1. Introduction
With the passage of time and the spread of technology wider than ever, there is a vast amount of knowledge and information which require from individuals faster response to these developments around the globe. One of the most effective ways for individuals to be up-to-date with the world around is to read. Reading is a skill which any learner needs along with other skills. Reading, as defined by Macmillan Dictionary, is the process of recognizing written or printed words and understanding their meaning. For reading to be most effective, readers need to read in their area of interest and have prior knowledge of what is going to be read. For more clarification, prior knowledge is background knowledge about certain topics. In other words, what a reader already knows about the topic he is about to read. This prior knowledge has great impact on the reading and the reader.
2. Description
2. A. Terms Used for Background Knowledge
Moreover, background knowledge is fundamental in reading comprehension. It is defined by The Free Online Dictionary as “Information that is essential to understanding a situation or a problem.” The terms background knowledge and prior knowledge are generally used interchangeably (Strangman and Hall, 2010). Background knowledge and prior knowledge are parent terms for many more terms such as: conceptual knowledge, metacognitive knowledge, subject matter knowledge, strategy knowledge, personal knowledge, and self-knowledge (Strangman et al., 2010). Though scholars’ definitions and names of prior knowledge are different, they typically describe the same concept.
2. B. Factors Shape Background Knowledge
Furthermore, there are many factors that background knowledge could b...
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Spires, H.A. & Donley, J. (1998). Prior knowledge activation: Inducing engagement with informational texts. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(2), 249-260.
Strangman, N. & Hall, T. (2010). Background Knowledge. Curriculum Enhancement Report. U.S. Special Office of Education Program. National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved October 28, 2011 from : http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=the%20role%20of%20background%20knowledge%20in%20reading&source=web&cd=7&sqi=2&ved=0CEYQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoar.wichita.edu%2Fdspace%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F10057%2F256%2Ft06002.pdf&ei=O0WmTsvILdK2hAeU-pSeDg&usg=AFQjCNHearmwQCdk6JpPpDZEtGg7jiCG8Q
The Free Online Dictionary. (2011). The entery “ background knowledge”. Retrieved October 26, 2011 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/background+knowledge
Reading is on the decline and our reading skills are declining right along with the amount of reading we do. This is happening right across the board through both genders, all age groups and education levels, people are busy and they just do not have time to read books that they are not required to read for school or work. There are serious consequences to this neglect of reading that will continue to worsen if ignored. We need to take notice of what is happening to our culture and stop this situation from continuing, we must act to correct these issues that we are faced with. These things are discussed in the essay “Staying Awake’’ by Ursula K. Le Guin who uses the NEA essays “To Read or Not to Read’’ and “Reading at Risk’’ to support her argument that there is a decline in the amount of time that we are spending on reading and our ability to understand what it is that we are reading.
“Part of being well-informed means knowing something about the history of an argument. An argument’s history tells us how and why people’s viewpoints formed and gives us a context for our own views. Knowing context means knowing the current range of opinion on an issue. We have to know what other people are saying to make our own reasoning relevant.” (10)
‘the act of knowing using mental processes such as imagining, remembering, understanding, generalising, finding reasons and causes, making inferences, decision making, forming preferences, desires and intentions, planning and learning’ (Doherty & Hughes, 2009:257)
But what is this “knowledge”? The dictionary defines knowledge as “facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.”1 However, the whole idea of knowledge differs from person to person. In todays world, knowledge is of many types and is very complex and variable. The two main types of knowledge are Personal Knowledge and Shared Knowledge. Personal knowledge refers to the knowledge one acquires by acquaintance and first hand experience. It is gained through practice, personal involvement and observation and is influenced by one’s circumstances, values and interests. One’s perspective is both influenced and contributes to one’s personal knowledge. On the other hand, Shared knowledge refers to the knowledge possessed by more than one person. It is clearly structured as it is a product of many people and has been agreed upon by many people. It is also influenced by the diverse cultures present within the communities and reflects the attitude of the society towards the different areas of knowledge.
Constructivism is a theory of learning that emphasizes the active construction of knowledge by individuals. Inquiry of learning is a theory developed by Dewey in which it emphasizes the development of student’s cognitive abilities such as reasoning and decision making. Inquiry theory, is reflected in reading instruction by having children choose their own vocabulary, asking their own thought provoking questions and giving them the opportunity to construct their own meaning. Schemata theory strives to explain how knowledge is created and used by the learners. In reading instruction schemata can be observe as a child tries to understand a story by using past personal experience to relate to concepts in the story. Transitional response theory is the notion that all readers have unique background schemata. In transitional theory all readers will have a different response to the text. Psycholinguistic theory is the study of the relationships between linguistic behavior and psychological processes including the process of language acquisition. In reading it helps the readers make predictions about what the text say based on their knowledge in these areas. Metacognition is the process of thinking about one’s own thinking. In reading metacognition helps reading comprehension. Engagement theory seeks to articulate the differences between engaged and disengaged readers. In reading, engagement theory is best seen when children are motivated to read and are constantly reading or
... pre-existing knowledge that when an individual recognise specific situations they use their own views, beliefs, understanding and stereotypes to form a full view or understanding.
