Prior Knowledge and the role it plays in L2 reading processes of scientific texts amongst EFL undergraduates

Abstract

This paper reports on how EFL undergraduates negotiated two scientific texts in their first year at the university. Besides the reading theory, the research design of this study was guided by the schema theory that accounts for the role of prior knowledge in reading comprehension of texts. Two biology texts which differ in topic familiarity and language difficulty were used to determine the relationships between science prior knowledge and strategy use and reading comprehension scores of EFL undergraduates. A number of instruments to measure science prior knowledge, reading strategies and reading comprehension of both texts were used. For qualitative approach, think aloud protocols and retrospective interviews were conducted to gauge readers’ strategy choices and moves. The findings revealed that EFL readers with high prior knowledge did not overtly access their prior knowledge to understand the texts but vice verse for those with less prior knowledge