Background Knowledge

Background Knowledge as a tool for secondary school reading class provides opportunities for learners to relate acquired knowledge from experiences in their own world to what they read for effective comprehension. Relating background knowledge to events in the text makes reading an interesting experience for both teachers and learners. From experience, learners of English as a second language (L2) experience difficulties understanding what they read in terms of linguistic and cultural differences. Activation and utilization of background knowledge in the reading class through appropriate reading strategies would enable processing of information at lower levels(word decoding skills) and upper levels(interpretation and inferencing skills. As a result learners will be regarded competent readers.