Val Garcia

What is Disciplinary Literacy and Why Does it Matter?

The term Disciplinary Literacy refers to the specifics of reading, writing, and

communicating in a discipline. It focuses on the ways of thinking, the skills, and the tools that

are used by experts in the disciplines (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2012). Disciplinary literacy is used

in all contents, English, math, science, and history. For example, Disciplinary literacy in history

would combine reading, writing, and communication in a historical sense. In that, the focus

would be on reading and interpreting historical texts, writing, and explaining historical

concepts. It also includes thinking about issues and events from a historian’s perspective. Each

other content area has its way of combining literacy into its own specific content. Now the

reason why disciplinary literacy matters are because “Disciplinary literacy pushes students to

move beyond reading, writing, listening, and viewing solely for academic purposes.” “Students

learn to identify and consider the perspectives, privilege, message, and source of the texts they

consume (Hamilton, Stolle 2016) For example why disciplinary literacy matters in history to

understand why something happened in the past, or what compelled someone to write a

particular text, historians must situate authors and events in the context of contemporary

events, peers, and ideas; such writing highlights the relationships between contiguous events

(Sono, 2010).”

However, there are issues regarding diverse learners and equity in education. The issue

regarding diverse learners all comes down to literacy in special education. One of the main

arguments is how special education has too often remained insular, in which it is filled with

diagnostic categories, instructional objectives, proprietary learning systems, and remedial and
corrective methods. Yet now there’s growing attention to change the system to embrace a

progressive way of teaching students. One of the greatest quotes I’ve heard when explaining

their disorder is to use the term “Brain Forest” when talking to a student in that “The problem

with using “machine” metaphors to talk about the brain is that it’s easy to fall into a dichotomy

of “it’s either working or it’s broken (Armstrong, 2017, 4).” Using the term "Brain Forest" shows

the complexity and vastness that is inside their head. Moving on, Equity in education means

making sure every student has the support they need to be successful. However, not to be

confused with equality which would state to treat every student the same no matter what.

Students come from all different types of backgrounds so if students are all treated equally

there will be students that won’t succeed. Equity gives students an equal chance for success.

That is a quick summary of what Module 1 was about.

 Citations

Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking

content-area literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 78(1), 40–5

Hamilton, Erica R. and Stolle, Elizabeth (2016) "The Importance of Disciplinary Literacy,"

Colleagues: Vol. 13: Iss. 1, Article 9.

Monte-Sano, C. (2010). Disciplinary literacy in history: An exploration of the historical nature of

adolescents' writing. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 19(4), 539–568.

Collins, K. (2016). Literacy Education and Disability Studies: Revisioning Struggling Students.

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy.