Thongsook College BA TESOL Teaching Tips

Activating student background knowledge

Getting students to employ their background knowledge

Timothy Cornwall, Ph.D.

When students experience a level of success in answering post-reading questions before they have completed a reading exercise, I can demonstrate that knowledge gained in other classes and from their life experiences can play an important role in helping them understand what they are learning in English.

One important idea I want my students to learn is that they come to class with a huge wealth of knowledge they can employ to understand, work with, and learn English.

While there are many ways I can demonstrate to students the value of their background knowledge, I find it helpful to use reading texts as a starting point with an exercise in which I ask them to complete post-reading questions before reading the text itself.

1) Reading selection criteria

When selecting a text, it must match their current linguistic and reading abilities. If I provide a quite straightforward text, I take the chance that they will feel patronized and not see any challenge in answering the questions. If it is too difficult, they may lose heart and defeat the purpose of this experiment.

Second, I need to select a topic in which they have sufficient background knowledge to answer questions with a measure of confidence before they read.

The third factor is length. If it is too short, students may want to read it first and then answer the questions. This is a concern, as the first few times I complete this exercise, it takes longer to do it the way I want than if they read first and then answered. However, if it is too long, students may lose interest.

2) Selecting a reading

Two types of reading work well. First, readings are based on Thailand or Thai culture, and readings are based on subjects studied in school, such as science and math. A good length varies from about 250 words for low intermediate and intermediate students and 350 to 500 words for high intermediate to advanced classes.

I also need to ensure that students will be able to answer questions successfully before they read. At first, I limit questions to multiple choice and true/false formats. Later, if I continue to use this exercise and students have gained sufficient confidence, I include questions requiring a short answer.

Many reading selections in textbooks at the same level as the class text or later in the text itself are useful and often include topics students know. I review the questions to determine which ones I could answer without reading the text. Although not a very scientific analysis, it offers an insight into how my students might do when reading.

My goal is to find ten questions from which I believe students will have success with at least half. I might be wrong, and in fact, I want students to answer some incorrectly. While I would like them to use their background knowledge, I also want them to read to verify their answers and to determine why they answered some questions incorrectly.

3) Setting up the exercise

When I have a reading and ten questions – ideally five multiple choice and five true/false, I prepare the reading and questions on two different sheets. If it is in their textbooks, make certain they cover the reading before we start.

Beginning with the questions, I ask them to answer all ten using their knowledge about the topic or theme as revealed in the questions themselves. I usually need to watch this carefully, as many are reluctant to guess and, more importantly, to record any answers without complete assurance that they are correct.

I go around the class as they go through the questions, verifying that everyone has clearly marked their answers. This is important, as it is only by proving to them that they can answer questions before they read something that they begin to realize that their knowledge gained outside English class can be useful.

With questions answered, I ask them to read the selection quickly. Once finished, we return to the questions, review the answers, and learn how they did.

I do not give them time to go back to review their answers once they have finished reading, as I want them to see what they could accomplish without reading, or in other words, how well they could answer based on what they already knew.

If lucky, a fair number will enjoy a good measure of success in answering the questions before they read the selection. In addition, a review of the questions they did not guess correctly often reveals that if they had used their common sense or thought a bit more about the questions, they could have improved their rate of success.

Dr. Tim Cornwall has been teaching EFL for over 45 years. He is currently a faculty member of the Thongsook College International Program BA TESOL. He can be reached via email at dr.tim@thongsook.college.

Thongsook College Faculty of International Programs

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Thawi Wattana, Bangkok, Thailand

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