learning from a text implies that one is able to use the information provided by the text in other ways, not just for reproduction.As Nuttall (2002) observed, a good introduction can arouse students' curiosity and help them to relate the text to their own experience, aims, and interests.To probe into how background introduction can be effectively made, the present study raises the following research questions:Which language should we use in background knowledge introduction before reading tasks begin, the readers'native language or the target language? Would background knowledge represented by different languages constitute different schemata in readers'mind?Is it possible that the final result of reading be predicted (at least partly) by the language used in background introduction?To answer these questions, a reading task and a testing paper were designed, and the data retrieved in the test were analysed with SPSS 16.0, the result of which indicates background knowledge in a different language from that of the target reading material is helpful in constructing an effectively integrated situational model, thus contributing to better comprehension on the part of the readers.