This document discusses disciplinary literacies and content area literacy. It begins by defining disciplinary literacies as a form of academic literacy that involves learning the conventions and language used within a particular discipline. It discusses how students' understanding in a discipline, called "envisionments", develop over time through experiences like reading texts and discussions. The document provides examples of how envisionments are built in classrooms through inquiry-based learning and engaging with the practices of a discipline. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of teaching literacy through critical thinking and inquiry within discipline-focused instruction.

1. Learning Module 16

2.  A few more thoughts about disciplinary
literacies
 Your Questions Answered about Content Area
Literacy

3. As we conclude the semester, I thought I would
leave you with a few more thoughts about
teaching literacy in the disciplines or what is
more commonly referred to as disciplinary
literacies.
Judith Langer (2011) defines disciplinary
literacies as a form of academic literacy and
something she calls “envisionments.” The next
few slides explain her thinking about
disciplinary literacies.

4. Academic Literacies in the Disciplines:
“To engage in academic literacy we must learn
to select and control the aspects of disciplinary
thought and language that serve as markers,
ones that carry meaning and are widely
understood and used within a discipline. These
markers denote the social conventions that are
subject- or context-specific, those that people
within that field know, understand, and expect
others ‘in the know’ to use” (p. 3).

5.  “Envisionments are the worlds of knowledge in our
minds that are made up of what we understand and
what we don’t about a particular topic or experience
at any point in time. They are dynamic sets of related
ideas, questions, images, anticipations, agreements,
arguments, and hunches that fill our minds during
every reading, writing, discussion, technology
interaction, or other experience where we gain or
express thoughts and understandings” (p. 17).
 “In classrooms, students’ envisionments similarly
develop over time as more primary documents are
read, more experiments are carried out, more
simulations are completed, or more discussions take
place” (p. 19).

6.  “Envisionment-building classrooms are places that
function as communities of inquiry. Students are engaged
with working out problems, while using the processes,
symbols, language, and ways of thinking that are
appropriate to the discipline. In a sense they are learning
the culture of the discipline. They are encouraged to use
what they know and to venture into making sense of new
ideas and concepts. They are in ‘minds-on’ classes where
activities and assignments are planned to invite students
to become engaged with the material, to think about it,
and to build upon it” (p. 41).
 Disciplinary literacy has to be built on this process of
critical thinking, inquiry, and developing knowledge
otherwise there is no real literate practice taking place in
the discipline-focused instruction.

7. To see an example of envisionment in the
discipline of science, please view a video titled
“Making Science Relevant with Current Events”
on the Teaching Channel website located at the
following url:
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teac
hing-science-with-current-events

8. The next few slides have a list of the content
area literacy questions you sent me with
answers added.
Please email me if you have additional
questions and also email me to tell me which of
the questions from this list you thought was the
most critical to be able to answer.

9. (1) Can you explain repetend further?
Romano initially defines it as the "unexpected repetition of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage." He
emphasizes the unexpected nature of repetend as what distinguishes a repetend from a refrain. Later, he
describes repetend as the unexpected repetition of a form like a dialogue turning up again in the middle of
a paper.
(2) How important is it for secondary students to study content area literacy in every content area,
even those that they are not interested in? In Chemistry, for example, knowledge is produced through
designing, building and running experiments that are quite technical. I think every student should
understand the basics of how Chemical knowledged is produced, but many students would not be
interested in doing the hard work to become truly literate in this discipline, and furthermore, the vast
majority of secondary students will not study Chemistry in college or use it in their adult life. I was
thinking that most of our teaching effort in secondary should be devoted to the lower level of the pyramid
you showed us, academic literacy. Especially important is critical thinking and literacy in my opinion. It
seems that, for most students, exploring very deeply into content area literacy should wait for college, with
only the basics covered in secondary school. I wonder what you think about this idea?
Do you think literacy can be used as a tool for learning in all content areas? In chemistry, for instance, can
students benefit from creating graphic organizers, engaging in group discussions, employing various
reading comprehension strategies while reading chemistry texts, and writing about content to increase
their understanding of it? If you think the answer to this question, is yes, then, I think the answer to your
question about should content area literacy be utilized in every content area is yes. It is hard work to
become truly literate in any discipline. I think it helps to view disciplinary literacies from a
developmental perspective where you teach students elements of disciplinary literacies in a content area
class but calibrate the level of student performance expected. The issue with holding off to teach greater
expectations about academic or disciplinary literacies until college is that most college students are not
prepared at all for this expectation. This is called the College Readiness Gap, and it has led to the creation
of the Common Core State Standards and the College & Career Readiness Standards in Texas.

