Abstract

RODRIGUEZ PEREZ, María Elena; MAYORAL GUTIERREZ, Luis Alfredo  and  MIRANDA HERRERA, Miltón Andrés. Reading as conceptual adjustment: the case of reading in a foreign language. Perfiles educativos [online]. 2015, vol.37, n.150, pp.56-75. ISSN 0185-2698.

Reading comprehension, conceived as a social practice, comprises a kind of dialogical relationship between the reader and the written discourse that is structured by cultural patterns within a linguistic community (or "conceptual adjustment"). In order to evaluate the way in which cultural patterns learned in the mother tongue influence the understanding of texts in a foreign language, three experiments were carried out with Mexican students with different levels of English proficiency, and with no experience of French. The students read an advertisement and a story in English, and a summary in French. The results showed that, when the demands of the reading or interaction between the researcher and reader favored readers using the cultural patterns connected to the texts in a relevant manner, all participants were able to understand them, independently of their mastery of the linguistic code.

Keywords : Reading comprehension; Foreign language; English teaching; Culture; Subjectivity.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )