Quote: "When students don't have adequate background knowledge, the topic or genre of the text is unfamiliar any many words are new, they're likely to find the text very challenging, and it's unlikely that they'll be successful" (Tompkins, 259-260).
Comment: All text is contextualized by our previous knowledge. We view what we read in terms of what we already know. When we are unable to connect what we read with what we already know, the reading is not enjoyable and does not make sense to us. As teachers, we must make sure that students are already to understand what they read in terms of the background knowledge of the text. Teaching the background of the text being presented is part of the purpose of presenting texts to students.
Question: How can teaching background knowledge help create not only fluent and comprehensive readers, but also help a student's motivation to read?
Laura, I loved your comment. It is so true that teaching background knowledge of a subject is essential. I think that teaching background knowledge can help a student's motivation by the way that we teach the background knowledge. If we are excited about teaching this knowledge and come up with things that connect students to this new knowledge, then they will be excited to learn. They will be motivated to learn the new material because they will want to learn more about it. That is just a thought! Thanks again for your comment!
ReplyDeleteI also agree that background knowledge is vital. I tried to read a book just a few months ago, I had no idea what the context was and I couldn't picture anything that was trying to be explained. I made it through the first 2 pages before giving up. Even to this day background knowledge is important for my reading. If children are reading about things they already know about or even just learned a small bit about they will be more excited and curious about what they are reading. If we can introduce our students to a variety of different subjects, some will catch our students attention and pull them into reading.
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