Clarifying the Concept of Background Knowledge in Reading Comprehension

Use of the term Background knowledge, in conjunction with Reading Comprehension, has become convoluted and vague over the past several decades of research. Showing the abundance of uses of the term in multiple domains and disciplines has relegated it to being an automatic inclusion in key notes and conclusions of research on the topic of improving reading skills. This study aims to redefine Background Knowledge for clarity of thought in future investigations. Also, with data revealing national standard reading scores at an impasse for over forty years now, the redefined concept of Background Knowledge is offered as a starting point for use with new technologies that show great promise in the search for methods to improve reading for all students.