The Effect of Prior Knowledge on the Contribution of Working Memory to L۲ Reading Comprehension

Working memory is believed to interact with a second language (L۲) learning at the cognitive level. The present study sought to explore the impact of L۲ readers’ prior knowledge on the contribution of working memory to reading comprehension. Eighty Iranian English learners were divided into two groups of high and low by their scores on L۲ knowledge and the topic knowledge tests. Their working memory spans, and reading comprehension abilities were measured via a working memory test and a reading comprehension test respectively. The results indicated that working memory significantly predicted L۲ reading comprehension only when the readers had sufficient topic knowledge. The results also show that the learners’ comprehension was mostly determined by their L۲ linguistic knowledge, even when they had considerable working memory capacity. The findings imply that readers’ prior knowledge could moderate the contribution of working memory in L۲ reading comprehension. A certain level of knowledge in the target language and on the topic is required for L۲ readers to help working memory work more efficiently.

Keywords:

L۲ knowledge , topic knowledge , memory span , Reading Comprehension , working memory