Disciplinary Literacy: Why it Matters and

What We Should Do About It

Elizabeth Birr MojeNational Writing Project

ConferenceWhat’s Next: Possibilities for Literacy

and Content Area LearningMarch 6, 2010

HELPING YOUTH NAVIGATE FROM EVERYDAY TO DISCIPLINARY LITERACY PRACTICES

. . . Or . . .

WHAT IS DISCIPLINARY LITERACY?

A Prior Question

What is Disciplinary Literacy?

Disciplinary literacy perspectives argue that the tools of knowledge production and critique, whether rooted in the disciplines or in everyday life, should be uncovered, taught, and practiced.

Disciplines v. subject areas

Discipline-Specific Literacy Teaching

Practices/Strategies How do members of the discipline use

language on a daily basis?

What kinds of texts do they turn to or produce as part of their work?

How are interactions with members of the discipline shaped (or governed by) texts?

Who are the primary audiences for written work in your discipline?

Discipline-Specific Literacy Teaching

Practices/Strategies What are the standards for warrant

demanded by those audiences? Are there words or phrases that are

demanded by or taboo in your discipline? Are there writing styles that are demanded

by or taboo in your discipline? What is unique about your discipline in

terms of reading, writing, speaking, and listening?

HIST PRAC For example, historians:

•Frame historical problems

•Locate and use residues/evidence from past

•Analyze and use evidence through interconnected practices of "sourcing, corroborating and contextualizing“

•Determine significance of evidence and events

•Look for patterns in welter of facts and events and "colligate" these to create a concept or periodization scheme that imposes sense on that welter of events, e.g. "renaissance" is a colligated term

•Periodize and/or use the periodization schemes of others

•Read others’ historical accounts

•Produce historical accounts

•Present/publish historical accounts

(adapted from R. B. Bain, 2007)

MATH PRAC For example, mathematicians:

•Ask “Natural Questions” in a given mathematical context

•Explore and experiment with the context

•Represent the context and examine the representation

•Look for organizing Structure or Pattern

•Consult with colleagues orally or in the literature

•Look for Connections as a result of consultation

•Seek Proofs or disproofs

•Follow Opportunities

•Write finished exposition of a proof

•Analyze Proofs (proof analysis)

•Present/publish proofs

•Use appropriate conventions to produce Aesthetically pleasing results

(Adapted from H. Bass, 2007)

WHY DISCIPLINARY LITERACY MATTERS?

Question 1

Why Disciplinary Literacy?

Disciplinary slicing of middle school, high school, and university into subject-areas leads to: Masking of the role that

disciplinary practices play in knowledge production

Reification of disciplinary differences

Challenges to coherence for the learner

Access and Opportunity

Explicit attention to navigation across multiple discourse communities provides greater access to more young people

In the service of enhancing subject-matter learning (i.e., to develop deep subject-matter proficiency)

Builds critical literacy skills for an educated citizenry

What is the relationship between disciplinary and

generic literacy? Key “Generic” Literacy

Skills/Strategies Predicting Previewing Questioning Monitoring Visualizing Summarizing

Most “strategy instruction” attempts to develop these strategies/skills in readers

Discipline-Specific Literacy Teaching

Practices/Strategies Previewing like a historian

Who is the author? When was this written? What is the context?

Previewing like a biologist What is the problem/phenomenon I’m

studying? What do I know about this phenomenon? What do I predict/hypothesize about the

phenomenon?

History Previewing Example:

A Nation of Immigrants If I told you to that we were reading

a chapter from the book, A Nation of Immigrants, what do you expect it would be about? If I told you that the book was written in

1961, how would that change your predictions?

If I told you that the author was John F. Kennedy, how would that change your predictions?

Now it’s your turn . . .

Previewing like a mathematician? ?? ??

Previewing like a literary theorist or textual critic? ?? ??

Differences across Content Areas:

The Persuasive EssayLetter to the Editor

Essay or Poem for English Class

Social Science Essay

Personal opinion or personal experience; may include argumentation; clear stance; language used to indicate personal opinion

Personal opinion or experiences AND logical reasoning or illustrative imagery; language used to argue a point or to convey images and experiences

Distanced stance, evidence to support stance, logical reasoning to tie evidence to claim; language used to convey distance and objectivity

WHAT TO DO ABOUT DISCIPLINARY LITERACY?

