Text-to-self connections are highly personal connections that a reader makes between a piece of reading material and the reader’s own experiences or life. An example of a text-to-self connection might be, "This story reminds me of a vacation we took to my grandfather’s farm."
Sometimes when reading, readers are reminded of other things that they have read, other books by the same author, stories from a similar genre, or perhaps on the same topic. These types of connections are text-to-text connections. Readers gain insight during reading by thinking about how the information they are reading connects to other familiar text. “This character has the same problem that I read about in a story last year,” would be an example of a text-to-text connection.
Text-to-world connections are the larger connections that a reader brings to a reading situation. We all have ideas about how the world works that goes far beyond our own personal experiences. We learn about things through television, movies, magazines, and newspapers. Often it is the text-to-world connections that teachers are trying to enhance when they teach lessons in science, social studies, and literature. An example of a text-to-world connection would be when a reader says, "I saw a program on television that talked about things described in this article."
Text-to-text connections are when you connect what you are reading to something you have read in the past.
Reasons why connecting to text helps readers:
It helps readers understand how characters feel and the motivation behind their actions.
It helps readers have a clearer picture in their head as they read thus making the reader more engaged.
It keeps the reader from becoming bored while reading.
It sets a purpose for reading and keeps the reader focused.
Readers can see how other readers connected to the reading.
It forces readers to become actively involved.
It helps readers remember what they have read and ask questions about the text.
Text-to-self:What does this remind me of in my life? What is this similar to in my life? How is this different from my life? Has something like this ever happened to me?How does this relate to my life?What were my feelings when I read this?
Text-to-text:What does this remind me of in another book I’ve read? How is this text similar to other things I’ve read? How is this different from other books I’ve read?Have I read about something like this before?
Text-to-world:What does this remind me of in the real world?How is this text similar to things that happen in the real world? How is this different from things that happen in the real world? How did that part relate to the world around me?
