Why does Every Child Ready to Read 2 make such a big deal about background knowledge?
Because what a child understands of the subject they are reading about can make or break their ability to comprehend the passage, instead of just “sounding out” the words.
When I present to adults about early literacy, one of my favorite research bits* to share with them is a 1988 study by Recht & Leslie called “Effect of prior knowledge on good and poor readers’ memory of text.” (D. R. Recht & L. Leslie, in Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 16-20.) In it they found that poor readers who knew a lot about baseball OUTSCORED good readers who did not know a lot about baseball–when they were reading about baseball.
We see this all the time at the library! Think of the kids who aren’t “good readers” but will take home every book in your collection about monster trucks, or puppies, or fairy tales, or Saturn. The more we can share about the world with our preschoolers, the more they will know about a zillion different subjects when they sit down to read in school. And the more they know before they start, the more that what they read will make sense to them. AND the more they can make sense out of what they read, the more motivated they will be to keep reading. Keeping kids reading is important, of course, because that’s how true fluency with reading is built: by reading many, many, many texts for many different purposes.
Daniel Willingham, an author and psychology professor who researches cognitive psychology as it applies to K-16 education, wrote a great post describing this and another study.
Look for opportunities to share nonfiction in your storytimes, tablet sessions, or other preschool programs. When you do, take a minute to share with the grownups the power of background knowledge!
*I wish I could remember how I learned about this study. I went back and looked at the ECRR1 materials, thinking it was on their “further reading” handouts, but I didn’t see it there. Maybe someone told me about it, maybe I stumbled across it in another article, but I can’t remember. Would love to credit whoever brought it to my attention! #librarianfail
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