Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking Content- Area Literacy

2008 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
TIMOTHY SHANAHAN ◽  
CYNTHIA SHANAHAN
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Content Area Literacy ◽  
Disciplinary Literacy ◽  
Content Area ◽  
Comprehension Strategies ◽  
Content Area Teachers ◽  
School Settings ◽  
Adolescent Readers ◽  
Best Fit

In this article, Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan argue that "disciplinary literacy" — advanced literacy instruction embedded within content-area classes such as math, science, and social studies — should be a focus of middle and secondary school settings. Moving beyond the oft-cited "every teacher a teacher of reading" philosophy that has historically frustrated secondary content-area teachers, the Shanahans present data collected during the first two years of a study on disciplinary literacy that reveal how content experts and secondary content teachers read disciplinary texts, make use of comprehension strategies, and subsequently teach those strategies to adolescent readers. Preliminary findings suggest that experts from math, chemistry, and history read their respective texts quite differently; consequently, both the content-area experts and secondary teachers in this study recommend different comprehension strategies for work with adolescents. This study not only has implications for which comprehension strategies might best fit particular disciplinary reading tasks, but also suggests how students may be best prepared for the reading, writing, and thinking required by advanced disciplinary coursework.

Narrowing the Achievement Gap in Second-Grade Social Studies and Content Area Literacy: The Promise of a Project-Based Approach

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 198-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Lise Halvorsen ◽  
Nell K. Duke ◽  
Kristy A. Brugar ◽  
Meghan K. Block ◽  
Stephanie L. Strachan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Content Area Literacy ◽  
Content Area ◽  
Second Grade

scholarly journals Acquiring science and social studies knowledge in kindergarten through fourth grade: Conceptualization, design, implementation, and efficacy testing of content-area literacy instruction (CALI).

2017 ◽  
Vol 109 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol McDonald Connor ◽  
Jennifer Dombek ◽  
Elizabeth C. Crowe ◽  
Mercedes Spencer ◽  
Elizabeth L. Tighe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Literacy Instruction ◽  
Fourth Grade ◽  
Content Area Literacy ◽  
Content Area

Missing the Savoir for the Connaissance

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 448-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Dunkerly-Bean ◽  
Thomas William Bean
Keyword(s):  
Adolescent Literacy ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Content Area Literacy ◽  
Disciplinary Literacy ◽  
Content Area ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
History Of

This conceptual review addresses the bifurcation of content area and disciplinary literacy by examining each as regimes of truth. We look specifically at the ways in which both approaches comprise, in Foucault’s terms, “regimes of truth” within their respective epistemological domains. Following a brief history of adolescent literacy, extant research is considered. By employing a theoretical framework based on Foucault’s notions of “ connaissance” referring to a particular corpus of knowledge, and “ savoir” or knowledge in general, research and discourse surrounding the current debate over content area literacy and disciplinary literacy are taken up to deconstruct stances within these domains with the aim of a reconstruction that captures the affordances of both. Suggestions for moving the field out of this binary through a collaborative focus on interdisciplinary approaches are discussed.

scholarly journals Fostering Literacy Practices in Secondary Science and Mathematics Courses: Pre-service Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Murray Orr ◽  
Jennifer Mitton Kukner ◽  
D.J. Timmons
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Content Area Literacy ◽  
Content Area ◽  
School Students ◽  
Pedagogical Content ◽  
Literacy Strategies ◽  
Content Area Teachers ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Mathematics And Science

A significant number of high school students struggle to read textbooks and other course materials and to write successfully in content area courses such as mathematics and science (Kane, 2011). This paper investigates how pre-service teacher education can provide a strong literacy foundation for content area teachers. A pilot study, undertaken as part of an ongoing longitudinal study, examines how secondary pre-service teachers plan to infuse their teaching of secondary mathematics and science with literacy practices.  This paper inquires into the perspectives of six mathematics and science pre-service teachers who were interviewed after completing a course in content area literacy. Pre-service teachers emphasized their growing awareness of how literacy strategies can enhance student learning in their specific subject areas.

scholarly journals Every Teacher a Literacy Teacher? An Analysis of the Literacy-related Messages in Secondary Methods Textbooks

2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roni Jo Draper
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Area Literacy ◽  
Content Area ◽  
School Students ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Content Area Teachers ◽  
Course Work ◽  
Methods Textbooks ◽  
Secondary Methods

Every teacher a reading teacher has been the call of educators who have made their life work the promotion of reading and writing for middle and high school students (Gray, 1925; Herber, 1970; Ruddell, 1997; Vacca & Vacca, 2002). State departments of education in many states in the United States require secondary content-area teachers to complete course work in content-area reading and writing in order to obtain a teaching license (Romine, McKenna, & Robinson, 1996), seemingly to support this notion that every content-area teacher should also be a teacher of reading and writing. Although these requirements may be changing to accommodate other state requirements (Stewart & O'Brien, 2001), course work in content-area literacy remains common. Instructors with expertise in adolescent and content-area literacy have provided preservice courses to inform secondary teachers of methods to infuse literacy instruction with content instruction in ways that strengthen students' content-area learning and promote general literacy development. However, despite the slogans, the legislation, and the coursework, limited instruction in literacy occurs in secondary content-area classrooms (Eldridge & Muller, 1986, in Alvermann & Moore, 1991; Ratekin, Simpson, Alvermann, & Dishner, 1985).

What reading strategies make sense to content area teachers?

Reading World ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas P. Criscuolo ◽  
Richard T. Vacca ◽  
Joseph J. LaVorgna
Keyword(s):  
Reading Strategies ◽  
Content Area ◽  
Content Area Teachers
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