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A Reflection on Disciplinary Literacy

Katherine Kilgore

Arizona State University

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What is disciplinary literacy and why is it important?

Disciplinary literacy is the specific reading, writing, listening, communicating, the use of

technology and critical thinking skills used in a discipline(Stevens, 2017.) For students to fully

understand concepts in any discipline and to have more opportunities in life it is important that

they are literate. Some examples of literacy in the science content area are reading, writing, and

analysing scientific publications, news articles, graphs, observations, and much more.

The struggle with literacy in teaching is that every student is at a different level. Students

come from different cultures and sociopolitical environments, this calls for a change to bring

equity to education(2018.) We live in the United States, so all students must be literate in the

English language. While some students' literary skills are proficient, others may be lacking or

even non-existent. While in the past these students that struggle with disciplinary literacy have

fallen through the cracks as they say, educators, schools, and officials are working toward a

higher standard for these students. This means providing extra support for students struggling to

reach proficiency standards, holding teachers and schools accountable for setting high

expectations for students and making sure their students reach them, and preparing teachers to

accommodate and modify their instruction for their students with needs.

Teachers are expected to differentiate their instruction in order to engage and motivate

their students, resulting in closing the gaps in the learning for their students (Irvin, Meltzer, &

Dukes, 2007.) Differentiating instruction means that the teacher designs their instruction to meet

the needs of the diverse student group. Some examples of differentiated instruction are to allow

students to pick the topic they work with, to let students work in collaborative groups , or assess

students in different ways(Ferlazzo & Hull-Sypnieski, 2018.) A teacher may allow students to

pick their favorite topic from the chapter to write about or favorite animal to research. Teachers
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may group students by putting students with similar interests in one group, groups may be made

up of students with different strengths of teachers and may even pair higher level students with

lower level students. Teachers can assess students using a standard multiple choice test, a

research paper, or a presentation.

Disciplinary literacy is important because when students are in a specialized class like

English, history, math, science, and so on, the literacy aspect in that class becomes more

specialized. For example in a science class we are teaching our students to read, write, listen,

communicate and think critically like a scientist. Students attend all of these classes so that they

develop the skills of a well rounded student but also so that they get their feet wet in a field that

interests them. So in science the science teacher must teach the students the literary skills needed

in a science field. While there is a vast variety of science fields there is a common overlap in

vocabulary and other literacy skills. It is important that teachers teach or work toward developing

a foundation in literacy skills needed in a science career or higher level science courses. These

foundational skills are skills such as, how to read and write, how information is communicated or

presented, and vocabulary in the science realm(Kerkhoff Vessa, 2013.) So the more students

read, and write in a science class the better they will get at understanding how literacy is

structured in the science realm.

Sources cited
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Ferlazzo, L., & Hull-Sypnieski, K. (Writers). (2018, September 11). Differentiating Instruction:

It’s Not as Hard as You Think [Video file]. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7-D3gi2lL8

Irvin, J. L., Meltzer, J., & Dukes, M. S. (2007). Taking Action on Adolescent Literacy. Retrieved

September 19, 2020, from

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/107034/chapters/Student-Motivation,-

Engagement,-and-Achievement.aspx

Kerkhoff Vessa, S. (2013, August 28). Why Disciplinary Literacy is Important. Retrieved

September 19, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unt4pR2HAb4

Stevens, D. (Director). (2017, February 7). Content Area Literacy vs Disciplinary Literacy

Minilecture [Video file]. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH49UMw02Jc&feature=emb_title

T. (Producer). (2018, October 5). XQ: Equity in Education [Video file]. Retrieved September 19,

2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dirLB5uRQPQ&feature=emb_title