Disciplinary Literacy
Should it replace general reading strategies?
Defining Disciplinary Literacy
- Hierarchical model of reading skills (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008)
- Considered literacy of a domain vs. literacy in a domain (Ehren, 2012)
- Disciplinary "habits of mind" (Zygouris-Coe, 2012) where reading, writing, and speaking are approached from an expert's or insider's perspective
- Text dictates reading; reading moved "inside out" vs. "outside in" (Brozo et al, 2013)
- Unique language, including vocabulary, sentence grammar, and use of symbols (Johnson et al, 2011)
Sociocultural Perspective
- Learning and knowledge is situated in communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Moje, 2011)
- Knowledge in particular communities is necessary to participate in those communities (Moje, 2011)
- Learning situated in specific contexts are developed through apprenticeship over time
- (RAND, 2002)
Cognitive Perspective
- Gough's (1972) "bottom up" information processing model is a linear model of reading
- The simple view of reading (Gough & Tuner, 1986) says reading comprehension is a result of decoding skills and language comprehension
- Direct and explicit strategy instruction (Rupley et al, 2009)
- A narrow view of reading will promote a broad view of comprehension (Catts, 2009)
Specific Strategy Instruction
"Bag of Tricks" and Tools
(Moje, 2010; Willingham, 2007)
Rhetorical Reading
(Warren, 2013)
Functional Language Analysis
Fang & Schleppegrell (2010)
Content Area Teacher's Beliefs about Competency in Teaching Reading
- Secondary teachers believe students should know how to read and write before coming to their class
- See their role as teachers of content, rather than teachers of reading; however, they cannot be separated to the extent teachers believe (Hall, 2005)
- Hesitant to fuse reading and content because they do not know how to support students' reading (Bean et al, 2012)
- Unaware of the unique demands of their content area (Hall, 2005)
- Generic strategies are blindly and uncritically forced open them (Brozo et al, 2013)
- Feel as though students are not ready for these specific disciplinary strategies (Rainey & Moje, 2012)
Finding the Middle Ground
(Barabara, 2014; Brozo et al, 2013; Cervetti, 2014; Duke, 2014; Ehren, 2012; Lee & Spratley, 2010; Townsend, 2014)