Background Knowledge and Vocabulary

Are we still daydreaming about our time in Memphis at the Memphis Literacy Conference? Absolutely. Two weeks ago, we recapped our session on phonemic awareness, so this week we want to fill you in on our other session: Background Knowledge and Vocabulary: They Don’t Know What They Don’t Know.

In this session, we explored how students’ comprehension is closely tied to their background knowledge and vocabulary. Both of these areas are essential for reading success, but how can we support students who come to us with such varied experiences and word knowledge? This was a big question on our participants’ minds.

Why is Background Knowledge So Important?

Background knowledge serves as an organizing framework that helps readers make sense of what they’re reading. Think of it as velcro: new information sticks better when there’s existing knowledge to connect it to. Without that foundation, new ideas can slip away like a tennis ball bouncing off a cooking pan. This foundational knowledge supports comprehension in multiple ways:

• It helps readers anticipate content and stay on track with the passage.
• It enables inferences, allowing students to fill in missing details.
• It eases cognitive load, leaving room for deeper thinking.

Practical Methods For Building Background Knowledge

We discussed several strategies to build background knowledge effectively:

• Knowledge-rich curricula: At least 50% of the texts should be informational, and organized around topics or thematic text sets.
• Read-alouds: Listening comprehension surpasses reading comprehension through 7th or 8th grade, so reading aloud is a valuable tool.
• Hands-on learning and field trips: Real-world experiences, whether virtual or in-person, deepen understanding.
• Primary sources and current events: Offering real-world problems for students to explore builds context and understanding.
• Text-to-text connections and visual aids: Encourage students to make connections across various texts and use visual displays.

Vocabulary and the Lexical Quality Hypothesis

The Lexical Quality Hypothesis highlights the relationship between word knowledge and reading proficiency. Students with a well-developed "mental lexicon"—rich word knowledge including a word's phonological, orthographic, and semantic properties—can more easily recognize and understand words. 

We know that vocabulary knowledge has a direct impact on comprehension. When students deeply understand and can retrieve a word’s meaning quickly, they are more likely to comprehend texts effectively. Conversely, a weak lexicon limits fluency and understanding. Effective vocabulary instruction involves ensuring students:

• Know a word’s meaning,
• Can recognize its phonological and orthographic forms,
• And understand how to apply it in context.

Classroom Applications for Vocabulary Development

We shared several engaging strategies to improve students' vocabulary knowledge:

• Frayer model: Students create graphic organizers to define words, give examples and non-examples, and use them in context.
• Tiered vocabulary: Replace simpler Tier 1 words with more sophisticated Tier 2 words to challenge students.
• Word gradients: Position basic and advanced words on a continuum to expand understanding.
• Scenarios and wordplay: Use scenarios for students to apply their new vocabulary, and engage them in word-building activities, such as breaking words into syllables.

Here are some other strategies for supporting vocabulary development, if you’re interested.

The Takeaway

Both background knowledge and vocabulary are powerful tools in reading instruction. By incorporating these into your teaching, you help students build the "sticky" framework they need to succeed in comprehension. Engaging strategies and purposeful word instruction can transform students' lexicons, leading to improved fluency, comprehension, and lifelong literacy.

As we continue to refine and enhance our literacy practices, remember that strengthening background knowledge and deepening vocabulary will always be at the heart of developing skilled readers.

What We're Working On

📣 Calling all school leaders! Register for this free webinar!

Now that you have your BOY data, it’s time to target students’ literacy needs and accelerate instruction. Join us to explore the principles of structured literacy and understand how these evidence-based practices can help all of your students succeed. You’ll leave with an overview of how structured literacy differs from balanced literacy and a list of what changes you may need to make in your school’s curriculum, instruction, assessments, and interventions to align with the latest research.

Exclusively for DCPS and DC Charter School Leaders: Join us after the webinar for a short informational session to learn how we can support your kindergarten teachers this year with our OSSE-recommended structured literacy training!

Wednesday, October 30

1-2 pm EST

Register here!

📢 Attention university professors!

We have an exclusive opportunity that's perfect if you want more ideas for your course syllabus to align it with the science of reading. 

Join us in two weeks for a six-week community of practice with other reading professors to learn more about teaching educator prep candidates about evidence-based literacy instruction.

Here’s what past participants had to say about this unique opportunity:

“I liked hearing from the other instructors what content they were adding to their courses and their justification for doing so. It is giving me a lot of great ideas for my own course.”

“There are so many valuable things that I will use. My class will be much more hands-on with students practicing the instructional techniques instead of me always doing the modeling.”

“This course helped me to wrap my head around strategies to help undergraduate students understand the big picture.”

Fall Community of Practice Details:

2 pm–3 pm EST

November 4: Foundational Knowledge

November 12: Phonemic Awareness

November 18: Decoding and Encoding

December 2: Oral Language and Vocabulary

December 9: Reading Fluency

December 16: Reading Comprehension

Join the Fall Cohort!

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