Question 2

The Work to Be Done

Disciplinary Reading Disciplinary Writing

Disciplinary Reading Reading like an X Drawing from and developing

“necessary knowledge” Talking about texts Synthesizing across texts (or

“coming back around”) Teachers taking on texts

NECESSARY KNOWLEDGEDrawing from and Developing . . .

Country/Region 1890 1910 1920

Great Britain 1,251,402 1,221,283 1,135,489

Ireland 1,871,509 1,352,251 1,037,234

Germany 2,784,894 2,311,237 1,686,108

Italy 1,887 1,343,125 1,610,113

Romania NA 937,884 1,139,979

Poland 48,557 65,923 102,823

Foreign-Born Residents by Country of Origin, 1890-1920

Country of Origin

Year Total Entering U.S.

Great Britain

Eastern Europe

Italy

1920 430,001 38,471 3,913 95,145

1921 805,228 51,142 32,793 222,260

1922 309,556 25,153 12,244 40,319

1923 522,919 45,759 16,082 46,674

1924 706,896 59,490 13,173 56,246

1925 294,314 27,172 1,566 6,203

304,488 25,528 1,596 8,253

Immigration Statistics, 1920-1926

TALKING ABOUT TEXTSEmphasis on TEXT

TAKING ON TEXTSAnalyzing the texts of instruction

Text Analysis

Analysis of Nature of the Text:  Structure and tone of this text?

Syntactic (i.e., sentence structure, organization) complexity

Semantic complexity Cohesion

Organization and flow of ideas Density of ideas Key ideas or concepts Key words or technical terms Density of vocabulary Texts within text? Role of images, charts, or graphs

Coh-Metrix (Graesser & McNamara)

Text Analysis

Analysis of Relationship between Text and Reader:

Assumed knowledge Challenges to an adult reader with relatively

deep knowledge of this subject Challenges to adolescent readers of this text Necessary scaffolding

Scaffolding necessary for STRUGGLING readers? Cultural, racial/ethnic, or gendered connections

Text Analysis

Analyzing and Planning for Relationships Across Texts:

 How would you select other texts to accompany this one?

What connections might you imagine students making across texts?

What connections would you try to help students see across the texts?

What do you need to address in the text and

with your students? Vocabulary?

Conceptual defining Vocabulary concept cards Concept of Definition maps

Distinguishing Semantic Feature Analysis Morphological analysis

Simple defining! Text Structure?

Text structuring strategies Graphic or relational

organizing Prior Knowledge?

Brainstorming Previewing

Preview Guides Advance Organizers

Predicting POE Anticipation/Reaction Guides

Visualizing

Lack of coherence? Purpose setting Graphic organizers Comprehension monitoring Notetaking

Disciplinary reading strategies?

Problem framing Evaluating data warrant Critiquing Synthesizing Applying to investigations or

activities

SYNTHESIZING ACROSS TEXTS

Helping youth read across texts

Synthesis Journals

Primary Source 1

Primary Source 3

Primary Source 2

Primary Source 4

Analysis across texts (i.e., a

history)

Summarizing From and Synthesizing Across Texts:

Questions Into Paragraphs

Sub-Questions Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 SUMMARY

Adapted from:

McLaughlin, E. M. (1986). QuIP: A writing strategy to improve comprehension of expository structure. The Reading Teacher.

  1. What are the sources of this material?

       

 2. What are the effects of this material in the air?

       

 3. How much of this material is typically found in air?

       

 

SUMMARY:       

Driving Question: What affects the quality of air in my community?Learning Set Question: Is material X a pollutant?

Disciplinary Writing

Exposure to and opportunities to write multiple genres and registers

Learning to write the valued genres and register of the discipline . . . really well

OPPORTUNITIES TO WRITEExposure to Writing . . .

