Disciplinary Literacy in Elementary School

Shanahan, C., & Shanahan, T. (2014). Does Disciplinary Literacy Have a Place in Elementary School? The Reading Teacher, 67(8), 636–639. doi: 10.1002/trtr.1257

Background

The authors define disciplinary literacy as the ‘specialized ways of reading, understanding, and thinking used in each academic discipline such as science, history or literature’ (p. 636). By defining the school disciplines as ‘cultures of practice’ the authors claim that the disciplines feature specific approaches to knowledge creation, sharing and evaluation, which have implications for how reading and writing are used.

Aims

The article presents a justification for recognising subject specific literacies by offering contrastive accounts of literacy practices in some subjects. Drawing on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in the U.S., the authors present the argument that elementary school teachers can begin to prepare students for disciplinary literacy practices for middle and high school.

Sample

The subjects chosen for the contrastive discussion are: history, science and literature.

Method

The authors highlight differences students will encounter with texts from the three different subjects which have the same defined genre. For example, ‘a good historical summary would include the relevant social, political, or economic causes and consequences’ whereas ‘literary summaries need to do more than capture plot elements; they need to include characters’ emotional responses and motivations’ (p. 637).

Findings

Based on the contrastive discussion across the three subjects highlighting different needs for students when engaging in subject specific texts, the authors claim that elementary teachers should also be exposing their students to different texts and their accompanying literacy practices, using the CCSS as justification. The CCSS specify that 50% of elementary school reading should be ‘informational texts’, which the authors detail as involving a wide range of text types, types of representation and purposes. The authors present some strategies to introduce students into different literacies across school subjects.

Implications

The article raises the need for elementary teachers to prepare their students for subject specific literacies which students encounter in middle, high school and college.

Original article retrieved from EBSCOHost (Taylor & Francis).