The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of background knowledge and previewing texts on the reading comprehension of native Mandarin-speaking English Language Learners (ELLs). Participating in the study were 20 3rd-5th grade ELL students whose first language is Mandarin. Using a within-subjects design, the participants' reading comprehension was measured after reading culturally familiar and culturally unfamiliar texts, both before and after participating in previewing instructional activities. The previewing activities were designed to provide the students with relevant background knowledge to help them comprehend the texts. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant interaction between the type of book (familiar vs. unfamiliar) and the preview intervention (preview vs no preview). The students had significantly higher reading comprehension scores when they were provided a previewing text before reading a culturally unfamiliar text. The results are discussed in terms of the facilitative effects of previews and culturally familiar texts on ELL students' reading comprehension. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2008. / October 27, 2008. / Mandarin-Speaking ELLs, Chinese ELLs' Reading Comprehension / Includes bibliographical references. / Ithel Jones, Professor Directing Dissertation; Shouping Hu, Outside Committee Member; Carolyn Piazza, Committee Member; Diana Rice, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_254250 |
| Contributors | Chen, Chia-I (authoraut), Jones, Ithel (professor directing dissertation), Hu, Shouping (outside committee member), Piazza, Carolyn (committee member), Rice, Diana (committee member), School of Teacher Education (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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