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Background Knowledge: A Study Of The Effects Background Knowledge Has On Comprehension, Jacqueline Murtha

Theses and Dissertations

Teachers can never assume student come to their classrooms with background knowledge needed to contextually understand a book read in class. Students in low socioeconomic areas often do not have the experiences to build schema about certain topics. Field trips are one way to build students background and schema, however, they can be expensive. Teachers need to find multiple ways to build background knowledge prior to reading a book. This thesis explores the impact background knowledge has on students' reading comprehension.