Essay On Reading Comprehension

In other words, reading comprehension is a complicated cognitive process, which seems to be more complex in L2. Reading in an L2 is an active process involving different sources of knowledge like relevant language knowledge, appropriate background knowledge, and knowledge of text structure. In addition to the relevant linguistic, content, and formal schemata, an L2 reader needs to know the reading strategies and stances to compensate the insufficient knowledge in language or content of the text.

On the other hand, comprehension needs the continual integration of new information with the texts that have been read before. Cook, Halleran, and O’Brien, (1998) prove that information in the active memory maximizes the incoming information that in turn helps their easier integration. In reading comprehension theories, it is verified that a reader’s text representation is made of two components of the text-based representation, a representation of the explicitly written text (Kintsch, 1998), and the situation-based level of the text, a representation of the meaning of the text (Garrod & Sanford, 1990). Theoretically, readers are focused on the representation at the situation-based level. Johnson-Laird and Garnham (1980) explain a situation model as a mental thing that organizes the knowledge for discourse; the situation model has information from prior text that is supplemented by general and specific knowledge. For example, it might happen that despite not identifying some elements of a narrative text, as an example, such as setting or protagonist, most readers can develop a strong sense for the scene that is not mentioned directly in the text. As Graesser, Singer, & Trabasso (1994) write, constructing a coherent situation model needs ...

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...ring new motives, knowledge, and beliefs as well as strategies in language learning” (2006, p. 64). According to Taraban, Rynearson and Kerr (2000), L2 readers use different reading strategies for a different reading purpose. Nyikos and Oxford (1993, p. 21) describe these changes and the interaction of the participants’ strategic, affections, and beliefs as a learner’s beliefs change, new strategies arise, and the student become more self-confident and motivated to learn to use a language. Souvignier and Mokhlesgerami (2006) say that to become a strategic reader one needs a long-term process that can take years to accomplish. What is not clear is how this changing process happens. Therefore, there is a need to understand L2 reading better, as a developmental process. However, the focus of this study is on ready literary texts, especially poetry reading by L2 readers.