This book examines reading comprehension processes from a psychological standpoint, and considers the affect of cultural predilections on meaning. It examines a wide range of topics, including bilingualism, reading theory, contrastive rhetoric, and the influence on reading of learning styles and educational traditions. Although essentially using a psychological/cognitive interpretation of reading comprehension, the book nevertheless draws many threads from the cultural practices of readers themselves and provides conclusions as to the nature of contrastive rhetoric and the effect of culture, thinking and meaning on reading comprehension.
Hong Kong - bilingualism and biliteracy; reading and text difficulty; cultural differences in rhetorical preferences; is there a Chinese learning style?; studying reading behaviour; methodology - the preparation of texts and tests; results of the reading tests in three Hong Kong schools; discussion of experimental results - factors which influence rhetorical structure as a feature of comprehension.