Terada, Y. (2019, October, 11). Research Zeros In on a Barrier to Reading (Plus, Tips for Teachers). Retrieved October 14, 2019.

Researchers have learned that students will have difficulty understanding text if they are unfamiliar with 59% of terms relating to the topic, indicating that readers who have greater background knowledge about a topic will be better able to draw inferences about a text on that topic. Teachers can help students build background knowledge by identifying common terms, giving low-stakes quizzes at the start of lessons to identify knowledge gaps, and sequencing and scaffolding lessons