The Effect of Prior Knowledge on the Contribution of Working Memory to L2 Reading Comprehension
Working memory is believed to interact with a second language (L2) learning at the cognitive level. The present study sought to explore the impact of L2 readers’ prior knowledge on the contribution of working memory to reading comprehension. Eighty Iranian English learners were divided into two grou...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ijals.usb.ac.ir/article_5969_ceedfa822577b6d0764fe8d7b8040218.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797904025315704832 |
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| author | Hamid Allami Niloofar Yousefi |
| author_facet | Hamid Allami Niloofar Yousefi |
| author_sort | Hamid Allami |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Working memory is believed to interact with a second language (L2) learning at the cognitive level. The present study sought to explore the impact of L2 readers’ prior knowledge on the contribution of working memory to reading comprehension. Eighty Iranian English learners were divided into two groups of high and low by their scores on L2 knowledge and the topic knowledge tests. Their working memory spans, and reading comprehension abilities were measured via a working memory test and a reading comprehension test respectively. The results indicated that working memory significantly predicted L2 reading comprehension only when the readers had sufficient topic knowledge. The results also show that the learners’ comprehension was mostly determined by their L2 linguistic knowledge, even when they had considerable working memory capacity. The findings imply that readers’ prior knowledge could moderate the contribution of working memory in L2 reading comprehension. A certain level of knowledge in the target language and on the topic is required for L2 readers to help working memory work more efficiently. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T09:43:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-956abfa1eb244749b7ab23bd9631d525 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2008-5494 2322-3650 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T09:43:19Z |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | University of Sistan and Baluchestan |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-956abfa1eb244749b7ab23bd9631d5252023-02-17T06:16:27ZengUniversity of Sistan and BaluchestanIranian Journal of Applied Language Studies2008-54942322-36502020-10-01122295810.22111/ijals.2020.59695969The Effect of Prior Knowledge on the Contribution of Working Memory to L2 Reading ComprehensionHamid Allami0Niloofar Yousefi1Department of English Language Teaching, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, IranEnglish Department, Faculty of Languages and Literature, Yazd University,Yazd, IranWorking memory is believed to interact with a second language (L2) learning at the cognitive level. The present study sought to explore the impact of L2 readers’ prior knowledge on the contribution of working memory to reading comprehension. Eighty Iranian English learners were divided into two groups of high and low by their scores on L2 knowledge and the topic knowledge tests. Their working memory spans, and reading comprehension abilities were measured via a working memory test and a reading comprehension test respectively. The results indicated that working memory significantly predicted L2 reading comprehension only when the readers had sufficient topic knowledge. The results also show that the learners’ comprehension was mostly determined by their L2 linguistic knowledge, even when they had considerable working memory capacity. The findings imply that readers’ prior knowledge could moderate the contribution of working memory in L2 reading comprehension. A certain level of knowledge in the target language and on the topic is required for L2 readers to help working memory work more efficiently.https://ijals.usb.ac.ir/article_5969_ceedfa822577b6d0764fe8d7b8040218.pdfl2 knowledgetopic knowledgememory spanreading comprehensionworking memory |
| spellingShingle | Hamid Allami Niloofar Yousefi The Effect of Prior Knowledge on the Contribution of Working Memory to L2 Reading Comprehension Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies l2 knowledge topic knowledge memory span reading comprehension working memory |
| title | The Effect of Prior Knowledge on the Contribution of Working Memory to L2 Reading Comprehension |
| title_full | The Effect of Prior Knowledge on the Contribution of Working Memory to L2 Reading Comprehension |
| title_fullStr | The Effect of Prior Knowledge on the Contribution of Working Memory to L2 Reading Comprehension |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Effect of Prior Knowledge on the Contribution of Working Memory to L2 Reading Comprehension |
| title_short | The Effect of Prior Knowledge on the Contribution of Working Memory to L2 Reading Comprehension |
| title_sort | effect of prior knowledge on the contribution of working memory to l2 reading comprehension |
| topic | l2 knowledge topic knowledge memory span reading comprehension working memory |
| url | https://ijals.usb.ac.ir/article_5969_ceedfa822577b6d0764fe8d7b8040218.pdf |
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