Student writing in English classDetroit

Motor city of the worldAutomaker and designer

A player of cars and casinosA city of violence

They tell me your the #1 murder cityFor I have seen your people and streets.They tell me you are feared and violentAnd I have seen the results of that with

My friends who have passed away.For the people who want to show me the

Good side, I’ll show them my reality.The view that only people who live here see and hear.

Gang violence, gun shots, drug dealing, rappistsProstitutes, crackheads, bumps, thieves, burn houses,

And dirty streets.All of this hides under those beautiful buildings

In Downtown.Under the unknown places of the camera hides

This terrible everyday dilema we have to go through.Underneath the streets of Detroit hides its people

And underneath those peopleTheir solidarity toward society.

Student writing in Social Studies

I think middle school students should be required to participate in a community service program because it make them more responsible and teaches them what work realy is.

Another reason I think this is because it will help them to be successful and not to die as a teen gang member. Some people have thrown away their lives in gangs this community service program will help prevent that by keeping students away from gangs and away from drugs.

The Core Democratic Value that I choose is Common good, I chose this value because it states that we should protect and provide safty for our community as well as for anyone who lives here. Also because the community service program reduces the gang killings and increases the safty around us. Community servics are when students help around their community and to help older neighbors cut the lawn, rake the leafs, or shovel the snow.

I have learned that gangs are no good they bring nothing but trouble. All gangs are just about which gang is better the only things they do are fight, steal and cause trouble. Here in Detroit there have been alot of teens being killed because they were involved in gangs.

LEARNING TO WRITE WELL

Valued Genres and Registers

Scientific Explanation Writing: An Iterative

Practice Examination of explanations written by

others Classroom-based, whole-group generation of

rubric using models (i.e., comes from the students; see next slide)

Engagement in scientific investigations Writing to explain one’s own investigations Peer review (e.g., poster displays, museum

walks) Revision of explanations New investigations, new explanations, more

peer review And the cycle continues . . . .

IN AN AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY

Dilemmas of Literacy Instruction . . . .

Dilemmas of Instruction

Writing to a rubric (i.e., “rules”) Writing to a problematic rubric

State Social Studies Writing Rubric

State a claim. Use at least one piece of data from

the data provided. Use a core democratic value to

support your argument. Use at least one idea or principle

from one of the social studies (economics, history, civics, etc.) to support your argument.

Dilemmas of Instruction

Writing mixed genres Writing “objective” pieces about

highly personal or social issues

TEACHING PRACTICESTo Address the Dilemmas . . .

Teaching Practices: Task Analysis

What does the task assume about youth and/or ask them to do as thinkers?

What do youth need to know to meet the task demands?

What kind of text does the task ask youth to produce?

What do we need to do instructionally to scaffold young people’s thinking before they even begin to write?

A Few More Teaching Practices

Writing multiple versions Teaching students to “go to” or

abstract the larger issue Explicitly critiquing the rubric with

and for students

DISCIPLINARY LITERACYThe Dangers of . . .

Reifying Practices

HIST PRAC For example, historians:

•Frame historical problems

•Locate and use residues/evidence from past

•Analyze and use evidence through interconnected practices of "sourcing, corroborating and contextualizing“

•Determine significance of evidence and events

•Look for patterns in welter of facts and events and "colligate" these to create a concept or periodization scheme that imposes sense on that welter of events, e.g. "renaissance" is a colligated term

•Periodize and/or use the periodization schemes of others

•Read others’ historical accounts

•Produce historical accounts

•Present/publish historical accounts

(adapted from R. B. Bain, 2007)

MATH PRAC For example, mathematicians:

•Ask “Natural Questions” in a given mathematical context

•Explore and experiment with the context

•Represent the context and examine the representation

•Look for organizing Structure or Pattern

•Consult with colleagues orally or in the literature

•Look for Connections as a result of consultation

•Seek Proofs or disproofs

•Follow Opportunities

•Write finished exposition of a proof

•Analyze Proofs (proof analysis)

•Present/publish proofs

•Use appropriate conventions to produce Aesthetically pleasing results

(Adapted from H. Bass, 2007)

For more information . . .

www.umich.edu/~moje