Content Area Literacy vs Disciplinary Literacy Minilecture

Summary

This presentation distinguishes between content area literacy (CAL) and disciplinary literacy (DL), emphasizing their importance in secondary education. CAL focuses on general strategies for acquiring content knowledge, while DL delves into discipline-specific processes and practices for meaning-making. The script advocates for teaching both, suggesting they are complementary and essential for an equitable education. It challenges educators to consider how general comprehension strategies can serve as stepping stones to discipline-specific literacies, preparing students with the mindsets necessary for advanced disciplinary thinking.

Takeaways

• 📚 Content area literacy (CAL) and disciplinary literacy (DL) are distinct approaches to teaching literacy in secondary settings, with CAL focusing on general strategies and DL on discipline-specific practices.
• 🎨 Disciplinary literacy emphasizes the unique mindsets and processes within a discipline, such as how mathematicians differ from historians in reading and interpreting texts.
• 🗣️ The presentation highlights the importance of engaging students in the processes and practices of disciplines to understand the generation of knowledge in various fields.
• 🤔 The first questions that arise when looking at a text or image can differ significantly based on one's discipline, reflecting the discipline-specific literacy practices.
• 🔍 Disciplinary literacy is not just about reading differently but also about the distinct ways of making meaning within different disciplines.
• 📈 Literacy is presented as a spectrum with basic literacy (primary years), intermediate literacy (content area literacy), and advanced literacy (disciplinary literacy).
• 📚 Content area literacy is defined as the ability to use reading and writing for acquiring new content within a discipline, often involving general comprehension strategies.
• 🏛️ Disciplinary literacy, in contrast, focuses on the specific set of practices used within a discipline for interpreting and producing texts.
• 🤷‍♂️ The script challenges the notion of not teaching disciplinary literacy due to students' varying literacy levels, arguing for its importance in social justice and equitable education.
• 🔄 The presentation suggests using both content area literacy and disciplinary literacy in teaching, with the former serving as stepping stones to the latter, to develop students' discipline-specific mindsets.

Q & A

What is the main difference between content area literacy and disciplinary literacy?

Content area literacy focuses on using reading and writing for acquiring new content within a discipline, often employing general strategies. Disciplinary literacy, on the other hand, emphasizes the unique mindset and processes of making meaning and interpreting texts within a specific discipline.

What does Heather Lattimer's quote suggest about the shift in teaching disciplines?

Heather Lattimer's quote suggests a shift from teaching students the core ideas of disciplines to inviting them to engage in the processes and practices of disciplines, allowing them to participate in the knowledge generation process.

How does disciplinary literacy differ in various disciplines?

Disciplinary literacy varies because different disciplines have distinct mindsets, processes, and practices for making meaning. For instance, reading and making meaning in math differs significantly from doing so in social studies or art.

What role do general comprehension strategies play in content area literacy?

General comprehension strategies in content area literacy are foundational and often include skills like decoding words, sentence fluency, and basic reading comprehension, which serve as stepping stones to more discipline-specific literacy practices.

Why is it important to teach both content area literacy and disciplinary literacy?

Teaching both is important because they inform and support each other. Content area literacy provides general strategies that can be used as touchpoints for supporting discipline-specific literacies, helping students develop a deeper understanding of their subject matter.

How can disciplinary literacy be considered a social justice issue?

Disciplinary literacy can be seen as a social justice issue because it argues for equitable education by ensuring that all students have access to learning discipline-specific literacy practices, which are essential for full participation in their fields of study.

What are some examples of discipline-specific questions that might arise when looking at an image?

For an art education student, questions might include the material used and whether it's a community project. A historian might ask about the construction date, occasion, social context, and representation of actors in an event.

How does the level of literacy progress from basic to advanced?

Literacy progresses from basic, which involves decoding words and phonics learned in primary years, to intermediate or content area literacy, and finally to advanced literacy, which is disciplinary literacy focusing on discipline-specific practices.

What are some general comprehension strategies associated with content area literacy?

General comprehension strategies associated with content area literacy include activating prior knowledge, determining importance, inferring, making connections across texts, and creating visualizations.

How can teachers integrate content area literacy and disciplinary literacy in their teaching?

Teachers can integrate both by using general comprehension strategies from content area literacy as stepping stones to introduce discipline-specific literacies, helping students develop the mindsets and practices of experts in their fields.

Why is it beneficial for students to learn discipline-specific literacy practices?

Learning discipline-specific literacy practices is beneficial as it equips students with the tools to think and analyze like experts in their fields, preparing them for higher education or careers that require specialized literacy skills.