How to pass parameters to a view

You just need to pass the extra parameter when you construct the MenuView. No need to add the initialize function.

new MenuView({
  collection: itemColl,
  position: this.getPosition()
})

And then, in MenuView, you can use this.options.position.

UPDATE: As @mu is too short states, since 1.1.0, Backbone Views no longer automatically attach options passed to the constructor as this.options, but you can do it yourself if you prefer.

So in your initialize method, you can save the options passed as this.options:

initialize: function(options) {
    this.options = options;
    _.bindAll(this, 'render');
},

or use some finer ways as described by @Brave Dave.