English Language Cultural Schema and Its Relationship to Saudi Secondary School Students’ Local Cultural Schema and to Their Attitudes towards Reading and Comprehension in English: A Case Study of Al-Ahsa Educational Zone, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Of all language skills (reading, writing listening and speaking), the reading skill needs to be put into consideration and given a special care. No doubt that the students’ future academic success in majors that adopt English as medium of instruction, mainly depends on a good reading and comprehension. Although reading is described by many as a receptive skill which requires knowledge of the language system of the target language as well as knowledge of the cultural schema of that language. This study aimed at discussing the relationship between the target language cultural background and the native language cultural background of the Saudi secondary school students. A total of thirty-two secondary school students studying at Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadiq Secondary School in Al-Ahas Educational Zone participated in that study. Participants were homogeneous in terms of age (16 - 19 years), gender (male), cultural background (the Saudi culture), and the native language (Arabic). Data were collected using a questionnaire. The results of the study show that the value of the (t) test is 2.909 with the value of freedom od (df) 31 and sig (2-tailed) of 0.007 less than 0.05 . This indicates that there is statistically significant difference between the target language cultural background and the native language cultural background of the Saudi secondary school students which affect their target language reading and comprehension. The study findings confirm the previous studies. It recommends some strategies and activities for the Saudi EFL teachers.