Which strategy best builds background knowledge for comprehension?

• A. Activating prior knowledge before reading and discussing related experiences
• B. Reading the text without any prior discussion
• C. Skipping pre-reading activities
• D. Focusing only on decoding

Answer: (A)

Building background knowledge for comprehension hinges on connecting new information to what readers already know. Activating prior knowledge before reading and discussing related experiences helps create a bridge between familiar ideas and the new text. When students recall related memories, share relevant terms, and discuss experiences, they form a mental framework or schema for the topic. This framework gives them hooks to attach new details, supports predicting, inferring, and understanding vocabulary, and makes meaning-making easier as they read. With this preparation, the text can be interpreted more effectively because ideas are anchored in their existing knowledge.

Reading without any prior discussion doesn’t lay down that bridge, skipping pre-reading activities misses the opportunity to prime thinking and vocabulary, and focusing only on decoding centers on word recognition and syntax without building the background that makes sense of the content.