Making Text Connections: a Useful Comprehension Strategy

As young readers start to master decoding, introducing comprehension strategies allows them to understand and enjoy the stories that they read. One such strategy is making text connections. It involves linking what has been read to what is already known.

Why do text connections matter?

1. Students who make text connections are better able to understand the text that they read
2. Text connections make reading more engaging and relevant to the reader’s experiences
3. This strategy develops the ability to analyze and synthesize information from different sources

Types of Text Connections

Text to Self

Encourage your students to connect the text to their experiences and feelings as they read.  They may discover something familiar – an event, a character, a place, or something else.

Example: “In Mimi’s Travels, reading about Mimi’s trips reminded me of how excited I get to see my grandparents when it’s holiday time.”

Text to Text

The word is ‘text’, but this includes other art forms such as shows, games, or music. Do the themes remind your students of something they read, watched, or played?

Example: “When I was reading The Lioness of Budo, I remembered that I recently saw a story about Rhoda Kalema in the newspaper.”

Text to World

At this point, think bigger. Encourage your students to relate the text to current and past events, historical places, etc.

Example: “Jomo’s Prize talked about Covid-19, and I saw that happen in real life a few years ago too.”

Tips for Teaching Text Connections

1. Teach one connection at a time. Depending on the age group, the difference between the three types of connections can be confusing. Focus on each one until you feel that your students understand it, and then introduce the next one.

• Model this strategy first. Using a story that everyone has read, identify the text connections ahead of time and then share them with your students.

• Use sentence frames. Forming a connection for the first time could be difficult, but sentence frames make it much simpler. Here are a few examples:

Text to Self:

When the story talked about __________, it reminded me of the time I ___________, because ____________.

Text to Text:

The part where ____________ reminds of what I read in __________, when ___________.

Text to World:

I saw __________ happen in real life when __________.