The Knowledge-Comprehension Connection

In this chapter, the authors conceptualize reading comprehension as a knowledge-driven process in which activation, construction, and revision of knowledge function as interdependent and recursive mechanisms. Drawing from cognitive, sociocultural, and epistemic perspectives, we propose a broadened definition of knowledge that includes conceptual, linguistic, experiential, and epistemic dimensions that readers use to make sense of texts. We examine instructional designs that support these processes, including the use of text sets, refutation texts, and epistemic prompts. Further, we consider how curricular and policy decisions shape which knowledge is included and whose perspectives are represented. Viewing knowledge as central, not ancillary, to reading comprehension, we argue for instructional approaches that position students’ varied knowledge resources as essential to meaning-making and conceptual development. We conclude with implications for research, instructional practice, curriculum, and policy, emphasizing that centering knowledge in comprehension instruction is foundational to equitable classroom learning and broader civic participation.