INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUSITICS, VOL. zyxw 6, NO. 1, 1996 81 Attitudes and cultural background and their relationship to reading comprehension zyx in a second language: a comparison of three different social contexts SALIM ABU-RABIA University of IIaifa This study investigated the relationship of attitudes ant1 cultural back- ground to reading conil~rclicnsionin the second language (L2) of eiglitli-grade students in tlirc-e different social contexts: Israeli Arab stutleiits (n=73) leariiing €Iebrcw zyxwv as heir L2, Israeli Jewish students (11-83) learning English as tlieir L2, and Canaclian Arab stutlents (n=52) learning English as their L2. Eighteen stories were selected for reading, six for each of the three groups, as follows: Israeli Arab zyx - three Arab stories in Arabic ancl in Hebrew translation, and three Jewish stories in IIebrew antl iii Arabic translation; Israeli Jewisli - three Jewish stories in IIehrew and in English translation, and three western stories in Englisli and in Hebrew translation; Canadian Arab - tliree Arab stories iii Arabic antl in English translation, aiicl three western stories in English ancl in Arabic translation. Tlie results sliowetl that tlie motivation of the students to learning their L2 was iiistruineiital rather than integrative, reprlless of social context. Furtlierinore, in tlie two Israeli groups, Arab and Jewish, students better coinpreliencled their own culture’s stories regardless of the language of tlie story. By contrast, the results for tlie Canadian Arab group sliowecl that text language, not text content, was tlie strongest factor affecting reading coiiil~reliension. Introduction Bilingualism today has 1,ecoine a coininon plienoinenon, but people learn their second languages in cliffwent social contexts ant1 for different purposes. Some learn their second language because it is the second official language of their country. Menihers of minority groups learn their second language because it is