Reading and Prior Knowledge

Note: Normally, I do not publish my blog, English Updates, on weekends. However, I publish several other blogs during the week having to do with ideas in English education that are not current, but still useful. On weekends, I will publish samples of these ideas. RayS.

Question: What is the effect of prior knowledge of a topic in reading?

Answer: “More prior knowledge enhanced [reading] performance….” NM Yochom. 1986. P. 438.

 Comment: The more you know about a topic, the better you will comprehend it. Many research studies say the same thing. That makes building topic knowledge before reading important, including a survey of the chapter—title, sub-title, first and last paragraphs and first sentence of intermediate paragraphs. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1987), 422-443.