Carr refers to how his friends reading habits have changed as “Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.” (54). Reading has evolved from procuring and memorizing information for we have every opportunity to get that information as many times as
Reading involves translating symbols and letters into words or sentences. Anderson defines reading as a process of constructing meaning from a written text. We indulge in reading for many different purposes, be it survival, leisure or occupational. In a way, reading serves as a kind communication between the writer and the reader. The writer encodes what he or she wishes to convey while the reader decodes according to his or her own perception. Johnson quotes “A young man should read five hours in a day, and so may acquire a great deal of knowledge.”
Other key features of knowledge construction are functional context, social context, and usefulness. The process works most effectively when it is embedded in a context in which new knowledge and skills will be used. Research on thinking and learning reinforces the idea that people learn through interaction with others (Johnson and Thomas 1994). Although learning is a matter of personal and unique interpretation, it takes place within the social context. In addition, learning must be useful to the learner; intrinsic motivation emerges from the desire to understand, to construct meaning (Billett 1996).
... for teachers to choose materials that will hook students and motivate them to engage in their own learning. Teachers should provide multiple learning opportunities in which stu¬dents can experience success and can begin to build confidence in their ability to read, write, and think at higher level. By connecting strategies for learning, such as searching, compre¬hending, interpreting, composing, and teaching content knowledge, students are given the opportunity to succeed in their education. These elements include: fundamental skills such as phonemic awareness, phonemic decoding, and other word analysis skills that support word reading accuracy; text reading fluency; strategies for building vocabulary; strategies for understanding and using the specific textual features that distinguish different genres; and self-regulated use of reading comprehension strategies.
In order to understand and gain knowledge, learning theories stress the importance of creating a relationship between all pieces of information, the learner, and the environment. It is the responsibility of both the teacher and the learner to link the appropriate information together. If students can develop a relationship for the "underlying reasons for ‘how’ and ‘why’ to use specific procedures, they will be able to store this information as part of their knowledge network," and develop links with other pieces of information (Gersten and Baker, 1998, p.24). On the contrary, if learners learn facts of information that are isolated from a meaningful context, their understanding is often incomplete and meaningless. As a result of these linked relationships between individuals and environments, knowledge is the prevailing outcome. In summary, "knowledge is situated, being in part a product of the activity, context, and culture in which it is developed and used (Brown, Collins, and Duguid, 1989, p.32).
According to Temple et. Al, there are components for reading. “Reading is the act of getting meaning from a written text.” (Temple & Ogle & Crawford & Freppon, 2005, p.7) There are steps to learn to read; first step is “word recognition.” This activity is that readers recognize letters and words. Next step is “phonemes” which is the smallest sounds in language. Readers who in “phonemic awareness” are able to know how to make sounds with letters. In “comprehension” step, readers are able to understand what they are reading. They can improve reading ability by expanding knowledge of vocabulary. If they can understand words faster than previous time and accurately, they are on “reading fluency” step. The last step, which is “interpretation” or also known as “critical reading”, is a time when they are able to understand author’s thought and mind by reading their words and arguments. National Reading Panel categorized literacy by areas of alphabetic, fluency, comprehension, teacher education and reading instruction, computer technology, and reading instruction. Alphabetic includes
Furthermore, informational texts found in Reading A-Z talk about different water sources like the Mississippi River where the learner could relate too since the river crosses Minnesota. Part of the assessments done the learner indicated the dislike of reading, but through selective texts of her interest or texts that she could relate and use her background knowledge to engage on the reading would create on her motivation to read. Just as Fisher & Frey (2012) states that few readers read the introduction to know if it the text meets their needs. In order to create engagement on readers, looking at the complexity of a text as a teacher is it vital to maintain the reader joy
Segal-Drori, O., Korat, O., Shamir, A., & Klein, P. (2010, September). Reading electronic and printed books with and without adult instruction: Effects on emergent reading. Reading& Writing, 23(8), 913-930. doi:10.1007/s11145-009-9182-x
In addition to the aforementioned information Neufeld (2009:82) states that we construct knowledge on top of what we already know. As new information come to us from the environment we perceive it as arrangement of figures that can be incorporated into our picture-frame that references the world to us. If that new information cannot be incorporated into our existi...