This systematic literature review examined the research on prior knowledge and its activation to ascertain how these terms are defined, what specific techniques have been empirically investigated, and the conditions under which prior knowledge activation facilitated students' comprehension. Fifty-four articles met the inclusion criteria and…

Content literacy is a crucial skill that enables students to read, comprehend, and use subject-specific information across various academic disciplines. This Spotlight will help readers explore how one district is integrating writing with rich content; analyze research on content-focused instruction; learn tips for combining screen and printed…

Knowledge plays an inarguably critical role in reading comprehension. When considering the science of reading, it is important to engage with varying theoretical frameworks and empirical research that inform our collective understanding regarding the intersection of knowledge and literacy in K-12 classrooms. Therefore, the purpose of this article…

Reading comprehension is multidimensional and complex. The persistent challenges children, adolescents, and even adults face with reading comprehension call for concerted efforts to develop assessments that help identify sources of difficulties and to design instructional approaches to prevent or ameliorate these difficulties. Doing so requires…

In the late 1970's, Durkin's landmark study showed that less than 1% of elementary classroom reading instruction was dedicated to comprehension strategies because teachers were not explicit in their instruction. This qualitative study explored the types of questions posed by elementary and middle school teachers to elicit students' responses and…

One of the rumors making the rounds of K-12 educators goes something like this: The Common Core State Standards do not allow "prereading"--the pedagogical practice meant to help students better understand a text they are about to read--or for that matter any classroom activities that contextualize a text through outside sources. The interesting…

The Common Core State Standards represent an ambitious effort to improve teaching and learning at an unprecedented scale. Adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia, these standards are an attempt to dramatically change what students and teachers do in school, by redefining high-level, thought-provoking instruction as the norm for all…

This study used eye-tracking methodology in the school setting to examine fourth graders' online processing of text and graphics while reading an illustrated science text. We were interested in identifying patterns of visual behavior, which was examined considering individual differences in reading comprehension, prior knowledge, and spatial…

Extensive research over the years indicates that there are at least five essential components teachers can include in their classroom to help their students comprehend and learn. These features include: (1) giving background and connecting to students' prior knowledge; (2) providing a strong vocabulary program; (3) setting aside ample opportunity…

Research supports the need for active vocabulary learning across grade levels and subject areas to help increase readers' comprehension of diverse texts that they encounter. Given the increasing emphasis on decoding and reading comprehension, the relative importance of vocabulary instruction has been diminished in recent years. The authors argue…

Reading comprehension is a multidimensional process and a key component of this process is the activation of prior knowledge in the comprehension of text. This study utilized video clips as a means to anchor instruction and assist struggling middle-level readers in comprehending text. Participants in this study were 17 seventh- and eighth-grade…

This article considers the role of reader characteristics in processing and learning from informational text, as revealed in think-aloud research. A theoretical framework for relevant aspects of readers' processing and products was developed. These relevant aspects included three attentional foci for processing (comprehension, monitoring, and…

The purpose of this practice brief is to provide schools, districts, and states with background knowledge about best practices for older students who struggle to read. It focuses on the reading skills that adolescents need to more fully access content-area curricula and, in turn, secure a productive future. The authors define adolescent reading as…

Neurologist and middle school teacher Judy Willis connects what you do in the classroom to what happens in the brain when students learn how to read, including: (1) Why a classroom has to be safe and supportive in order to overcome barriers to reading fluency; (2) How to jumpstart students who are not well prepared for reading with activities that…

In order to make predictions about a text, students must have prior knowledge or experiences about the topic and a means or a reason to retrieve this latent information and knowledge. The Imagine, Elaborate, Predict, and Confirm (IEPC) strategy takes the predictive process back to its origins in the imagination and extends it throughout the…