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English Language Arts Literacy

Arianna Roemke
Arizona State University
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Importance of Adolescent Literacy in Instruction

As educators we consistently strive to have our students perform to their highest ability,

and many times that requires us to ask for ‘a little more.’ Whether this is in papers, or class

discussion; for a good deal of students this idea of ‘more’ can be extremely confusing at most

and completely daunting at best. If students do not fully comprehend or have not been taught

how to ‘dig deeper’ into a text or idea, then asking them to find bits of information to piece

together a more insightful analysis is nearly impossible. This is why it is of utmost importance to

teach and engage with our students in disciplinary literacy. “Disciplinary literacy practices are

tools that students use within specific discourse communities in order to construct and share

knowledge” (Kavanagh & Rainey, 2017). By using these tools students can better connect

information across contents or compare and contrast similar ideas they have encountered in

other books or situations.

It is imperative that we build a solid foundation for students to think about these

concepts as they may find it difficult to fully grasp the basics of the content area. This can cause

continual problems in their understanding as they read and engage with more challenging

works. As educators teach students disciplinary literacy, teachers are also helping fill in the gaps

in some of their foundational ideas and concepts. It is vital as teachers to teach the link

between the disciplinary skills they are learning and how they apply to things in the outside

world also “literary interpretation was not only for school but also an important real- world

tool” (Levine, 2014). Giving our students the ability to connect thoughts and ideas across

content to look deeper into the principles of our discipline will help make them more well-
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rounded, and thoughtful individuals, which is one of the most important aspects of teaching

adolescents.

Disciplinary Literacy in English Language Arts

Whether consciously or not a person’s literacy can shape the way in which they see the

world and the beliefs they hold because of it. Therefore, as teachers it is imperative that we

give our students the best tools to communicate those ideas. “A disciplinary literacy approach

emphasizes the specialized knowledge and abilities possessed by those who create,

communicate, and use knowledge within each of the disciplines” (Shanahan 2012). This means

much more than just teaching students how to read or write in the English Language Arts

classroom. As we teach our content literacy, teachers also need to teach their students the in-

depth analysis of information for a look into disciplinary literacy. “…disciplinary literacy is a

nuanced examination of the literacy practices valued by the discipline…. students should be

engaged in the literacy practices situated within the disciplines” (Pytash & Ciecierski, 2015). In a

literature standpoint, this can be looking at how we revisit and re-evaluate already learned or

read material. There and many particular concepts and application of concepts and skills. Take

for example, the term ‘context.’ Looking at that word only through the context of our content

discipline, we see that context in relation to a text means very little. However, when we look at

it through more of a disciplinary literacy way we can see all the aspects that help frame the

context of a text.

As educators teach English Language Arts, they also need to teach students how to

interact with a text and how the text interacts with the world. “Such as an approach to teaching

literature…makes visible our disciplinary ‘moves’ for analyzing and arguing our processes for
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reading and writing…” (Corrigan 2019). Giving students an idea about how any writing or text

influences other ideas and works after gives students the ability to further think about why and

how. Therefore, causing the student to critically think about a text or idea and the many ways it

can be perceived.

Along the same lines, teachers need to help their students develop literacy skills in more

than just the traditional print form. Literacy in an English Language Arts context can also be,

looking at a website and identifying if it is reputable, or talking in front of people. The content

that is covered in English Language Arts classrooms is easily translatable into other disciplines.

This said, each teacher should emphasize how concepts and writing can change across different

disciplines. The skills taught in an English Language Arts classroom along with the ability to read

further into a text can help shape a student into a deeper more insightful reader, and all around

better communicator.

Supporting Our Students

There are many things educators can do to help our students develop and grow in their

literacy skills. One of the many ways in which we can better our students’ advancement of their

disciplinary literacy dexterity is by creating terminology that they can learn and build off of.

There is often a gap between the understanding of terms from teacher to student. Giving

students a deeper definition of disciplinary terms “can help them transform how they think

about, read, understand and react to literary texts as well as make them more accessible”

(Corrigan, 2019). This helps support students by giving them an almost tangible idea and

understanding of why we teach certain things.

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One of the multiple challenges that can also arise for students as they develop their

disciplinary literacy skillset is that they have not seen this kind of cognitive thought process

effectively modeled for them prior. The solution to this particular issue is a somewhat simple

one: educators need to model the thought processes they wish their students to perform.

“Making implicit sense- making practices visible is part of an instructional model that has been

called the cognitive apprenticeship” (Levine, 2014). This can be done in a number of ways: such

as modeling a ‘mind-mapping’ activity by explicitly explaining how you got from one line of

thought to another, of asking students to look for a commonality within multiple different

sources. Engaging with the other source could also help us in supporting our students as among

the many other struggles our students face in understanding and digging deeper into their

disciplinary literacy is the lack of interesting, relatable material in class. “When teaching from a

disciplinary literacy stance, educators need to move past the textbook to incorporate authentic

texts, such as feature articles, picture books, blogs, websites, and opinion editorials” (Pytash et

al, 2015). Rather than just looking at a single text or story from a textbook; diversifying our text

materials can help students engage further and more meaningfully with the readings and create

deeper connections of ideas through the act of looking at the different representations and

thoughts about a certain topic.

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Works Cited

Corrigan, Paul T. "Threshold Concepts in Literary Studies." Teaching & Learning Inquiry, vol.7,

no, 1, March 2019, pp.3-17

Kavanagh, S. S., & Rainey, E. C. (2017). “Learning to Support Adolescent Literacy: Teacher

Educator Pedagogy and Novice Teacher Take Up in Secondary English Language Arts

Teacher Preparation.” American Educational Research Journal, 54(5), 904–937.

Levine, S. (2014). Making Interpretation Visible with an Affect-Based Strategy. Reading

Research Quarterly, 49(3), 283–303. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.71

Pytash, E. Kristine & Ciecierski, Lisa March 2015 “Teaching from a Disciplinary Literacy Stance”

Voices from the Middle, Volume 22 Number 3

Shanahan, Timothy; Shanahan, Cynthia “What Is Disciplinary Literacy and Why Does It

Matter?”, Topics in Language Disorders: January/March 2012 - Volume 32 - Issue 1 - p 7-

18doi:10.1097/TLD.0b013e318244557a