Running head: ENGLISH LITERACY

English Literacy

Kaira Coburn

Arizona State University

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English Literacy

​The idea of what is considered “proper grammar” is so unstable, but also fluid. There is

really no way to singularly define literacy for many factors. R​ecent years have seen multiple

calls for K–12 disciplinary liter-acy instruction (Lee & Spratley, 2010; Moje, 2008;

Shanahan & Shanahan, 2012). Disciplinary literacy instruction involves teaching students

how knowledge is constructed in the academic dis-ciplines (e.g., biology, history),

including the specialized ways that members of those disciplines read, write, and reason

(Moje, 2007), says Rines. This analysis will also look at the less common reasons that

there is so much difficulty defining such terminology. One of which includes the social

norms of society, and their impact on student learning, retention, and overall academic

success. Considering that we are in times that are finally acknowledging the Black Lives

Matter Movement, this particular social group will be the focus of this piece.

Sociocultural scholars understand literacy as complex sets of tools or practices that one

learns to employ with texts to participate within certain discourse communi-ties

(Lankshear & Knobel, 2007; Street, 1984). Sources will include writing from Emily C.

Rainey, of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I am from the midwest so I wanted a

writer to cite that was from a similar demographic with a similar writing style as myself.

Typically, students with an African American background in inner-city schools are

at a slight disadvantage in terms of their educational success. This is not due to students
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being lazy or not having a desire to learn, but because of the lack of resources afforded to

them. State requirements are the same despite what the schools are able to provide to

students. Who a student is as a person has a direct influence on how they will learn and

retain information. In saying this, as educators, it is imperative that the students are seen

with all of their circumstances considered.

In the Black community, literacy is especially important. Because Black people as

a whole are seen as less than by the rest of the country, the strive for acceptance is at an

all time high. For these reasons, literacy needs to be defined to steer all social groups in

the right direction. For example, speaking eloquently and fluently are typically said to be

“talking White”. This means that when someone speaks in a socially acceptable manner,

they are looked at as the superior, depending on their race of course. In my future

teaching career, I aspire to teach in a classroom where the majority is Afriacn American

students. This is so that my students know that it is okay to be correct in terms of

grammar and literacy. It will be the new norm. However, it will be their responsibility to

fully understand, engage, and accept the changes.

Looking directly at English Language Arts, literacy is taught as early as school

begins for children, and then is built up over the schooling years. There are a plethora of

ways teachers have created lessons to ensure students understand literacy. Looking at a

variety of scholarly writings and analysis is one way to do so. When students read and

diset the readings, they are able to articulate their understanding by allowing the teacher
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to gage their comprehension. One way to assess student progress is through tests and

quizzes. There are other helpful ways too, though. Creating games or making puzzles are

known to be extremely effective. They take off the pressure of studying for an exam and

the amount of time preparation takes. It also benefits students; grades because they do not

have to be weighed as heavily. “Whatever the specific focus, this work of developing

interpretive puzzles—questions of potential interest to a scholarly community that

motivate extended work with texts and will ultimately allow for interpretive claim

making—was central to these scholars’ work with literature...to teach students to engage

in academic work that aligns with their scholarship, participants seemed to favor

instruction that asked students to identify, pur-sue, and communicate about their own

literary ques-tions, problems, or puzzles. Such an emphasis was particularly important to

participants because often they expressed that undergraduate students do not come to

their introductory-level literary studies courses with an understanding of literary inquiry”

(Rainey,64). This entire excerpt is necessary because it directly outlines the meaning of

literacy and how using different strategies will help students in their overall success.

Puzzles were brought into student teaching and learning at a young age and then

developed over time. Since English is my content area, it makes sense for me to look into

such strategies as well. I am very eager for teaching in a new and adaptive classroom

setting.
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In conclusion, literary literacy is the students’ ability to read, understand the

material being taught, and lastly to maintain. This also includes writing and speaking.

Language arts considers all of these aspects and then combines them in a way to promote

the best student learning. These skills also support every other subject area. It is almost

like the foundation of the writing process, and then feeds into the other subject areas.

These concepts are imperative for a student to grasp their prior knowledge and then link

them to their future knowledge. This connection is important because it allows the

students to assess the things that they already know to connect these situations to the real

world scenarios. In doing so, students are able to relate their personal experiences to the

content being taught. This will also help with long term information processing. Overall,

there are still more ways to see this through and improve it with time.
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References

Expert–novice differences in memory, abstrac-tion, and reasoning in the domain of literature.

Cognition and Instruction, 12(4), 277–312. doi:10.1207/s1532690xci1204_1

Monte-Sano, C. (2011). Learning to open up history for students: Preservice teachers’ emerging

pedagogical content knowledge. Journal of Teacher Education, 62(3), 260–272. doi:10.1177/0022487

110397842

Rainey, E. (2017). Disciplinary Literacy in English Language Arts: Exploring the Social and

Problem-Based Nature of Literary Reading and Reasoning. ​Reading Research Quarterly,​ ​52(​ 1), 53–71.

https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.154

Weiss, R.S. (1994). Learning from strangers: The art and method of qualitative interview studies. New

York, NY: Free.Wineburg, S.S. (1991a). Historical problem solving: A study of the cognitive processes used

in the evaluation of documentary and pictorial evidence. Journal of Educational Psychology,

Yore, L., Bisanz, G.L., & Hand, B.M. (2003). Examining the literacy component of science literacy:

25 years of language arts and sci-ence research. International Journal of Science Education, 25(6), 689–725.

doi:10.1080/09500690305018Zeitz, C.M. (1994)