The Effect of Discipline-Related Knowledge on Heritage Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension
This study explores the effect of prior discipline-related knowledge in reading comprehension for two groups of students of Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL). The first group (G1), had 22 students enrolled in a general Spanish course and the second (G2), had 18 students enrolled in a course of Sp...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Athens Institute for Education and Research
2020-02-01
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| Series: | Athens Journal of Education |
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| Online Access: | http://www.athensjournals.gr/education/2020-7-1-2-Velasquez.pdf |
| _version_ | 1818034051234136064 |
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| author | Edna Velásquez |
| author_facet | Edna Velásquez |
| author_sort | Edna Velásquez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study explores the effect of prior discipline-related knowledge in reading comprehension for two groups of students of Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL). The first group (G1), had 22 students enrolled in a general Spanish course and the second (G2), had 18 students enrolled in a course of Spanish for medical professions. The aim was to determine whether G2’s reading comprehension of a text related to medicine was better than G1’s. The instruments used were a lexical recognition test (LR) and a reading comprehension questionnaire (RC), both based on an article related to medicine. The former was used to verify the lexical baseline for both of these groups. From the results of the latter, we conclude that having prior thematic knowledge (in the area of medicine) had no effect on the understanding of this text. Additionally, at lower levels of lexical recognition (between 50% and 70%), the contribution of prior knowledge seemed to be greater, which could indicate that these students would greatly benefit from pre-reading activities that might activate previous knowledge or familiarize them with the topic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T06:33:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a4dbd4f8e1774427b279f60ccf45685d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2241-7958 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T06:33:00Z |
| publishDate | 2020-02-01 |
| publisher | Athens Institute for Education and Research |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Athens Journal of Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-a4dbd4f8e1774427b279f60ccf45685d2022-12-22T01:59:01ZengAthens Institute for Education and ResearchAthens Journal of Education2241-79582020-02-01713148https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.7-1-2The Effect of Discipline-Related Knowledge on Heritage Language Learners’ Reading ComprehensionEdna Velásquez0Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Houston, USAThis study explores the effect of prior discipline-related knowledge in reading comprehension for two groups of students of Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL). The first group (G1), had 22 students enrolled in a general Spanish course and the second (G2), had 18 students enrolled in a course of Spanish for medical professions. The aim was to determine whether G2’s reading comprehension of a text related to medicine was better than G1’s. The instruments used were a lexical recognition test (LR) and a reading comprehension questionnaire (RC), both based on an article related to medicine. The former was used to verify the lexical baseline for both of these groups. From the results of the latter, we conclude that having prior thematic knowledge (in the area of medicine) had no effect on the understanding of this text. Additionally, at lower levels of lexical recognition (between 50% and 70%), the contribution of prior knowledge seemed to be greater, which could indicate that these students would greatly benefit from pre-reading activities that might activate previous knowledge or familiarize them with the topic.http://www.athensjournals.gr/education/2020-7-1-2-Velasquez.pdfdiscipline-related knowledgereading comprehensionspanishheritage languagelexical recognition |
| spellingShingle | Edna Velásquez The Effect of Discipline-Related Knowledge on Heritage Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension Athens Journal of Education discipline-related knowledge reading comprehension spanish heritage language lexical recognition |
| title | The Effect of Discipline-Related Knowledge on Heritage Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension |
| title_full | The Effect of Discipline-Related Knowledge on Heritage Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension |
| title_fullStr | The Effect of Discipline-Related Knowledge on Heritage Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Effect of Discipline-Related Knowledge on Heritage Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension |
| title_short | The Effect of Discipline-Related Knowledge on Heritage Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension |
| title_sort | effect of discipline related knowledge on heritage language learners reading comprehension |
| topic | discipline-related knowledge reading comprehension spanish heritage language lexical recognition |
| url | http://www.athensjournals.gr/education/2020-7-1-2-Velasquez.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ednavelasquez theeffectofdisciplinerelatedknowledgeonheritagelanguagelearnersreadingcomprehension AT ednavelasquez effectofdisciplinerelatedknowledgeonheritagelanguagelearnersreadingcomprehension |