THE ROLE OF BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE IN …the role of background knowledge in comprehending reading...
Transcript of THE ROLE OF BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE IN …the role of background knowledge in comprehending reading...
THE ROLE OF BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE IN COMPREHENDING
READING TEXT
NORZALINA BINTI NOR HASIN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
THE ROLE OF BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE IN COMPREHENDING
READING TEXT
NORZALINA BINTI NOR HASIN
Laporan projek ini dikemukakan sebagai memenuhi sebahagian daripada syarat
penganugerahan Ijazah Sarjana Muda Sains serta Pendidikan (TESL)
FAKULTI PENDIDIKAN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
SEPTEMBER, 2003
“ Saya akui ini adalah hasil kerja saya sendiri kecuali nukilan dan ringkasan
yang tiap–tiap satunya telah saya jelaskan sumbernya”
Tandatangan :_________________
Nama penulis :Norzalina Binti Nor Hasin
Tarikh :_________________
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Praise to God, Allah the Almighty who has given me strength and ability to
complete this study. Completing this study was a challenging task for me. I would
like to thank, Dr.Noor Abidah Mohd Omar who have shown patience in guiding,
assisting and encouraging me all the way through this study. Without her guidance,
it is impossible for me to complete this study.
To my beloved parents, Nor Hasin Mohd Nor and Siti Khazanah Isa, thank you for
being so patient in supporting me. Thank you for all the concern and care you people
showered on me. I am grateful to my parents, for filling me with expectations. I
hope I did not let any of you down.
This work is framed by my understanding and study of reading. To all the lecturers
who taught or helped me thank you. To my dear friends and course mates, I am very
grateful for all the support and believe you all gave me. To my wonderful
respondents, Hezrol, Faizal, John, Sam, Sarena, Koh, Mirawati, Shah, and Azlina,
thank you for your time and cooperation.
Last but not least, I am indebted to Mohd Ramdzan bin Ismail, who trusts,
encourages and supports me throughout the study. Thank you very much.
Abstrak
Membaca merupakan satu proses aktif yang melibatkan pembaca dan teks yang telah
dipilih. Mereka akan terlibat secara langusung dalam proses pembacaan untuk
mendapatkan isu penting mengenai teks tersebut. Selain daripada pembaca dan teks
bacaan, terdapat satu lagi element terlibat dalam proses pembacaan iaitu
pengetahuan sedia ada pada pembaca yang akan menjurus kepada proses
pemahaman yang lebih jitu. Tujuan kajian ini dijalankan ialah untuk mengenal pasti
adakah pengetahuan sedia ada menbantu dalam proses pembacaan dan untuk
mengenal pasti hubungan di antara pengetahuan sedia ada dengan teks. Pelajar tahun
tiga dari Institut Latihan Perindustrian di Pasir Gudang telah dipilih untuk menjadi
subjek bagi menjalankan kajian ini. Instrumen yang telah digunakan ialah tiga teks
yang berlainan dan juga perbincangan bersama subjek selepas ujian dijalankan.
Abstract
Reading is an active process where readers interact with the text. Reader
actively engaged in the reading process in order to get the main idea of the text.
Besides reader and the text, there is other element that cooperates in the process of
reading. Background knowledge that reader bring to a certain text, may contribute to
a better understanding towards the text. The purpose of this study is to investigate
the role of background knowledge to understand reading text. The objective of this
study are to examine whether background knowledge play a role in comprehending
reading text and to determine the relationship between background knowledge and
reading text to help readers in comprehending texts. The study was conducted
among third year students of higher National Diploma of Electronic at an Industrial
Training Institution at Pasir Gudang. The instruments used in this study were three
different texts as well as a short discussion with the subjects after the test was
carried out.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title page II
Pengesahan penyelia III
Declaration IV
Dedication V
Acknowledgement VI
Abstrak VII
Abstract VIII
Table of content IX
List of tables XIII
List of figures XIV
List of abbreviations XV
List of appendices XVI
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER CONTENT PAGE
SECTION I
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Background of the problem 2
1.2 Statement of problem 3
1.3 Objective of the study 3
1.4 Research questions 4
1.5 Purpose of the study 4
1.6 Scope of the study 4
1.7 Importance of the study 5
SECTION II
LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction 6
2.1 Schemata theory 8
2.1.1 Content schema 9
2.1.2 Formal schema 10
2.1.3 Linguistic schema 11
2.2 Reading material 12
2.3 Schemata and reading process 13
2.4 Reading phase 13
2.4.1 Pre-reading phase 14
2.4.2 Post reading phase 15
2.5 Reading strategy 16
2.6 Conclusion 17
SECTION III
METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction 18
3.1 Research design 18
3.2 The setting 19
3.3 The subjects 19
3.4 The research instrument 20
3.5 Research procedure 21
3.6 Data analysis 22
SECTION IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.0 Introduction 23
4.1 Detail scores of the results for control and
experimental group 24
4.2 Analysis and result for the control group 25
4.3 Analysis and result for the experimental group 27
4.4 Summary of the findings 29
4.5 Discussion 31
SECTION V
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 Introduction 35
5.1 Conclusion 35
5.2 Suggestions 36
SECTION V
REFERENCES 38
SECTION VI
APPENDICES 41
LIST OF TABLES
Table Title Page
