As researchers Donna Recht and Lauren Leslie found in their 1988 study, Effect of prior knowledge on good and poor readers’ memory of text, background knowledge has a profound impact on reading comprehension. Recht and Leslie divided readers into groups based on their reading ability and their knowledge of baseball, then gave them a passage to read about baseball with comprehension questions. They found that those with stronger knowledge of baseball, and weaker reading skills did better than stronger readers with little knowledge of baseball.
As kids get older, the gap in knowledge often becomes wider. As the Matthew Effect illustrates, students with stronger reading skills enjoy reading more, that enjoyment leads to more reading. The more you read, the more background knowledge and vocabulary you accumulate. The less you read… you get the idea. The gap widens.
It is critical to develop students' knowledge. Whether you are in a published curriculum that is organized into thematic units, creating your own units around a whole class novel, or teaching science, math or social studies, background knowledge is the foundation upon which all of your instruction rests.
When you have a diverse student body with varying lived and academic experiences, thematic text text sets are the way to go. Having text sets and using them well are two different things. Here a few things to consider:
Assess Don't Assume
Take the time to find out what your students already know.
Post an image and give students time to talk. Beginning Out of the Dust? Try a dust bowl photo. Ask: What do you notice? How can you explain what you see? Use what you know from life or other classes. Then listen. Take notes on what they know and what they don't yet.
Celebrate what they know. Record it. This knowledge bank grows as they read and study — keep adding to it. Push their language as you go: instead of "crops have died," nudge them toward "drought."
Then look for the gaps. What do they still need? Start thinking about how you'll get them there.
Tip: Some kids will show up with specific facts — a place, a time period, real detail. Great, that helps. But watch for conceptual frameworks too, not just facts. Understanding "revolution" — a group holds power, another group is discontent, conditions need to change or something breaks — gives kids a lens for reading about the American Revolution, the Bolivarian Revolution, any revolution. Specific facts can come later, as they read. The framework is what lets them make meaning now.
Warming up: launching with intro level texts
Consider what your students need to know before reading. Using maps, pics, videos, objects or artifacts, multimodal pieces that can teach us quickly and give us the concepts and vocab we need in a short period of time
Ask yourself: Should this be whole class? Small group? Kids rotating through stations? Who really needs this information? Maybe not all kids. How will students share what they’re learning?
Tip: Videos can be deceiving. They are not necessarily easier or more accessible because they are visual. Often digital texts give you lots of information with very specific vocabulary quickly. When selecting a video, look at the length, the pace at which information is provided, and the level of terminology applied. Notice places where you may need to pause to help them process. And, if you notice it’s harder than you think, find another one! This is an entry point to build knowledge. You can always show them a series of clips. Start easy and work harder.
Making connections across texts
A strong text set isn’t enough; students often miss the intended connections. We have to be explicit in our instruction. Create opportunities for sharing, talking and connecting back to essential questions or concepts. Start and end each day with a quick discussion. It doesn't need more than a few minutes to be powerful. Knowing they will start and end each day that way will set them up to look for the connections
Tip: Think about how to memorialize the learning. Charts, knowledge maps, vocabulary lists, webs, etc. are all helpful tools to record the specific information and key concepts students are learning. The more visual you make this, the better!
Sources
Recht, D. R., & Leslie, L. (1988). Effect of prior knowledge on good and poor readers' memory of text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(1), 16–20. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.80.1.16
Stanovich, K. E. (1986). Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 21(4), 360–407.
Smith, R., Snow, P., Serry, T., & Hammond, L. (2021). The role of background knowledge in reading comprehension: A critical review. Reading Psychology, 42(3), 214–240. https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2021.1888348