Session 39: Background Knowledge and Comprehension: Teaching Content is Teaching Reading

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All too often we think of reading merely as translating written symbols into words spoken aloud or silently. Although a student must know the vocabulary words to understand what she’s reading, the importance of background knowledge goes far beyond that. The session will describe six ways that background knowledge facilitates reading comprehension, and why knowledge is a prerequisite for comprehension. In addition, we’ll consider some of the practical consequences of that fact, particularly for disadvantaged students, as well as some thoughts on the implications for the classroom.

Presenter:
Daniel Willingham, Professor, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Strand 1: K-12 Improvement

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Session39Willingham.pdf