Table 4.1 Marks obtained by respondents of control group 24
Table 4.2 Marks obtained by the respondents of experimental
Group 24
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Title Page
Figure 4.1 Percentage of correct answer by the control group –
text B (I) 25
Figure 4.2 Percentage of correct answer by the control group –
text B (III) 26
Figure 4.3 Percentage of correct answer by the experimental
group – text B (II) 27
Figure 4.4 Percentage of correct answer by the experimental
group – text B (III) 28
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
ESL – English as a Second Language
EFL – English as a Foreign Language
L1 – First Language
SPM – Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendices Page
Appendix A Text for the control group 41
Appendix B Text for the experimental group 49
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
According to Richards, (1997), reading is what happened when people look at a
text and assign meaning to the written symbols in that text. The text and the reader
are the two physical entities necessary for the reading process to begin. It is however
the interaction between the text and the reader that constitutes actual reading. The
interaction in reading is rather different from speaking because the writer is not
normally available, and this makes the task of both reader and writer more difficult
(Nesamalar Chitravelu, 2001).
On other hand, Loew (1983) refers reading as a psycholinguistic process in
which a reader uses a variety of skills to infer the writer’s intended meaning. The
reader’s repertoire includes knowledge of phonics, linguistic skills, knowledge about
the surrounding world, and above all, problem-solving strategies.
As readers read a text, they may have in mind some knowledge about the text.
The knowledge students bring to a text is what researchers called ‘schema’. The
background knowledge that they have may help them in understanding the text well.
However, this is associated with the students’ skill of reading – how they read the
text and what techniques they used in reading the text.
1.1 Background of the problem
Richards (1997) reveals that, the home, community, school, culture and
individual characteristics all shape the life experiences that readers bring to reading.
All these elements help form the complex reader and form the basis for
understanding the reading process. It has been suggested that “the background
information that readers bring to a text – including the knowledge of habits and
beliefs from their own life experiences – is often referred to as schema” (Richards,
1997). What people already know about the history, culture, habits, politic, sports
and music of any given place help them understand a reading about that topic. Also
the way they learned to read affects their degree of success in understanding a
particularly difficult text (Richards, 1997).
The background knowledge that we bring to a reading text is beneficial for us to
comprehend the main idea of the text. It helps us to generate our understanding and
reading strategies that are used in order to master the text well. Students with no
background knowledge will have difficulty in comprehending a particular text.
More exposure to the reading text will build the reader’s understanding of the
text compared to people who lack background knowledge. The capability to
understand the text will increase if readers have experienced or come across the
topic before. The more varied the community experiences and the more readers
participate in community events, the reader will gain the richer knowledge when
they encounter a text (Richards, 1997).
1.2 Statement of problem
As mentioned earlier, background knowledge do play an important role in
comprehending reading text. Based on the knowledge that readers bring to a text,
they are more motivated in reading the text and reading becomes more purposeful.
Knowing some of the clues of what the readers are going to read, is needed since it
will lead to active reading activity. Children sometimes will find books that they
read interesting if they are introduced to the topic before the reading process. On the
other hand, if the reader does not have any ideas about the text, it may be a difficult
for them to comprehend the text. Therefore, this study is carried out to determine to
what extent background knowledge assist readers in understanding or
comprehending text.
1.3 Objectives of the study
The objectives of the study are to:
1. examine whether background knowledge play a role in comprehending
reading text.
2. determine the relationship between background knowledge and reading
text to help readers in comprehending texts.
1.4 Research questions
The study seeks to answer the following questions:
1. Does background knowledge contribute to better understanding of a reading
text?
2. In what ways does background knowledge help in comprehending a reading
text?
1.5 Purpose of the study
The aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which background
knowledge helps learners to comprehend a reading text. The study also aims to
determine the relationship between background knowledge, which can help readers
in understanding a reading text.
1.6 Scope of the study
For this study, ten students were chosen as subjects. The subjects for this study
were third year students of higher National Diploma of Electronic at an Industrial
Training Institution at Pasir Gudang. The study looked at students’ background
knowledge performance and relationship between reading text by giving two texts to
two different groups of students – familiar text and unfamiliar text. Other
contribution on comprehending the text such as their experience and the
performance of subjects in reading texts based on different background will not be
taken into consideration.