L1 domain-specific knowledge as predictor of reading comprehension in L2 domain-specific texts: The case of ELT student teachers

The present study examined the effect of L1 domain-relevant knowledge on L2 reading comprehension texts among student teachers of ELT (N = 90), drawn from a population of 270 student teachers studying at an undergraduate program in some state universities in Iran. A proficiency test was applied to control language proficiency of students. Among them, those whose scores were one standard deviation above and below the mean were selected and divided into three different groups based on their L1 majors (mathematics, humanity and natural sciences). A 90-item test consisting of three domain-relevant subtests was constructed, validated and used to elicit the data. As for the test characteristic variable, the text difficulty of all the passages was also controlled for. The results generated from descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and follow up Scheffe tests revealed that domain-relevant texts influenced reading comprehension to a greater extent than domain-irrelevant ones. The implications for language teaching and material development are discussed and some suggestions for further research are offered.