Introduction

Recent research in schema theory has demonstrated that background knowledge is a signficant factor in text comprehension. The theory proposes that schemata – dynamic abstract cognitive structures – are the basis of understanding. Comprehension is a constructive process integrating input from a message and the knowledge which is maintained in, and composes, schemata. It has been proposed that schemata contain slots or frames (Minsky 1975), which represent knowledge about a limited domain. These are instantiated with specific realisations as a text is comprehended (Anderson, Reynolds, Schallert and Goetz 1977), providing the reader the sense of having understood (Kuipers 4975). A schema also affects retrieval by providing a guide for the search process (Anderson and Pichert 1978).

The term ‘schema’ traces back to Bartlett (1932), who first demonstrated the effect of cultural membership on text recall. He had Englishmen read a North American Indian folktale, which was then recalled at increasing time intervals. From an English perspective, recalls were more coherent than the original story because subjects ‘rationalised’ exotic features of the text. Bartlett described remembering as an active process affected by ‘an interplay of individual and social factors’ (1932: 126).

Most recent work investigating the effect of cultural background knowledge on reading comprehension has focused on text structure. When Kintsch and Greene (1978) found that American college students read and recalled more of the propositions in a European fairy tale than an Apache folk tale, they proposed that there are cultural differences in story structure.