BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE “When students do not have the knowledge necessary to comprehend a particular text, such knowledge needs to be built; one cannot activate what is not there, and one cannot strategize about things one does not know.” —Dr. Julie Learned, Dr. Darin Stockdill and Dr. Elizabeth Moje, Integrating Reading Strategies and Knowledge Building in Adolescent Literacy Instruction
KEY FINDINGS
> > The most important factor in determining how much readers will comprehend about a given topic is their level of knowledge about the topic (Routman, 2018; Dochy, Segers, and Buehl, 1999). > > Prior knowledge of a subject is fundamental to acquiring new knowledge; it is fundamental to comprehending texts (Hampton and Resnick, 2008; Allington and Cunningham, 2007). > > Providing students with information relevant to a text or making students aware of already-known, relevant information (also known as “frontloading”) improves their comprehension (Routman, 2018). > > “Excellent teachers at every grade level and in all content areas use frontloading to optimize learning success for all students … Frontloading begins by consciously building a strong foundation of knowledge, processes, and strategies that will enable the learner to do the inquiry, problem solving, task writing, reading, and so on, with minimal guidance and support” (Routman, 2018). > > The more children read, the more they build their background knowledge that strengthens their ability to comprehend. Effective teachers of reading facilitate the expansion of background knowledge by providing frequent and varied opportunities for their students to interact with a variety of trade books (Scharer et al., 2018; Harvey and Ward, 2017). > > Fleming (2016) argues that we need more children’s literature set in urban settings to mirror the experiences of the vast numbers of children who live in urban communities (one-third of all elementary school children)—so unlike the pastoral settings featured in many children’s books. To fully engage and comprehend, children need to see and hear the language and experiences of their own personal lives.
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BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
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