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Group 1 follows a general Spanish course (n=22), while Group 2 follows Spanish for medical professions (n=18). Using a lexical recognition test and a reading comprehension questionnaire based on a medicine-related article, results indicate prior thematic knowledge does not improve text understanding overall. At lower lexical recognition levels, prior knowledge may contribute more, suggesting value in pre-reading activities that activate background knowledge and familiarize the topic.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-effect-of-discipline-related-knowledge-on-heritage-language-learners-reading-comprehension/592762/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-effect-of-discipline-related-knowledge-on-heritage-language-learners-reading-comprehension/592762.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Marglet","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-19","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What two learner groups does the study compare?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Group 1 enrolled in a general Spanish course, while Group 2 enrolled in a Spanish course for medical professions.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Which instruments are used to measure performance?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The study uses a lexical recognition test (LR) and a reading comprehension questionnaire (RC), both based on a medicine-related article.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What is the main finding about prior medical knowledge?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Having prior thematic knowledge in medicine shows no overall effect on understanding the text, though benefits appear to be greater at lower lexical recognition levels.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},592762,1792165301,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},2336477982702,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","The Effect of Discipline-Related Knowledge on Heritage Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension  \nBy Edna Velásquez 􀀍  \nThis study explores the effect of prior discipline-related knowledge in reading comprehension for two groups of students of Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL) . The first group (G1), had 22 students enrolled in a general Spanish course and the second (G2), had 18 students enrolled in a course of Spanish for medical professions. The aim was to determine whether G2’s reading comprehension of a text related to medicine was better than G1’s.  \nThe instruments used were a lexical recognition test (LR) and a reading comprehension questionnaire (RC), both based on an article related to medicine. The former was used to verify the lexical baseline for both of these groups. From the results of the latter, we conclude that having prior thematic knowledge (in the area of medicine) had no effect on the understanding of this text. Additionally, at lower levels of lexical recognition (between 50% and 70%), the contribution of prior knowledge seemed to be greater, which could indicate that these students would greatly benefit from pre-reading activities that might activate previous knowledge or familiarize them with the topic.  \nKeywords: Discipline-related knowledge, reading comprehension, Spanish, Heritage language, lexical recognition.  \nIntroduction  \nIn many contexts, reading is arguably the most important of the four communicative skills. Carrell (1988) points out that it is essential in second and foreign language learning settings. It is also essential for learning languages for academic purposes - i.e, for those enrolled in courses where abundant reading material is used in the target language. It is clear that if these students want to be able to compete with native speakers and advance academically and professionally, they need to develop good reading skills.  \nGrabe (1991) also recognizes that reading is perhaps the most important skill for students of second languages in academic contexts, which has contributed to an increase in the number of studies in this area in recent years. Particularly, given the lingua franca status of English, most studies have been conducted for English as a Second Language (ESL), as a Foreign Language (EFL) and for English for Academic Purposes (EAP), as will be seen later in the discussion of previous studies. However, given the current internationalization of markets, an increasingly  \n􀀍Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Houston, USA.  \n[https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.7-1-2](https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.7-1-2) doi=10.30958/aje.7-1-2  \nglobalized economy, and migratory flows, other languages are beginning to gain importance on the world stage. This is the case of Spanish, whose presence and importance in the United States are reflected at the governmental level, in the media, business and education (Beaudrie & Fairclough, 2012) .  \nAccording to the 2010 census, the Hispanic population in the United States surpassed 50 million (constituting 16% of the total population) and it is projected that by the year 2060, it will be around 32% of the total population (US Census Bureau, 2010). Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States with more than 700,000 students (more than half of the total foreign language enrollment) taking Spanish classes in higher institutions (MLA survey, fall 2016). This greater presence of Spanish explains the growing demand for university courses in Spanish as a foreign language (SFL) and as a heritage language (SHL) .  \nValdés (2001) identifies a Heritage Language Learner (HLL) as \"an individual who is raised in a home where a non-English language is spoken, who speaks or at least understands the language, and who is to some degree bilingual in that language an in English\" (p. 38) . The author also points out these students are different from the traditional foreign language students in important ways and that this difference has to do ","cbCaib73LWhLJIqw","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaib73LWhLJIqw","pdf",510503,17,"English","# Introduction\n## Reading as a key skill in language learning\n## Heritage language learner definitions and characteristics\n## Classroom background and linguistic repertoire\n## Need for advanced biliteracy and academic registers","[{\"question\":\"What two learner groups does the study compare?\",\"answer\":\"Group 1 enrolled in a general Spanish course, while Group 2 enrolled in a Spanish course for medical professions.\"},{\"question\":\"Which instruments are used to measure performance?\",\"answer\":\"The study uses a lexical recognition test (LR) and a reading comprehension questionnaire (RC), both based on a medicine-related article.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the main finding about prior medical knowledge?\",\"answer\":\"Having prior thematic knowledge in medicine shows no overall effect on understanding the text, though benefits appear to be greater at lower lexical recognition levels.\"}]","The Effect of Discipline-Related Knowledge on Heritage Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension | PDF",1792075448,43]