Gibbons Chapter 5

One thing Form this chapter that rally struck me was when Gibbons wrote, “ When you are unable to bring personal knowledge and understanding of a topic to a text, you are effectively robbed of the ability to make use of a key resource for reading: what you already know” (Gibbons 78). Despite the passages obvious statement of the importance of prior knowledge over a variety of different scopes, Gibbons said, “Effectively robbed” which just reiterates the important relationship between prior knowledge or understanding and meaning and comprehension. This is so true, and the example of the restaurant schema proved that this prior knowledge and meaning connection doesn’t just take place in literacy. After reading this chapter I gained an appreciation for the importance of reading, and I now can see how being able to read in his or her native language will benefit an ESL student, because in any language, readers will learn how to decode, analyze, participate within and use the text.

Another example from the text that showcased the importance of prior knowledge, was the paragraph about doing laundry. Although the paragraph is easy to read, it becomes a guessing game to figure out what the purpose of the text is, without knowledge of its title. This just goes to show that everyone can have trouble decoding text and finding meaning, even in their own native language.

Although, I already saw a great importance for bringing culture into the classroom and celebrating children's similarities and differences, this chapter showed me how important cultural texts can be as well. By reading texts from a variety of different cultural backgrounds, students are not only being exposed to different traditions and ways of life, but it will also be more comforting to the ESL students who can feel confident reading a text that they can relate to using their prior knowledge. In turn, this will help to enhance the learning community as a whole, and it will serve as meaningful learning for all students.