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The present study examined how a reader's subject knowledge, the analogy versus nonanalogy difference in text type, and type of test (written recall, sentence completion, and multiple choice) affect first language (L1) and second language (L2) reading comprehension. There were three participant groups: (a) 53 native Costa Ricans enrolled in advanced English as a Foreign Language courses in San José, Costa Rica; (b) 102 university-level students of intermediate Spanish in the United States; and (c) 138 university students of advanced Spanish in the United States. The participants read two scientific passages, two versions each (Hammadou, 2000). Analysis of covariance revealed that subject knowledge related significantly to reading comprehension as measured by three assessment tasks. However, the addition of analogies to scientific texts did not compensate for the lack of subject knowledge. There was no overall positive effect of the analogy text type on L1 and L2 comprehension as measured by recall, sentence completion, and multiple choice tests. The positive effect for the nonanalogy version held for the recall task. The participants scored higher on the nonanalogy version of both texts than on the analogy version when assessed by the recall test; no such differences emerged for either passage on the sentence completion and multiple choice tests.

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The present study on second language (L2) reading and individual difference variables (IDVs) examines learners' self‐assessed ability level and enjoyment and the effects of these factors on two different measures of comprehension. The investigation controls for topic familiarity differences by gender and the study utilizes the authentic short story Aniversario by Luis Romero (Virgillo, Friedman, & Valdivieso, 1998). During regular class period, 88 participants from advanced grammar courses completed the following: (a) a questionnaire about general L2 reading abilities and enjoyment, (b) a reading passage, (c) a written recall task, (d) multiple‐choice questions, and (e) a questionnaire concerning topic familiarity. Propositions in the text were analyzed for pausal units and recalls were scored for such units (Bernhardt, 1991). Results revealed that students believed they were satisfactory readers of Spanish and they generally enjoyed reading in Spanish. As predicted, levels of self‐assessed abilities positively correlated with levels of enjoyment. The study yielded significant effects for both self‐assessed ability and enjoyment on written recall (an open‐ended assessment task), but no such effects were found on the multiple‐choice questions (a task including retrieval cues). The study revealed that at the advanced levels of language instruction learners' self‐assessment of their L2 reading ability was quite accurate, in terms of written recall. The findings suggest that the study of the variables self‐assessment and enjoyment, in association with other L2 reading factors such as metacognition, anxiety, and motivation, may contribute to a better understanding of L2 reading comprehension.