10. (3) I think that my question applies to implementation of content area
literacy on a broad scale. I am worried about becoming too
overwhelmed with the "tests" and "busy" and lose the will to add in
content area literacy (like so many other teachers are). Do you think
that we should try to approach legislatures/school boards with the
importance of content area literacy and facts of the matter to really
implement and gain the interest of teachers everywhere?
 This is an enduring concern with content area literacy! I do think
various stakeholders should be educated about content area
literacy. Interestingly, there is a lot of national emphasis on content
area literacy coursework for pre-service teachers, but there does not
seem to be an attendant accountability for this knowledge in teacher
certification exams or professional development for practicing
teachers. The Common Core State Standards are an exception to
this phenomenon and may begin to shift the culture in K-12
settings surrounding content area literacy.

11. (4) Is the publication below any good? I just tripped over it this morning.
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/documents/adolescent_literacy.pdf
National Institute for Literacy. 2007. What Content-Area Teachers Should Know About
Adolescent Literacy.
I think it would be good for you to compare the theories of content area literacy you have
read this semester to this report to formulate your own opinion about the validity of it. I
will tell you that NICHD has tended to take a skills-oriented, code-based (as opposed to
meaning-based) approach to literacy instruction. I can also remind you of a quote from the
first book we read this semester (Ivey & Fisher, 2006, p. 70), "Many of the students who
come to middle and high school as struggling readers were assigned as younger students
to remedial reading programs that are known to focus on decontextualized skills, literal
recall, and skills worksheets at the expense of purposeful, strategic, silent reading
experiences. This kind of instruction has been tied to slowing rather than accelerating
reading progress." Also, remember this quote from the same book on page 77 "Although
phonics and phonemic awareness were two of the components of the learning-to-read
process studied by the National Reading Panel (2000), these fundamental skills probably
should not play a major role in secondary interventions (Ivey & Baker, 2004). Phonemic
awareness--the knowledge that words are composed of sequences of individual sounds--
is probably something most older struggling readers already understand. Likewise,
phonics instruction, which focuses on letter-sound correspondence in reading and spelling,
was shown to have diminishing effects beyond the 1st grade. . .Even older struggling
readers who can read 1st to 2nd grade level materials would receive limited benefits from
intensive phonics instruction per se."

12. (5) My first question is this: How do I integrate literacy while helping them think like
scientists? I seems that these skills are often lacking, and simply trudging through and
hoping they catch on is a definite failure! Is there a way to integrate this in such a way as
to help them move from the Grammar B type of writing and speaking, and the knowledge-
based, recall type questions, and on to the more formal Grammar A (which is expected in
higher education)?
These are excellent questions! There is a book I think you might find beneficial in
answering these questions. It's by Maria Grant and Douglas Fisher and it's titled Reading
and Writing in Science: Tools to Develop Disciplinary Literacy. Chapters four and five in
this book address specific strategies for reading scientific texts and writing like a
scientist. Chapter four presents the same strategies you have read this semester in the
books for our class (e.g., think alouds; reciprocal teaching). The only difference is the
examples are with scientific texts, so the illustrations of the methods may be more readily
accessible for you. Chapter five delves into methods for teaching students specific frames
and phrasing in scientific writing and addresses how to establish detailed associations
among evidence, warrants, claims, and reflective commentary; how to develop and convey
mental images in writing; and how to express ownership of intellectual properties. Beyond
this book and the materials from our class, I would encourage you to constantly use
yourself as a model. Talk to students about the ways you read and write scientific text (i.e.,
what is your metacognitive process?). Discuss the text structure of scientific texts. Is it a
cause and effect structure? Is it a problem and solution structure? etc. And, finally, you
might incorporate interactions with scientists outside of the classroom through reading
and responding to tweets posted to NASA's, NOAA's (or other organizations) Twitter site.

13. (6) My question is, how can we use different content areas to teach abstract
concepts to people that are not beginners? I realize this is a massively broad
question, so let me fine this; is there a methodology out there for teaching
that crosses multiple content areas in and outside of conventional and
unconventional literacy, such as art, drama, music, dance, that can be
combined ubiquitously in the general classroom? Is there research to
suggest that this would even work.
I believe the key to interdisciplinary instruction in content area literacy is to
take a Multiliteracies approach. Transmediation, curriculum based reader's
theater, teaching with multiple texts, these kinds of methods have been
studied in a variety of classroom settings with young children and college
students. Research has demonstrated increased student engagement,
participation in content area learning through these methods, and
comprehension of content are subject matter.