Exploring Content Schemata Influence on L2 Learners’ Comprehension of Zuraidah Omar's, Twelve and not Stupid

The interest in the influence of content schemata on reading among diploma level students who were undergoing the course, i.e. ELC150 Integrated Language Skills: Reading in Universiti Teknologi MARA (Perlis) motivated the researcher to conduct a qualitative case study. A short story entitled, Twelve and Not Stupid by Zuraidah Omar was selected for this study. The 150-word entry response from each participant and the interview data gathered from the in-depth interviews were analyzed to determine whether content schemata had influenced the learners’ understanding of the text. This study revealed that content schemata had influenced the learners’ understanding of the text as learners’ comprehension was facilitated by their background knowledge of the content area of the text.