What Happens When L2 Readers Recall?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore how L2 readers perceive, understand, and reconstruct the information in an L2 text, by examining both quantitatively and qualitatively the ways their knowledge, interest, and strategy interact with text characteristics. Thirty EFL learners attending a Korean university participated in the study and performed a recall task after reading expository texts. Three texts different in textual organization and topic were used for the recall task, and the subjects' knowledge of text topic and vocabulary, knowledge of rhetorical organization, and interest in the text topic were measured. The subjects' retrospection protocols were also collected. Findings include the aspects of indirect influence of prior knowledge and topic interest on recall via multiple interactions with other factors, the way textual organization and strategy use interact, and the role of L2 formal schema in strategy choice while reading and recalling, etc. More findings and discussions are presented, along with implications for L2 reading instruction.