Reading is an interactive process. A reader uses his/her schema (background knowledge) about the subject in a text to comprehend. "Every act of comprehension involves one’s knowledge of the world" (Carrell & Eisterhold, 1983, p. 73). Being familiar with the content in the text directly affects one's understanding while reading, and ELLs may not always have culturally-specific schema to understand the text. Smith (1994, p. 8) states: "Everything we know and believe is organized in a theory of what the world is like, a theory that is the basis of all our perceptions and understanding of the world, the root of all learning, the source of hopes and fears, motive and expectancies, reasoning and creativity." What does this mean for ELLs who have a different understanding of the world, are new to the country, and are reading texts that may be culturally-specific to the United States? It means that ELLs may not understand what they are reading due to lack of background knowledge that has to do with United States culture and customs.
Bunny Trouble, written by Hans Wilhelm, is an example of a children's book that has culturally-specific content and vocabulary related to Easter that most English-speaking Americans would understand. Even for those children who do not celebrate Easter, they would most likely comprehend the story if they have heard about the Easter bunny and Easter eggs. Although many ELL may know about or even celebrate Easter, they may not be familiar with certain traditions in the U.S. associated with this holiday.
The story is about Ralph, a bunny, who is much too busy playing soccer to help the other bunnies decorate eggs the day before Easter. He gets himself into trouble and almost ends up in the farmer's stewpot. His sister saves Ralph, making him promise to help with the eggs and not be such a nuisance. When Ralph is set free, the farmer's animals say: "He must be the Easter Bunny...How else could he have gotten those eggs?" An ELL unfamilar with the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs would not understand the humor at the end of the story. As a teacher, you could do pre-reading activities to build background knowledge about the tradition of dying eggs and the Easter bunny, and use pictures or movie clips to build their schema. You might even dye eggs in a center to give ELLs this cultural experience.
Another children's book, We Gather Together...Now Please Get Lost!, by Diane deGroat, is another text that is culturally-specific to the United States. In this story, Gilbert, the hedgehog, and his class go on a field trip to "Pilgrim Town" the day before Thanksgiving. Everything that could go wrong for Gilbert does go wrong. He wakes up late, misses breakfast, is late to school, gets stuck with the class tattletale, and then gets locked in the public restroom when everyone leaves. More than Thanksgiving, it is a story about friendship and taking responsiblity for your own behavior. Even so, ELLs may not have sufficient schema about Thanksgiving in the United States, and therefore they would have a difficult time following the storyline. As a teacher, you would provide pictures of pilgrims and a Thanksgiving turkey, as well as background information about why many Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. You would discuss with ELLs what it means to be thankful, share personal examples of things you are thankful for and allow them time to talk, write, or draw: "I am thankful for..."
Carrell & Eisterhold (1983, p. 80) contend that "one of the most obvious reasons why a particular content schema may fail to exist for a reader is that the schema is cultually-specific and is not part of a particular reader's cultural backgroun." Knowing this as teachers, we can help ELLs gain background knowledge and build their schema regarding particular customs, holidays, and traditions in the United States so that they have a better chance of becoming procient readers who comprehend in their second language!
Sources:
Carrell, P.L. & Eisterhold, J.C. (1983). Schema theory and ESL reading pedagogy. TESOL Quarterly, 17, 553-569.
Carrell, P.L. (1983). Some issues in studying the role of schemata or background knowledge in second
language comprehension. Reading in a Foreign Language, 1, 81-92.
Smith. F. (1994). Understanding reading. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associations, Publishers.
Annotated Resources:
DeGroat, Diane. (2001). We gather together...now please get lost! New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.
This story features a little opossum named Gilbert and his animal pals. Gilbert and his friends go to
Pilgrim Town to learn about the daily life of early settlers. Gilbert gets stuck with "tattle-tale" Philip as
his partner for the day. He is not amused and tries to give Phillip "the slip" while on the field trip.
Gilbert ends up getting locked in a restroom, and Phillip saves the day. Gilbert then begins to
appreciate Phillip and takes responsiblilty for his behavior. This children's book is about friendship
and has Thanksgiving themes.
Wilhelm, Hans. (1985). Bunny Trouble. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.
This story features Ralph, an Easter bunny who would rather play soccer than paint eggs for Easter.
He lives with other Easter Bunnies, who eventually get mad at him for playing so much soccer and
not helping out with the egg decorating. When Ralph goes to play soccer elsewhere,he gets
captured and has to be rescued. He is rescued by his sister and a lot of Easter eggs, and eventually
makes it home in time to help decorate the Easter eggs just in time for Easter.
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